Agriculture

The power to sustain your world — and your operation.

What generations before you considered waste is now counted as cost-saving fuel. Byproduct gases from agricultural, food processing, and industrial processes are captured to fuel Cat® low-energy fuel generators. And the energy you generate is nearly free power for your facility. It's technology to cut your input costs and reduce the release of harmful gases. Our standby and rental emergency generators help farmers keep their operations running smoothly during costly power outages. From dairy farms to greenhouse facilities, Cat generators provide power for all your agricultural applications.  

Choose to sell additional power to your electric utility with our switchgear, including programmable logic controller (PLC) based controls, so you can parallel your generators for agricultural industry to the local grid.

Whether it’s an estimate, an installation, or a scheduled maintenance check, our global dealer network is available to keep you running efficiently so you can continue running a successful operation.

GENERATING PROFITABLE RENEWABLE ENERGY

Rock Creek Dairy, a Bettencourt Dairies operation with 9,000 cows, received odor complaints from local residents. To reduce both the odor and methane emissions from Rock Creek’s cows, an anaerobic digester system was installed. Two Cat 3520C gas generators, specifically designed to operate on biogas, convert the gas to electricity. Among numerous other benefits, this technology has resolved odor and methane issues, while producing power for the facility and the local grid.

A Viable Alternative for Electric Power Production

Durable and reliable biogas can yield significant long-range savings, in addition to being environmentally responsible. Biogas, which is derived as a byproduct of many agricultural, food processing, and industrial processes, is used today as a fuel source for engine generators. By tapping into biogas resources with proven Caterpillar technology, agricultural biogas and industrial biogas projects result in:

• Reduction of carbon emissions through the destruction of naturally occurring methane
• Reclamation of valuable land space normally used for purifying organic wastewater
• Elimination of odor and pest issues that are caused by the decomposition of organic material

How It Works

Consisting primarily of methane and carbon dioxide, biogas is produced through the anaerobic decomposition of organic waste. Instead of allowing uncontrolled decomposition of these wastes and the release of gases into the atmosphere, they are contained in an oxygen-deprived environment such as a covered lagoon or aboveground steel tank. From there, methane is extracted and burned to generate electricity or heat.

Because of the impurities and inconsistencies in biogas, pretreatment is generally required. However, using a gas engine specifically designed to operate on biogas can reduce the amount of investment in pretreatment. Cat low-energy fuel generators are engineered to handle fuel with variations in methane content typical of biogas operations.

Cat biogas engines typically include a crankcase ventilation pump to eject potentially acidic blow-by gases.

How Distributed Generation and Standby Power Work

When power is produced locally without heat recovery from the engine, Caterpillar provides radiators to provide proper cooling to the engine jacket water, engine oil, and aftercooler water circuits. Cat paralleling switchgear is employed to allow generators to operate with one another or in conjunction with a local utility power source.

Although diesel fueled emergency power systems will always be the solution of choice for life safety emergency standby systems, there has been an increasing move toward natural gas fueled standby power systems in recent years. Typically installed with an automatic transfer switch (ATS) or paralleling switchgear control for multiple generators, these systems sense when a utility outage occurs and automatically start the backup power system and transfer power to the emergency source. When normal grid power returns, the control system automatically switches back and shuts down the emergency generator.