The Rogers Family Co. Employs 'Biodigesters' to Clean Up Central American Waterways and Produce 'Biogas' Energy to Help Power Organic Coffee Farms

LINCOLN, Calif., Nov. 1, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The Rogers Family Company (www.rogersfamilyco.com) – a California gourmet coffee roaster- is employing a 'biodigester' system to clean up once contaminated rivers and produce clean 'biogas' energy from waste to help power Central American organic coffee farms.  The system prevents coffee bean waste from contaminating rivers, forests and farmlands while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The system is also part of the Rogers Family Company's (RFC) longstanding, comprehensive program to further organic coffee production in the world's premier coffee growing regions from Central America to Rwanda.

A Lincoln, Calif.-based, international roaster of "Fairly Traded" and direct trade gourmet coffee and tea sold under various brands, the company uses the process – which utilizes microscopic, anaerobic organisms - to recover biogas energy.  The family-owned and operated company has adapted and refined the process for the coffee industry to decrease the quantity and cost of treating coffee bean waste which has been one of the industry's enduring challenges.

The biodigesters clean wastewater in the wet milling process and it is then recycled back into the treatment of coffee bean waste. At the same time, biogas is taken out of the process and used to fuel the expensive task of bean-drying, making that system more efficient and self-sustaining.  The utilization of biogas also reduces the felling of trees for fuel in the drying of coffee or cooking by workers.

"This biodigester system is part of our goal to demonstrate the great benefits of organic farming for coffee growers in Central America and throughout the world's coffee growing regions," said Rogers Family Co. green coffee buyer Pete Rogers.

After studying the process of treating wet mill slurry that on some farms used to drain into streams, company agronomists Andros Bracamontes Reinschlussel and Dr. Mario Serracin and Rogers began using the technology to capture methane gas to power the drying and simultaneously cleanse water to be recycled back into the wet mill treatment and returned to rivers and streams.  This reduces expenses compared to drying coffee with propane and greenhouse gas emissions compared to propane and wood-burning drying.

The company operates approximately 20 biodigesters.

Other company environmental initiatives include:

• launching a 100-year tree planting program in 2009.
• becoming 'carbon negative.'
• purchasing and preserving thousands of acres – including rainforest - in Central America.
• using earthworms to eat and digest coffee pulp and produce organic fertilizer.
• ensuring birds and wildlife can thrive on farms.

The company's divisions include the Organic Coffee Company and San Francisco Bay Premium Gourmet Coffee.

For the complete release and photographs, please click: http://www.rogersfamilyco.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=191 or

http://www.gourmet-coffee.com/bio-gas-farming.html.

SOURCE The Rogers Family Company