Biogas power for pork producer

Gold Coast bioenergy company Quantum Power has secured a biogas project which will offset 100% of grid-supplied electricity for its client — a Western Australian pork producer. The project is set to generate up to 1 MW of renewable energy by converting manure from the pig-housing facility into biogas.

The project will involve the construction of an anaerobic digestion facility and power plant on-site, which will take between six and nine months to complete. As explained by Quantum Power Business Development Manager Kunal Kumar, “Once built, the digestion system will convert the organic load within the manure to biogas, comprising approximately 60% methane.

“The biogas, which would otherwise escape to the atmosphere, is being harvested and treated before being used as fuel for on-site electricity generation,” Kumar continued. “The covered anaerobic digester will also reduce odour coming from the treatment of manure compared to the current system in place.”

The renewable energy produced will be equivalent to the power consumption of over 600 homes.

Quantum Power has proposed the development of the project under a build-own-operate-maintain (BOOM) model, offering the pork producer the opportunity to access green power generated on-site using its organic by-products at cheap rates and with no upfront costs. This will be the first of its kind for a biogas project within the Australian pork industry.

“The engineered anaerobic digestion system will not only save the facility a significant amount on their electricity bills over many years by replacing expensive power drawn from the grid, it is also remarkably better for the environment as methane has 21 times the global warming effect of carbon dioxide,” Kumar said.

Quantum Power’s biogas solutions are suited to abattoirs, dairy producers, pig producers, layer and meat chicken producers, and other food processing industries.

Image credit: ©iStockphoto.com/Cristian Baitg