Red meat industry first - feasibility study shows benefits of integrated wastewater, biogas and biofertilizer plant

AMPC recently completed a project with V&V Walsh Meat Processors and Exports which was a feasibility study on an integrated wastewater, biogas and biofertilizer plant. 

The study investigated a range of solutions and income streams that result in minimal to no organic waste leaving the site.

The study focussed on three integrated components:

1. Wastewater management system which produces the highest classification of non-potable recycled water 
2. A bio-gas reactor which takes waste out of water and then creates biogas can serve several purposes on site such as heating or electricity generation
3. Biofertilizer plant which uses the sludge coming out of bigas generation, which is heavy in nutrients, and can create fertilizer

Benefits of wastewater treatment ensure prolonged environmental compliance and the reduction of overall carbon footprint through reduction of emissions, wastewater recycling, biogas for thermal and electrical energy production and biofertilizer for land applications. 

Cam Cody, Environmental Manager at V&V Walsh said, “This solution can potentially be scaled to suit all sized meat processing plants. 

“The project goal was to design a wastewater treatment, biogas and fertilizer plant specific for a meat processing plant, which has never been done before. 

“It allows for a circular economy solution with wastewater being treated to produce the highest classification of non-potable recycled water. Any waste from water can then being turned into biogas for use in energy production. Sludge from biogas generation then goes to another plant to produce fertilizer which we can sell.”

The results of this design stage allow V&V Walsh to properly assess the benefits and investigate costings for building such a plant. 

Cam said, “This creates the option for us to be a greener meat processing company. We are reviewing the study now to see what we can implement. We are looking into options of completing the build in a staged process, perhaps over a 10-year period. We are talking with many stakeholders to see how we can progress this further and hoping to complete the three facilities in one go and not over a long period of time.”