Belgium: Biogas from the manure of 11,000 pigs
Excessive manure production is a problem in Belgium. The Ivaco farm presents its biogas solution.
Excessive manure production is a problem in Belgium and above all for Ivaco, a farm that owns 11,000 pigs. Indeed, there are more animals than arable land to dispose on. In 2012 the company decided to install a digester to treat the solid part of the manure and a 150kW biogas plant.
The electricity generated by cogeneration is used within the company itself and the heat is used for composting process. The product coming from the biogas installation is composted, and the end product of that composting process is a soil enhancer which is then exported to France, where there is a bigger need of nutrient and organic carbon.
The distinctive feature of the plant lies in the use of a stripping-scrubbing model, installed as part of the European Union’s Digesmart project. The pig manure treated is first separated and the liquid fraction is then treated, so that the ammonium nitrogen can be recovered via the stripping-scrubbing process. Between 50 and 90% of the nitrogen can be extracted and recuperated in the form of ammonium nitrate, with a concentration of about 18% of nitrogen on total fresh weight. It can be used as a mineral fertiliser substitute, to replace fossil energy-based mineral fertilisers. Finally, the end product of the liquid fraction is further post-treated into water in the facility.
This technology ensures that the entire biogas chain is more sustainable.
Source: Biogas Channel
See the video here.
