JBS Australia has completed the second of two bioenergy recovery systems requiring an investment of $10 million.  Following the satisfactory commissioning of the first system at the Scone, NSW. plant, the second operation at Beef City in Toowoonba, Queensland, has commenced operation.  This plant will produce 10,000 cubic meters of biogas per day that will be used to power the facility.

The systems comprise gas-impermeable covers over lagoons that previously functioned as anaerobic wastewater reservoirs. The installations include de-sulfuration beneath the covers to avoid odor.

In the U.S., Wayne-Sanderson Farms is partnering with GreenGasUSA to produce renewable natural gas using a similar approach. Wayne-Sanderson Farms is active in reducing waste and contributing to sustainability and reducing Scope 1 emissions. Smithfield Foods has installed biogas collectors over lagoons holding hog waste in eastern North Carolina.

Many large egg-production complexes in China have installed biogas collection both to reduce environmental contamination and to provide an additional cash stream through sale of biogas.  Given increasing restrictions on disposal of poultry waste whether from cages or aviaries, operators in the U.S. will be increasingly receptive to rotary dehydration and biological reclamation.