Biogas sparks a sustainable revolution for meat processing facility

JBS Australia, Australia’s largest meat processing company, processes 1675 beef cattle per shift and employs 1950 staff at its Dinmore processing facility.

Processing such a large volume of meat and by-products requires a significant amount of energy. There were four natural gas-fired boilers on site producing steam for hot water production and rendering operations. Wastewater from the site was treated on-site through a biological wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) to a high level, enabling 30% to be re-used within the plant. The WWTP comprised four anaerobic lagoons (ALs) whose primary function was the removal of organic material suspended in the wastewater. These lagoons emitted odorous and environmentally harmful gas.

Wiley was contracted to design, install and commission a more efficient effluent treatment system to capture and use biogas released by the anaerobic digestion from the new covered anaerobic lagoon (CAL) system as an on-site renewable energy source.

The project included:

• covering of two ALs with high density polyethylene (HDPE) to capture biogas, then burn the gas through the boiler to provide energy for the plant;
• construction of a new 20 ML CAL. The remaining two uncovered ALs were then decommissioned;
• upgrade of the WWTP with a new dissolved air flotation (DAF) unit, which removes organic solids (waste fats, oils and greases known as FOGs). The DAF unit regulates the inclusion of FOGs in the wastewater that passes into the new CALs, which is essential to optimising biogas generation from the CALs;
• installation of a biogas train to pipe biogas from the CALs to a central flare and then to the existing 10 MW boiler for co-combustion with natural gas. This required a new burner and control system for the boiler that would automatically prioritise the use of biogas over natural gas.

The project has led to an 89% reduction in the facility’s annual greenhouse gas emissions and a saving of more than $1 million a year on natural gas costs. The technology and processes deployed as part of this project will provide addition learnings that will be applied across other JBS meat processing facilities in Australia of similar scale and nature.

This project was the first of its kind in the Australian Red Meat Processing Industry and it has been recognised by the Queensland Master Builders Association (QMBA) with an award for Innovation in Environmental Management Construction. In accepting the award, Wiley Project Director Graham Harvey said: “This is an industry benchmark demonstrating the reality of environmental processing solutions for heavy emission producers.”