Project title: Biofuel production potential in Australia: Sustainable use of waste water resources.
Industry partner: Rivalea (Australia) Pty. Ltd. is a leading Australian agri-business supplying approximately 20% of the domestic fresh pork market. The company is headquartered in Corowa, NSW and has piggery operations in Corowa, Albury, Deniliquin, Bendigo and St Arnaud in western Victoria. Rivalea has stock feed mills and meat processing facilities in Corowa and Laverton, Melbourne. Rivalea’s operations are energy intensive both in the milling of feed, rearing livestock and meat processing operations. The introduction of the Federal government carbon abatement programs and large increases in energy prices in recent years has incentivized the company to build out its own energy generation plant using farm and plant resources. Rivalea recognizes that biogas generated in the waste water treatment lagoons is a potential source of energy in the operations of the farm and processing facilities.
Project aim: The project will investigate lagoon biogas emission and carbon balance estimates of a Rivalea piggery in Corowa, NSW using historical data. The aim of this project is to assess the impact on waste water treatment on energy and greenhouse gas balance using historical data (2012-2018) such as flow rate, BOD, COD, VFA, pH EC, total solids
The report generated from this study will make recommendations for improving greenhouse gas emissions to facilitate a sustainable development of energy supply.
IMAGE: jbdodane. Pig farm. Flickr.com. https://www.flickr.com/photos/jbdodane/9735162122/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic Licence.
