The Institute of Research and Technology for Food and Agriculture (IRTA) has put into operation in Constantí (Tarragona) an experimental biogas plant, the "first" public installation of these characteristics in Spain that provides direct service to a livestock farm and, at the same time, acts as a research center in bioeconomy and in systems to mitigate climate change.
The new plant was announced this Monday at an event attended by the general director of Agriculture and Livestock of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rosa Altisent, and the general director of IRTA, Josep Usall, among other authorities, as detailed by the institute in a statement.
The project required an investment close to 660,000 euros, of which almost 100,000 come from a grant from the Institute for Diversification and Energy Saving (IDAE). The plant is fed with the waste from pigs and poultry from the Mas Bové farm.
In total, the installation will process 5,200 tons of organic matter each year and the biogas generated will reach a flow of 96,697 normal cubic meters, a volume equivalent to 58,000 liters of diesel or the approximate annual energy consumption of about 165 homes.
WITHOUT COMMERCIAL BENEFIT
The plant does not aim for economic profitability, but rather the "progress of scientific knowledge and the Catalan agri-food sector," so it will allow the execution of studies and pilot projects that would be difficult to carry out in a conventional biogas plant.
The energy produced will be used mainly to heat the maternity barn for sows, where until now propane gas, a non-renewable source, was used, and also to maintain the appropriate temperature inside the digester where the biogas is generated.
The resulting digestate will allow the production of organic fertilizer, while the water will be reused for irrigation of the fields and cleaning of livestock facilities.
Thanks to this infrastructure, new protocols can be established and products aimed at improving biogas production can be tested, emerging technologies can be validated on a pilot scale, prototypes developed by companies can be tested, and the creation of "high added value" products such as biofertilizers or biostimulants from the digestion of waste can be analyzed, among other applications.