“We’re doing the right thing by you, by ourselves and by the environment. There is something happening with climate change. We won’t stop it but we can do our bit to help slow it down and this is a step in the right direction.”
Paul Brosnan
Biogas Plant
The Brosnan family has made their name synonymous with innovation throughout their years with BettaPork, but the introduction of a biogas plant to power the piggery in 2015 went one giant step further.
Two three million litre biogas tanks welcome 120,000 litres of organic waste every day and expel the same amount as a valuable power source.
Organisms inside the tanks eat the organic material, excrete gasses as methane that float to the top of the tanks where they are pushed through stainless steel pipes under extremely low pressure. The methane gas flows to a generator through a carbon filter to remove hydrogen sulphide and finally finishes its journey in what is ultimately 2 x 100 kilowatt diesel engine designed to fire on gas instead of fuel.
The biogas plant currently supplies 200kw worth of power- enough for a full night and a half day’s power demand for the entire farm including the entire family’s housing. The Brosnan’s aren’t content to stop here with a feasibility study underway to construct another generator to become fully self sufficient.
Surprisingly, pig manure is at the bottom of the list as far as producing good methane gas goes. The Brosnan family is thus starting to work with schools, abattoirs and restaurants to take their organic waste products rather than have the waste accumulate in landfill.
Examples of high quality organic waste:
- Undigested food/ green waste
- Tallow
- Fat
- Paunch
- Fish oil
- Bakery yeast
Examples of unsuitable items:
- Steel e.g. cutlery
- Sanitary napkins
- Inorganic materials
Please contact BettaPork Piggery to offer you assistance regarding educational and biogas environmental projects.
