The project to build a biomethane production unit from livestock effluent and other organic by-products, which will contribute to environmental improvement, the sustainability of the livestock sector and the economic and social progress of the region, was presented this Tuesday at Leiria.
To be installed in the parish of Amor, on an area of five hectares, this is an investment by the Spanish company Genia Bioenergy, which has AMBILIS (the organization that represents the municipality’s pig farmers) and the Municipality of Leiria as strategic partners, and the three entities have signed an agreement to promote the project.
Present at the session, the Secretary of State for Agriculture, Gonçalo Rodrigues, stressed the importance of the project, following the assumption of a tripartite commitment, in which the entities “demonstrated an embryonic interest in public and private wills finding solutions”, expressing the wish that, in 2055, “we can see the success of 30 years’ work”.
For Gonçalo Lopes, Mayor of the municipality, “a level of commitment never before achieved in this region has been assumed here, which seems to me to be the critical factor for the success of this investment and consequently for improving the environmental quality of the Lis river basin”, adding that, according to a recent study, pollution of the municipality’s main river “is by far the biggest environmental problem” that worries the people of Leiria.
“Drastically reducing emissions, being more efficient and able to make use of resources and investing in the circular economy” were the objectives highlighted by Gabriel Butler, President of Genia Bioenergy, for whom the project “brings value to all the players” and “will have a very positive impact on all those involved”, including producers, who “can improve their competitiveness and animal quality”.
David Neves, President of AMBILIS and the Portuguese Federation of Associations and Pig Farmers, also stressed the importance of the project: “This is a particularly important day for the sector, for the region and for the country, because we’ve managed to change the paradigm for the future of pig farming”, since “from today onwards, we’ll be able to treat the effluent, we’ll start looking at waste as waste, and it will solve a number of problems once and for all”.
Luís Lopes, the town councilor responsible for the environment, argued that the project aims to make the sector more prosperous and “an environmental benchmark”, which involved all public and private entities, “so that it would be credible and possible to shorten in time what we haven’t achieved in recent decades”, reinforcing the existing commitment between the municipality, the sector, companies and the community.
As part of the municipality’s Action, Enhancement and Sustainability Plan, this project aims to convert effluents and organic by-products from the livestock and agri-food sectors into biomethane and also into organic biofertilizer and treated water for agricultural and forest fire-fighting purposes.
This technology is completely natural and mature and is already widely used in Europe, where there are more than 20,000 installations. It is a process that takes place in closed structures, called digesters, where bacteria break down the by-products and produce the three desired materials.
The biogas obtained in this treatment and organic recovery process is subjected to further purification treatment, with the elimination of carbon dioxide and marginal gases, resulting in biomethane, a renewable substitute for fossil-based natural gas, which can be integrated into the municipality’s supply network and meet around 35 percent of needs.
The liquid part is then converted into fully treated water and organic fertilizers and the solid result into organic correctives for application in agriculture, which reduces the use of chemical fertilizers and allows for more sustainable agricultural production, closing the circular economy cycle.
In addition to the correct treatment and recovery of organic by-products, this process offers major environmental benefits, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and animal welfare, as well as preventing unpleasant odors and insect proliferation.
It also contributes to the decarbonization of the economy by replacing fossil fuel gas with renewable gas and avoids the pollution of soils and aquifers.
On the other hand, the construction of this unit responds to the demands of the municipality’s pig farmers for solutions to dispose of the effluents from their production and will improve the sustainability of the sector and contribute to its decarbonization.
The project also includes the creation of an R&D center to research new production processes and the use of fertilizers from the resulting materials, in collaboration with local research centers, and a filling station for gas-powered vehicles.
With a direct investment of between 25 and 30 million euros and the creation of up to 65 direct and indirect jobs, the installation of this infrastructure is already in its licensing phase, and it is expected that work will begin within a year, with a view to becoming operational in 2025.