Local manUre and agri-food waste treatment for bioGAs and biofertiliZers production from Zero waste and circular economy perspective
An Innovation Fund project to create a sustainable zero-waste facility that manages organic and non-hazardous wastes.
The project proposes an ambitious facility that combines a biogas plant with an innovative low scale upgrading system, a liquid treatment of digestate for water recovery at low cost, and a solid treatment for fertiliser production across industrial symbiosis. Nearly 55,000 tonnes/year of residues will be collected in the facility to generate biogas containing methane which will be captured, cleaned, upgraded, and injected into the natural gas grid.
LuGaZ proposes an ambitious facility that combines a biogas plant with a first-of-a-kind combination of waste treatment technologies that have no precedent of implementation along the agri-food production value chain:
OPTIBLENDER
Specialized software for online control of the anaerobic digestion that ensures stability and the quality of the digestate produced through co-digestion mixtures optimization.
NIDUP
Upgrading system specifically designed for small-scale applications and highly competitive due to its lower operation costs, the capability of coping with high H2S concentrations, and the potential to minimize reagents/consumables needs.
DEPURGAN/AQUATEC
Low-cost solution for liquid treatment based on an electrocoagulation all-in-one solution.
Consortium
LECHE RÍO (LENCE) – Coordinator
Is a group of dairy companies founded in 1975. It the 6th largest milk processing company in Spain. Through their 5 owned brands (Río de Galicia, Leyma Natura, Solar, Cremosita and Gallega) and other large distribution brands. The company employs 165 people and puts yearly around 316 million litres of milk in the market, with a turnover of 208 M€. The family enterprise is run by the second generation, who is focused on to turning the company into a flagship company in terms of sustainability and circularity, whilst supporting local communities, promoting rural development facing the demographic challenge, and encouraging respect for the environment. The company counts with 3 production facilities: CEAO 1 and CEAO 2, both in the industrial park in the city of Lugo and LEYMA, a facility in Arteixo (A Coruña).
NORVENTO
Norvento is a group of companies specialized in advanced energy engineering. It designs and manufactures wind turbines and electronic converters and implements distributed generation and microgrid turnkey projects, including storage and electrical management systems, for clients worldwide. Core business is the promotion, construction, and operation of renewable energy power plants. The company was founded in 1981 with headquarters in Lugo (Spain), currently employs 300 people and counts with extensive experience in the biogas industry. To date, the company operates two biogas plants in the region and has provided engineering services in this realm for a significant number of clients. NORVENTO also participates in R&D projects in anaerobic digestion technology, like the European NEOSUCESS Horizon 2020 funded project or the Spanish Zeppelin.
AGROAMB
Is an SME dedicated to the recovery of organic waste from the Galician industrial fabric for the agricultural sector. Their innovative recovery practices involve subjecting the waste to a treatment cycle to obtain agricultural fertilizers. The company started its activity in 1999, and currently runs a waste treatment facility in Castro de Rei (35 km far away from Lugo). The company employs 31 people. Recently, it was recognized with the European Business Awards for the Environment in the category of Process. It also participates in R&D projects in anaerobic digestion technology related with waste treatment such as PLANTADAC or BRIOGREEN.
MEDRAR
Is a consulting company established in Lugo in 2018. It has developed and managed several projects within the primary sector, and it is interested in promoting among their customers sustainable solutions such as LuGaZ for the management of agrifood residues. MEDRAR has a team of 7 employees including experienced economic and biogas experts. Moreover, this entity has experience in the implementation of communication and dissemination actions.
Impact
Nearly 55,000 tonnes/year of residues will be collected in the facility to generate a biogas containing methane, which will be captured, cleaned, upgraded, and finally injected into the natural gas grid. Additionally, the digestate will be separated into a solid fraction to generate a stabilized organic fertiliser destined to the primary sector to compensate the manure sent to LuGaZ plant; and a liquid fraction, which will be treated to recover water for reuse in industrial applications. Relative GHG emissions avoided due to LuGaZ operation during the first 10 years are 85.71 %.
LuGaZ will contribute to achieving climate neutrality by 2050 towards the production of high-quality biomethane to be directly injected into the natural gas greed. Besides, the project will allow for the recovery of renewable energy from manure by reducing GHG emissions from agriculture, which represent about 11% of the total.
Through the proposed configuration, LuGaZ will allow for avoiding net absolute GHG emissions of 51,603.97 tCO2/year respect to reference scenario during its first 10 years of operation. This will be mainly due to biomethane (biofuel) obtainment as a principal product, which can act as a substitute for natural gas.
Environment and beyond.
LuGaZ combines waste management with renewable energy production through biogas, reducing CH4 emissions from open manure storage and landfill, which are among the biggest sources of these kind of emissions in the EU; and making treatment less expensive and more energy efficient.
At the same time is possible to obtain an added value product (fertilizer) and preserving natural resources (through water recovery).
LuGaZ’s innovative integrated scheme will play an essential role in the dynamization of the primary sector (helping to fix population and creating employment in the rural areas), while it actively participates in creating an innovative regional model of circular economy.
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LuGaZ’s three pillars sustainability
Traditional management of cow manure in many agriculture-based regions of Europe is based on temporary storage and direction land application as a fertilizer. This procedure is still valuable but presents a challenging environment concern in those cases where the farm...
All rights reserved | This project has received funding from the European Union’s Innovation Fund Small Scale programme under grant agreement No. 101157027
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union.
Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
