Anaerobic Co-Digestion Project

Dairy Australia and project partners have set out to identify promising opportunities within Victoria for the development of bioenergy projects based on anaerobic co-digestion.

About the project

The dairy and meat industries currently generate large volumes of wastewater and organics which are high in biomethane potential. This means that these waste streams can undergo processes such as anaerobic digestion to convert the organic content of waste streams into methane-rich biogas which can be used as renewable energy. Biogas can be used to generate heat and power to offset local demand, or it can be cleaned up, compressed and injected into the local gas grid.

For this project, Dairy Australia has partnered with Australian Dairy Products Federation, Australian Meat Processor Corporation, Australian Pork Limited, Agrifutures, Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity and Meat and Livestock Australia with support from Sustainability Victoria though the Waste to Energy Fund.

Objectives

The project objective is to identify and evaluate suitable areas in Victoria for the development of bioenergy projects based on co-digestion using waste streams from the dairy, red meat, pork, and chicken meat industries.

Take the survey

Information is being sought from Victorian farmers and processors to help realise the potential of this exciting opportunity.

Primary production and processing businesses can contribute directly to this project by providing information on their waste streams through a survey, which will help identify potential locations for bioenergy facilities (bio-hubs) in regional Victoria. Bio-hubs not only provide an alternative to waste management for agriculture and food production, but also provide benefits to local communities, including access to low-cost renewable energy, increased employment opportunities, and landfill reduction. This project aims to pinpoint bio-hubs that facilitate the combined digestion of waste from various animal industries. Although your specific location might not align with these identified bio-hubs, it doesn't imply that AD technology is unsuitable for your site.

To have your business' waste streams considered for this project, please complete the following survey. Once complete, please send the survey to Jhin Bagchi, Dairy Australia's Anaerobic Co-Digestion Project Manager.