TEXTILES.ORG
JBS Australia has completed the construction of a bioenergy system at its Scone beef processing plant in New South Wales, Australia, eliminating the equivalent of 23,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
The bioenergy system was activated in May, capturing wastewater emissions to utilize on-site biogases for energy generation and reducing CO2 emissions.
The installation has transformed the plant’s wastewater treatment process into a circular flow that captures a naturally occurring by-product from wastewater, known as biogas, which is then utilized as a viable renewable gas.
JBS partnered with biogas handling company Energy360 to design and install the bioenergy infrastructure. The project included the installation of two gas-tight pond covers that encase the plant’s anaerobic wastewater lagoons to prevent biogas and waste odor from entering the atmosphere. This biogas is then redirected for use as a production heat source in substitute of liquefied natural gas.
In addition to reducing the plant’s emissions, the project has enabled cost-efficiencies by lessening LNG usage and reliance.
This bioenergy system represents one of two biogas projects commissioned this year by JBS Australia, with a total $11.1 million invested across the company’s Scone and Beef City (Toowoomba) processing facilities.
JBS Southern division chief operating officer Sam McConnell said the Scone bioenergy system demonstrated JBS’s focus on developing innovative solutions to improve sustainability outcomes. “JBS Southern’s first complete bioenergy system at Scone aims to simultaneously reduce our emissions and our reliance on LNG,” McConnell said. “We see significant potential to introduce more renewable energy solutions across our JBS Southern sites, with Scone’s system exemplifying how we can innovate to create processes that boost operational efficiency while lessening our environmental impact.”
Scone processing plant manager James Turner said the Scone team was pleased to bring the new bioenergy system into commission and commended the construction workers who installed the infrastructure. “The bioenergy system enables us to make the most of our waste and manage our input costs by introducing an energy source that is naturally derived from our operations,” Turner said.
