Smelly livestock manure turns into a clean energy source!

Livestock manure to renewable energy

Smelly livestock manure is drawing attention as it is turning into a clean energy source.

North Gyeongsang Province is making all-out efforts to expand public treatment facilities for livestock excrement to help preserve water quality and aquatic ecosystems in public waters by inducing proper treatment of livestock excrement occurring at livestock farms in the province.

In particular, two locations in Yeongcheon and Uljin are currently operating under biogasification (energy by obtaining biogas after anaerobic digestion of livestock manure), and are producing 8,248 MW of electricity annually (as of 2019) through biogas produced. Among the seven new sites under construction, Gunwi and Seongju will also biogasize organic waste resources such as livestock excrement and food.

Public treatment facilities for livestock excrement in North Gyeongsang Province are currently in operation at 15 locations (1,550 tons/day) in 13 cities and counties, and the total project cost of 152.9 billion won will be invested to expand seven additional sites (800 tons/day) by 2022. This year alone, three Gumi, Yeongju and Bonghwa (360 tons/day) will be completed.

The treatment of public treatment facilities for livestock excrement was mainly focused on purification (removing cooperative materials, discharging streams after biologic and chemical water treatment) or degeneration/liquidization, but recently, the government has shifted to an energy policy that produces biogas by integrating organic waste resources such as livestock excrement and food waste.

In particular, the project to expand public treatment facilities for livestock excrement in Seongju-gun was selected as a pilot project by the Ministry of Environment in 2019 and plans to invest 44 billion won in total project costs to produce biogas, and it is expected to contribute to reducing operating costs and expanding renewable energy by selling gas through energyization.

The expansion of public treatment facilities for livestock excrement is expected to greatly contribute to the improvement of the living environment of residents by minimizing damage to residents due to the odor of livestock excrement in livestock farms adjacent to residential facilities by promptly.

"Gyeongsangbuk-do is the country's largest livestock industry center, including the third-largest producer of Korean beef, and the number of livestock excrement is steadily increasing, and the environmental burden is also increasing," said Choi Dae-jin, director of the Environmental Forest Resources Bureau in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province. "We will continue to expand public treatment facilities for livestock excrement to improve the living environment and make best efforts."

[Seokmin, Deputy Director of Digital Bureau]