Australian abattoir Oakey Beef Exports has installed a giant bio-gas dome featuring COHRAL technology (Covered High Rate Anaerobic Lagoon) from Global Water Engineering (GWE).

Officially opened last month by Australian Federal Industry and Science Minister Ian Macfarlane, the plant will extract ‘green energy’ bio-gas from the Queensland abattoir’s waste-water streams to replace millions of dollars’ worth of natural gas currently consumed by the facility.

The plant — the first of its type in the world — will produce 183.3gigajoules of energy a day when it reaches design capacity through the combustion of the methane produced by the installation. It also delivers high quality waste water by extracting organic content. The GWE anaerobic digestion technology involved can remove 70-90% of organic waste content.

Oakey Beef Exports general manager Pat Gleeson said: “The ‘green energy’ produced represents 40% of our current usage of natural gas and will produce direct on-going savings year after year. The cost of construction is expected to be repaid inside five years.”