Innovative Research

Solutions with Industry

Client: Category: Renewable, Sustainable
GreenFarm Energy Research Collaboration and Environmental
(Ireland) Ltd. Technologies Research

Energy Recovery from Farm Waste

The 1991 EU Nitrates Directive addresses water pollution from agricultural sources,
including livestock manure and other fertilisers. One method of reducing the risk
of environmental pollution from agricultural waste is to convert it to energy. This
can be achieved by the anaerobic digestion of waste to produce methane gas
which can be used as a fuel to generate electricity. This practice is most commonly
used in the management of large scale livestock waste or in sewage treatment
plants, but is not suitable for use on smaller farms.
Established in 2004, GreenFarm Energy
(Ireland) Ltd. has a specific interest in the
extraction of energy from farm waste, using an
on-farm anaerobic digestion system that is
suitable for small farms. In 2005, with the support
of EU funding, GreenFarm Energy worked with
South West College in Omagh to develop new
technology solutions for the extraction of energy
from waste on small farms. The work resulted in
specifications for a pre-treatment system that On-farm Anaerobic Digester
would be integrated with an anaerobic digester for
the extraction of energy from agricultural waste. of farm waste, and ran on improved-energy
potential farm waste produced by the pre-treat-
The Centre for Sustainability at the Institute ment digester.
of Technology, Sligo (IT Sligo) became
involved as a collaborative partner to verify the As a result of this cross-border collaboration,
capacity of the new pre-treatment digester by GreenFarm Energy (Ireland) Ltd. developed
developing laboratory techniques to analyse farm anaerobic digestion as a specialist area.
waste and to characterise its energy potential. A prototype has been developed and tested
This was facilitated by the commissioning of two and the construction of the full-scale system
lab-scale bio-reactors at IT Sligo. The bio-reactors is underway. It will be the first on-farm energy-
facilitated the investigation of the energy potential from-waste unit in Northern Ireland.

GreenFarm Energy (Ireland) Ltd.

GreenFarm
40 Crannoge Road T: +44 (0)28 80757100 Energy
(Ireland) Ltd.
Omagh
Co. Tyrone, United Kingdom
GreenFarm Energy (Ireland) Ltd. Energy Recovery from Farm Waste

Testimonials

Aaron Black “IT Sligo provided the project partners with an efficient and high level
technical service on which decisions on the direction of the project
South West College, could be made. IT Sligo filled a significant knowledge gap in the area
Omagh of environmental biology allowing the project to design and test new
equipment. At every stage having IT Sligo as a project partner proved
highly beneficial.”

Gary Hawkes “The development of the collaborative research project has resulted in
our company gaining a significant technical advantage within the
GreenFarm Energy marketplace for energy from waste systems. The assistance provided
Ireland Ltd., Director has assisted us in the planning, development, testing and construction
of our demonstration energy from waste facility. Without this assistance
offered by our project partners this would not have been possible.”

Head of Research Project Manager Research Lecturer,

Dr. John Bartlett DR. John Moore
Institute of Technology, Sligo South West College
Sligo, Ireland (Omagh Campus)
2 Mountjoy Road,
T: +353 (0)71 9155314 Omagh, BT79 7AH
E: bartlett.john@itsligo.ie
T: +44 28 822 45433
E: john.moore@swc.ac.uk
Innotech
Aaron Black
South West College
(Cookstown Campus)
T: 0845 603 1881 ext 4224
E: aaron.black@swc.ac.uk