By Matt Hale, International Sales & Marketing Director, HRS Heat Exchangers

 HRS Heat Exchangers welcomes recent comments by Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher calling for more support for on-farm anaerobic digestion (AD) to manage the organic slurries produced by livestock farming and help meet Ireland’s climate change obligations.

 Anaerobic digestion is unique among the main forms of renewable green energy in that it provides other benefits in addition to the provision of low-carbon energy via biogas and biomethane. It also offers a sustainable method for the treatment of organic wastes, including livestock manures and slurries, and in so doing prevents fugitive carbon emissions. In addition, AD produces a nutrient-rich, renewable biofertiliser known as digestate, which can help offset agricultural emissions and improve soil health and organic matter.

Biogas and biomethane are both uniquely flexible forms of renewable energy. Biogas can be used for heating, or for the generation of electricity via combined heat and power (CHP) units. When upgraded to biomethane, it can be used as a direct replacement for natural gas in the UK gas grid, or as a green transport fuel which is particularly suitable for heavy goods vehicles.

For these reasons, Mr Kelleher has rightly called on the Irish Government to support the development of on-farm biogas throughout the country via a national anaerobic digester programme, together with the necessary financial support in the 2024 Budget.

His comments come after the European Commission decided not to extend the nitrates derogation, meaning that livestock farms across Ireland now have an urgent need to implement storage and treatment solutions for manures and wastes. According to Mr Kelleher, “The net result of the loss of the derogation will be a scramble for additional land by dairy farmers who can afford to lease land... We need greater slurry storage capacity installed across all our farms, and mechanisms by which our dairy farmers can work with their neighbouring non-dairy farms to spread their slurry in a safe and sustainable way.”

One of the ways to do this is to act on previous Government commitments to boost ‘Agri-centric biomethane production utilising the development of an anaerobic digestion sector.’

As a supplier of systems and equipment which actively boost the efficiency and usefulness of AD plants around the world, HRS Heat Exchangers agrees with Mr Kelleher that, “The Irish dairy industry is an integral part of [the] agri-food sector,” and must be supported.

HRS produces a range of equipment to improve the efficiency and operation of AD plants, such as the BDS (Biogas Dehumidification System), the DPS (Digestate Pasteurisation System) and DCS (Digestate Concentration System). In addition, our heat exchangers and evaporators have a range of uses in biogas production.