Frigoríficos Bandeira bets on biogas with the help of Norvento Enerxía-Forestación Galicia

• The project will involve an investment of nearly €4 million and will avoid the emission of more than 400 tons of CO2 annually.

• This agreement between Norvento Enerxía, Forestación Galicia and Frigoríficos Bandeira represents progress towards the implementation of renewable solutions in the meat industry.

• The facility is scheduled to come into operation in September 2023.

Frigoríficos Bandeira S.L., a leading Galician company in the meat sector, dedicated to the slaughter and cutting of cattle, is carrying out an ambitious plan to improve its Bandeira facilities based on sustainability and reducing the environmental footprint.

To this end, and with the help of Norvento Enerxía and Forestación Galicia, it promotes a solution that comprehensively covers the valorization of by-products from the slaughterhouse, the generation of renewable energy and the comprehensive treatment of wastewater.

The project promoted by Frigoríficos Bandeira, which will involve an investment of almost four million euros, will allow the energy recovery of its effluent and/or by-products, as well as a purification system for the treatment of the digestate from it, allowing the closure of the recycling cycle. slaughterhouse waste management.

Decarbonization of the meat sector: exploring biogas

This facility is scheduled to start operating in September 2023. It is estimated that this new plant has the capacity to treat 30,000 tons per year of organic byproducts generated in the production process of Frigoríficos Bandeira, including livestock manure, process water or rumen.

The anaerobic digestion of this residual matrix will generate about 7,000 MWh per year of biogas, which will be used for the generation of electrical and thermal energy in the form of steam, satisfying almost all of the energy needs of the meat company’s facilities. Specifically, it will cover 80% of the electrical demand and 100% of the thermal demand.

The execution project also includes the installation of a purification system, which is made up of a series of processes, both physical, chemical and biological, in which the polluting load of the digestate and other liquid effluents will be eliminated until a final discharge is achieved. sanitation network that guarantees that the levels required by municipal ordinances are met.

Towards the renewable energy transition in Galicia

The objective of the facility is to considerably reduce greenhouse gas or GHG emissions by avoiding the emission of methane that, naturally, generates the decomposition of organic materials, especially slurry and manure, while achieving total substitution of the fossil fuel currently used for a non-polluting renewable gas. Thus, a reduction in this type of emissions of more than 400 tons of CO2 per year is prospectively estimated.

Furthermore, the limitation of waste transportation by managing it in the facility itself, without the need to go to specialized centers or landfills, simultaneously minimizes the carbon footprint and operating costs of this leading company in meat products.

Frigoríficos Bandeira has opted for biogas as a renewable and sustainable energy source as it offers a variety of environmental and economic benefits, including waste management, emissions reduction and energy generation.

Both the projects and products focused on biogas and the rest of Norvento and Foresga’s solutions reflect their conception of the sector and values, from excellence in design to offering optimal performance, appropriate to the specific needs of the client. All this hand in hand with cutting-edge distributed energy technology, covering generation, storage, and energy management and control in sophisticated solutions around self-consumption, microgrids and energy communities.

‘It is a pleasure to be able to collaborate on projects like this, which have such an important local and environmental component. Biogas is presented as one of the most interesting options for the meat industry, helping companies to decarbonize, under the principles of the circular economy, through the use of byproducts or waste as raw materials. At Norvento Enerxía we will continue working so that the meat sector and many others find their way in the renewable energy transition,’ says Juan Morilla, Director of Operations at Norvento.

For his part, Fernando Vargas, manager of Foresga, adds that ‘In Galicia we have the potential and capacity to lead the national generation of renewable energy, and we must also take a decisive step to generate it from the waste of our agro industries. -livestock and first processing. This Frigoríficos Bandeira project is a clear example of the possibilities that are opening up in these industries to improve their energy efficiency and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions with the recovery of their waste’.

Isabel Martínez Cochón, general director of Frigoríficos Bandeira, highlighted that ‘This project demonstrates our firm commitment to promoting a meat industry that is committed to a sustainable production model’.