A SPECTACULAR orb-shaped green energy storage facility being installed at one of Australia’s largest beef processing plants is helping to demonstrate how industry can profit from environmental initiatives.
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The 6000m3 capacity flexible pvc-coated polyester fibre flexible storage tank collects biogas produced by the new Global Water Engineering Cohral Covered High Rate Anaerobic Lagoon being installed by CST Wastewater Solutions at Oakey Beef Exports on Queensland’s Darling Downs.
To be commissioned next year, the plant will extract green energy biogas (methane) from its waste water streams to replace millions of dollars worth of natural gas currently consumed at the abattoir.
The 26m high flexible storage tank – one of the world’s largest of its type – features resilient flexible double membrane storage so that gas produced by the COHRAL plant can be safely stored separately from the gas generator.
Use of the separate flexible tank for gas storage provides security against leakage, with gas securely contained in the tank instead of being more loosely contained under lagoon covers.
The Sattler biogas storage design selected for Oakey Beef has been tested and proven over decades and now is an integral feature in the design of modern waste water treatment plants worldwide.
They are engineered to be permanently gastight with high operational reliability and optimum safety.
“The safe, durable and environmentally harmonious Cohral technology deployed at Oakey Beef can be widely applied worldwide to food, beverage and agricultural and primary processing plants.
Oakey Beef Processing and its owners Nippon Meat Packers have taken a far-sighted initiative that opens the way to cleaner, greener and more profitable industry performance,” says CST Wastewater Solutions Managing Director Mr Michael Bambridge, whose company represents the GWE Cohral technology in Australia and New Zealand.
The Cohral is expected to repay its cost of construction inside five years through gas purchase savings amounting to many millions of dollars – then continue to deliver benefits and profitability virtually in perpetuity, says Oakey Beef Exports Pty Ltd General Manager Mr Pat Gleeson.
In addition to lowering the plant’s dependence on increasingly expensive supplies of natural gas, the Global Water Engineering anaerobic digestion plant will simultaneously reduce the plant’s carbon footprint and produce waste water far cleaner than typical waste lagoons.
