Bernadette McCabe and Craig Baillie

National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture, University of

Southern Queensland

Bernadette.McCabe@usq.edu.au | Ph: 07 4631 1623

Bioenergy Australia

Quarterly Meeting – 20th March, 2014

Canberra

Bioresource and waste

utilisation projects at the

NCEA

IEA Bioenergy - Task 37:

Energy from Biogas

National Centre for Engineering

in Agriculture

Toowoomba

Springfield

Fraser Coast

University of Southern Queensland

A leading provider of on-campus and distance education programs in Australia. ~ 25000 students

75 % of students studying via distance or online.

At the cutting edge of flexible delivery of resources and technology.

USQ is a young dynamic university located in three regional locations across Southern Queensland Australia

The NCEA develops solutions for a sustainable and

profitable rural sector through applied engineering,

research, training and commercialisation

NCEA Vision

NCEA in Focus

NCEA & USQ

NCEA Established 1994

Aligned with Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences;

Only undergrad Ag Eng course; one of the largest post grad programs in Australia.

~ $3.5M (AUD) in external grants / yr.; investment in personnel

Personnel

30 FTE (externally funded staff) ~ 40 Researchers

~ 30 post graduate researchers

15 staff through FoHES and commercial affiliations

Adjunct positions: A/Prof Bernard Schroeder (SRA), A/Prof Jeff Tullberg, Prof Jeff Smithers (University

of KZN South Africa), A/Prof Glen Dale (Tree Crop Technologies).

Management

Directorate Craig Baillie; Erik Schmidt; Principal Scientists

Advisory Board: Independent Chair; Qld Gov., USQ, John Deere Corporate Ag and CSIRO

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NCEA Programs and Themes

Focused Research – Resource Efficiency

USQ Strategic Investment in R&D ~ $30M

NCEA Strategic Funding - $2.25M

Program 1 : Irrigation and Nat. Res. Management

Water - Irrigation & Water Management

Soils - Sustainable Soils & Land Use

Program 2 : Ag & Bio-Systems Engineering

Energy - Energy Conservation Management

Digital - Precision Farming Systems

Energy Conservation

Management

Direct energy use

Diesel and Electricity

Alternative energy and fuels

Biodiesel and Biomass

LCA / water foot printing

Bio resource and waste utilisation

Anaerobic Digestion / Biogas

Our research

Undertake projects

investigating feasibility of

biogas production using:

Red meat processing waste

water

Feedlot manure

Piggery waste

Fruit and vegetable waste

Expertise lies in connecting

lab-based data with field

studies

State-of-the-art anaerobic

digestion equipment

Computer Simulation

Biogas from abattoir

wastewater

Inform criteria for the novel design of covered

anaerobic lagoons (CALs)

energy and water intensive

reduce GHGs; energy recovery

Measure biogas quantity and quality

Determine the feasibility of bio energy

production

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Feasibility of feedlot manure

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Successful conversion of beef feedlot

manure into biogas has not been

proven

unsuitable substrate for biogas production

Understand the composition of manure

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Investigate feasibility of pre-treatment

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Pre-treatment of

wastewater containing

high FOGs

Abattoir paunch as a

potential biofuel

IEA Bioenergy Task 37:

Energy from Biogas

Main objective of Task 37 work progam

‘…address the challenges related to

the economic and environmental

sustainability of biogas production’.

Website: http://www.iea-biogas.net/

Task 37 Biogas Country Overview

(Country reports) for 2013

Production of biogas

Utilisation of biogas

Financial support systems

http://www.iea-biogas.net/files/daten-redaktion/download/publications/country-

reports/november2013/Countryreport2013.pdf

Information varies

Largest difference is how biogas production is expressed

Biogas production is presented for the

following plant types:

Waste water treatment plants

Biowaste – co-digestion or monodigestion of food

waste and other types of biowaste

Agriculture – digestion at farms (mainly manure

and energy crops)

Industrial – digestion of waste streams from

various industries (eg food industries)

Landfill – landfills with collection of the landfill gas

Task 37 Meetings for 2014

First meeting April 2-4 hosted by Itaipu

Binacional, in Brazil

Second meeting hosted by ADEME on

October 15-17 in Angers, France