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Turning waste into drinking water
Pork Industry Calendar of Events
2022
MAY 15-17 – Pork Production, Poultry Information Exchange and Australasian Milling Conference (PIX/AMC) – Gold Coast www.pixamc.com.au
JUN 21-24 – International Pig Veterinary Society Congress – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil https://ipvs2022.com/en
JUN 22 – Queensland Pig Consultancy Group (QPCG) Industry Day ‘Building Resilience in a Changing World’ – Toowoomba
AUG 3-5 – Queensland Agworkforce Summit https://www.qff.org.au/events/queensland- agworkforce-summit-2022/
AUG 19-21 – Kingaroy Baconfest 2022 www.kingaroybaconfest.com.au
2023
NOV 13-16 – Australasian Pig Science Association (APSA) Conference www.apsa.asn.au
How to supply event details: Send all details to Australian Pork Newspaper, PO Box 162, Wynnum, Qld 4178, call 07 3286 1833 or email: ben@collins.media
porknews.com.au
07 3286 1833
THE Australian pork industry and researchers from UNSW Canberra have developed a sustain- able cost-neutral device to safely recycle on-farm effluent and potentially generate a source of pure drinking water.
Turning waste into water
the potential to create clean drinking water as a sec- ondary by-product of the treatment process, by con- densing the supersaturated gases that leave the unit.
tion gas provides the most efficient and effective heating method and would allow the device to run with no operational costs once implemented by piggeries with biogas generators, as they can utilise the com- bustion gas already being produced onsite to deliver a closed-loop solution. Exploring all avenues for commercial opportunities
sues in rural communi- ties.
Now, the duo are looking for private sector invest- ment to scale the tech- nology.
This includes looking at more innovative ways of dealing with liquid effluent and manure, which is made up of approximately 90 percent water.
To ensure momentum of this technology, finding future-minded investors is imperative.
As the world’s most consumed meat – and the second most popular protein in Australia – the pork industry is big busi- ness.
The remaining 10 percent can contain waste feed, water used for cleaning and cooling, spilt drinking water, detergents and disin- fectants, as well as traces of veterinary chemicals.
Ms Wyburn said that while the device was not currently set up to generate large enough quantities of pure water to make it a viable source of drinking water for the pork in- dustry, it has the potential for someone to develop it further.
UNSW and APL pat- ented the combustion gas technology and are now looking for private sector partners to take the device to the next level with ad- ditional research, followed by the development and manufacture of a commer- cial scale unit, read y for sale.
“We’re looking for someone who is passionate about the in- dustry and is willing to progress it, noting that there are applications be- yond the pork industry and options for it to be developed further for other sectors,” Ms Wy- burn said.
More than 400,000 metric tonnes of pork are produced across 2700 sites in Australia each year, contributing over $5.3 bil- lion to the economy.
“APL was interested in looking at all aspects of en- vironmental management, and water recycling came up in terms of exploring an optional better use of water,” Ms Wyburn said.
While APL are keen to see the initial focus remain on bringing the device to market for use by the Australian pork industry, both Ms Wyburn and Dr Sanchis said the poten- tial for this technology has much wider possi- bilities both in Australia and overseas.
“We are very open to ways to take this forward because we think it is a new technology with high potential.
But as with any intensive agriculture, pork produc- tion doesn’t come without its by-products, and the biggest in this industry is effluent.
“We reviewed the tech- nologies that were currently available and none seemed particularly suited to the piggery environment and the particular challenges we had around having dirty water and wanting to reuse that.”
Trials put runs on the board for new agritech
“We don’t have the re- sources to push it any further ourselves, so we’re keen to work with people who see the po- tential in it that we do.
Australian Pork Limited has invested significantly into a range of projects that investigate the ef- fective management and reuse of manure and ef- f luent.
Since identifying that priority, APL has invested significant funding in re- search being conducted by a team at UNSW Canberra, led by Dr Adrian Garrido Sanchis, a lecturer with the School of Science.
Dr Adrian Garrido San- chis said his team have been working on this de- vice for around six years and have conducted in-lab trials and a small field trial at the UNSW Canberra campus.
Aside from other in- tensive agriculture pro- duction systems such as dairy and horticulture, the device offers poten- tial value to be adapted to sterilise water in other environments, which produce large amounts of combustion gases – such as landfills, waste- water treatment plants, biogas plants and coal power plants.
“Australian pork pro- ducers have always been responsive to technology that reduces waste and of course their cost of production.
This is a key aspect of meeting the industry’s commitment to producing environmentally sustain- able pork.
Plans for a larger scale on-farm trial were quashed as a result of COVID-19, however the work to date has already proven the technology’s effectiveness at this scale.
“We believe there’s a real opportunity for the industry as we move to- wards a future of zero waste in Australian pig farming.”
APL climate friendly farming program leader Gemma Wyburn said, “The pork industry is very progressive and innova- tive in the environmental and sustainability space.”
How bubbles and biogas can inactivate water- borne pathogens
“We had the opportu- nity to work with APL in order to move this tech- nology from lab scale into a prototype, and then into a commercial prototype,” Dr Sanchis said.
Learn more about this investment opportunity at growag.com/listings/ commercial-opportu
“We’ve always been very keen to innovate and try new things, and we’ve been investing steadily in the environmental space for a long time now.
The UNSW researchers developed a device known as a bubble column evapo- rator, which was designed to produce sterilised water by destroying the bacteria and viruses in the effluent.
“The questions were, if this idea works in the lab, will it work in real-life, and couldweescalatethisidea or this lab technology into a usable real technology?
Upscaling the pure water production ca- pacity in these settings could also help to al- leviate water security is-
nity/wastewater-and- effluent-sterilisation- technology. Michelle Meehan
“APL has a bold ambi- tion to be a leader in the circular space and to have zero waste on farm,” Ms Wyburn said.
“Some of the experi- ments have shown that you can use it to separate out brackish water, which might provide more op- tions for water sources for producers using bore water – as that can often have too high a mineral content to work well with their equip- ment or has a taste that means some animals won’t drink it,” Ms Wyburn said.
“Our end goal is to get these devices available for our pig producers and other farmers at a rea- sonable cost,” Ms Wy- burn said.
“Not only do we have environmental pressures, but we’ve also got social pressures to make changes and improvements.
The BCE creates a con- tinuous stream of hot fine bubbles measuring be- tween 1-3mm in diameter at 150-200C, which rise up through the solution being treated.
“That was the motiva- tion, and the results of the trials demonstrated that it was possible, but we still need more investment to fully achieve the final goal that is to commercialise the technology within the sector.”
“It’s no longer accept- able to do the same old thing and get the same old results – we must inno- vate and improve, particu- larly in climate-friendly farming.
The collision of the hot rising bubbles with path- ogens – such as viruses, bacteria, protozoa and blue- green algae – will inacti- vate them.
“It is an extension of our desire to grow our pigs in the best way we can and make sure that we are looking after the envi- ronment and people while we’re doing it.”
The sterilised water is then safe to be re-used in a variety of situations across the farm, including washing down sheds or wa- tering fields.
Additional research tested the use of electrically heated air, solar heated air and combustion gas from gas engines to generate the heat bubbles required by the device.
The device has also proven successful in de- salinating water and has
Dr Sanchis said combus-
Australian Pork Limited has invested significantly into a range of projects that investigate the effective man- agement and reuse of manure and effluent.
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Page 2 – Australian Pork Newspaper, May 2022
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