PIGS are bringing home the bacon on a Northumberland farm by providing the energy to heat their living quarters.
The dung from the 120 pigs will be digested by bacteria which produces methane gas, which is used to power a turbine and generate electricity.
Yesterday the £1.2m anaerobic digestion facility was officially launched at Newcastle University’s Cockle Park Farm, near Morpeth.
It is the first in the region to be installed on a working farm and is part of a major drive by the university to explore new ways in which agriculture can become more sustainable.
Project leader Dr Paul Bilsborrow, based in the university’s School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, said the aim was to work with North East farmers, land managers and other related businesses to find new ways of producing renewable energy from waste.
“Anaerobic digestion offers huge potential in terms of utilizing the methane from animal waste and converting it into renewable energy which can be used to heat and power on-farm buildings,” he said.
The plant at Cockle Park will demonstrate how the system works. It can also be developed to take slurry from other farm animals and vegetable and other general food waste.
“By working together with the agricultural industry we hope to develop new ways of making anaerobic digestion a viable process for uptake by farms across the UK,” said Dr Bilsborrow.
The anaerobic digestion plant is a key part of the university’s new Living Lab concept which places research into sustainability at the heart of the region.
