Much more than pig waste can be turned into biogas and Taiwan can learn from Denmark, which is a world leader in biogas technology, Council of Agriculture (COA) Deputy Minister Huang Chin-cheng (黃金城) told a Denmark-Taiwan Net Zero Agriculture 2050 forum in Tainan on Monday.
“Taiwan has been promoting biogas production from pig manure since 2017, but pig manure alone is not efficient,” Huang said. “We are considering putting other kinds of organic matter into biogas tanks to improve digestion and productivity.”
“We hope that by Denmark sharing its best practices with us, we can bring that know-how and core technology to Taiwan,” Huang said.
To create a feasible and sustainable business model, waste management regulations must be updated, he said.
Existing regulations limit the slurry resulting from biogas production being used as fertilizer, and do not allow materials such as fibers, enzymes and fats to be added to biogas tanks, where organic matter is fermented and burnable gas is captured.
“Existing regulations do not allow the slurry resulting from biogas production to be used for anything, but it actually makes great organic fertilizer,” Environmental Protection Agency Department of Waste Management Director-General Lai Ying-ying (賴瑩瑩) said. “The addition of fibers, enzymes and fats into the tank can boost gas production.”
Biogas has the potential to complement other renewable energy sources when solar and wind power cannot meet demand, said Bo Monsted, director of the Trade Council of Denmark, Taipei.
Biogas is also a great way to optimize the use of organic waste from agriculture, livestock farms, households and industry, Monsted added.
“Biogas solves many of the challenges that we face in terms of addressing climate change,” he said.
By 2030, the Danish Biogas Association aims to replace natural gas in Denmark with biogas or biomethane.
The Circular Taiwan Network estimates that the local biogas industry has the potential of generating NT$10 billion (US$359.58 million) per year, while creating 4,500 job opportunities.
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