Sustainability

On-Farm Anaerobic Digestion

We operate our own on-farm biogas plant utilising slurries produced at our farm in Ballinameela. We built this facility in late 2017 in partnership with our sister company Ashleigh Environmental. 

Today the biogas plant handles approx 9,000 m3 of slurry from the pig houses per year. This has a number of positive benefits for the farm and the environment around us

• In 2018 approx 70,000 m3 of renewable biogas was produced on site and used for heating. 

• Based on Teagasc published results of 435 kg CO2 eq per sow per year produced on an Irish pig farm, we are reducing our CO2 eq by up to 390 tonnes. This is a reduction of approx. 37% of total CO2 eq output of the farm per year.

• Anaerobic Digestion reduces odour associated with slurry that would otherwise be stored in large tanks or lagoons.

• The by-product from the Anaerobic Digester is a nutrient rich organic fertiliser called digestate, which local farmers spread on arable and grassland.

• The nutrients are considerably more available in the digestate compared to raw slurry and as fertiliser it is much more consistent in its application on to the soil. 

For any enquiries about our digestate please contact info@ashleighfarms.ie

Biotechnology

Our sister company Ashleigh Environmental is developing innovative bioenergy related technonologies and has been successful working with project partners across Europe over a number of years to bring its concepts to life. The current system under developement is called Biowave™ and is the first of its kind at this scale. The technology is a unique integration of Microwave and Anaerobic Digestion systems and the industrial pilot plant has been operational since late 2017 on our farm in Ballinameela.

The Biowave™ system features are:

• Pre-treat organic waste using microwave heating prior to entering an Anaerobic Digester, where renewable biogas is produced.
• Generate over 40% more methane from organic wastes compared to conventional methods.
• Shorted digestion time, thus reduced infrasture costs associated with Anaerobic Digestion facilities.
• Positive environmental impact as green house gas releases into the atmosphere are reduced significantly.

More information can be found at the dedicated company website:  www.ashleighenv.com