Regulations relaxed: agricultural waste converted to energy, livestock and poultry manure co-fermented with fruit and vegetable residues
Agricultural waste amounts to several million metric tons a year. Besides being usable for compost and feed, it is also a very good renewable energy source. In response to the green energy trend, the Council of Agriculture amended the "Regulations Governing the Reuse of Agricultural Enterprise Waste" and the "Regulations Governing the Review of Applications for Permitted Use of Agricultural Land for Agricultural Facilities." Once the amendments are passed, waste such as livestock and poultry manure, spent mushroom cultivation bags, livestock and poultry slaughtering offal, dead livestock and poultry, fruit and vegetable residues, flower plant residues and growing media can be used directly as renewable energy feedstock or fuel without case-by-case applications. This time, energy companies will also be allowed to set up joint biogas power generation treatment centers on agricultural and livestock land without needing to apply for a land use change.
Agricultural waste can be used as "derived fuel" energy
The Council of Agriculture stated that agricultural waste consists mostly of plant and animal residues. At present, most reuse methods involve on-site or centralized composting, or use as feed ingredients or direct feeding to livestock and poultry. However, some agricultural waste has high combustion calorific value and combustion efficiency, and produces low pollution when burned, giving it the potential to be made into refuse derived fuel (RDF). It can also be mixed into anaerobic treatment processes for co-fermentation, which can increase biogas production.
To expand the promotion of renewable energy policy, the Council of Agriculture added provisions under the "Regulations Governing the Reuse of Agricultural Enterprise Waste" for waste items such as livestock and poultry manure, spent mushroom cultivation bags, livestock and poultry slaughtering offal, dead livestock and poultry, fruit and vegetable residues, flower plant residues and growing media to be reused as renewable energy feedstock or fuel. After the amendments are announced, the above agricultural enterprise waste can be reused directly without case-by-case applications, effectively simplifying administrative procedures.
No need to apply to agricultural authorities as a special case; only local environmental protection agencies need to review
Tsai Sheng-yen, section chief of the Pollution Prevention Section of the Council of Agriculture's Department of Animal Industry, explained that agricultural waste reuse is divided into listed reuse and case-by-case reuse. In the past, the "Regulations Governing the Reuse of Agricultural Enterprise Waste" had no provisions on renewable energy feedstock or fuel, so case-by-case applications were required for approval. "For example, co-fermentation biogas power generation required a case-by-case application. Although basically the application would be approved, you had to submit an application, hold a review meeting, and the administrative procedures were complicated." In addition, if fruit and vegetable residues and livestock farm manure were to be used as renewable energy feedstock, an application had to be made jointly with the farmers. Now that regulations have been relaxed to simplify procedures, they can be used directly without application.
Regarding the reuse of agricultural waste as fuel, Tsai Sheng-yen pointed out that spent mushroom cultivation bags and flower plant residues have some calorific value, but their calorific value is not high enough when burned alone. If mixed with sweet potato vines, fruit tree prunings and the like, they can be pressed into biomass energy fuel rods. Operators are even researching pressing fluffy cattle manure into compact fuel rods for power generation. "These all currently require case-by-case applications, but after the regulatory amendments are passed, there will be no need to apply to agricultural authorities."
However, Tsai Sheng-yen emphasized that agricultural waste reuse applications in the past were divided into two stages: first applying to agricultural authorities, and after approval, applying to local environmental protection agencies. "After the amendments are passed, the agricultural side simplifies the procedures so it can be used directly, but it still must be reviewed by local environmental protection agencies."
Encouraging energy companies to establish "joint biogas power generation treatment centers" for nitrogen and carbon co-fermentation
The Council of Agriculture also amended Article 23 of the "Regulations Governing the Review of Applications for Permitted Use of Agricultural Land for Agricultural Facilities," listing "livestock and poultry wastewater resource recovery facilities" as one category of livestock facilities. Tsai Sheng-yen explained that the Council of Agriculture was already promoting biogas power generation within pig farms. This relaxation mainly targets sites outside pig farms, allowing energy companies to establish joint biogas power generation treatment centers on agricultural and livestock land to collect and centrally treat agricultural waste.
Wang Chung-shu, deputy director of the Department of Animal Industry, stated that biogas power generation requires two elements, nitrogen and carbon. Currently, biogas power generation mainly uses livestock and poultry manure, which is high in nitrogen but relatively low in carbon. Fruit and vegetable residues and spent mushroom cultivation bags, on the other hand, are high in carbon fiber content. If there is only nitrogen or only carbon, the fermentation results are poor. "With a reasonable ratio of nitrogen and carbon, joint treatment produces the best results."
Tsai Sheng-yen stated that so far there are no joint biogas power generation treatment centers. They all involve livestock farms treating wastewater on-site and using it incidentally for biogas power generation. No standalone joint treatment centers have been established on agricultural and livestock land. "In the past, if these energy companies wanted to collect livestock and poultry manure on agricultural and livestock land, they had to go through a land use change. Although there was a law allowing applications, no one had ever applied. On the one hand, this is because the temporal and environmental circumstances were different, the feed-in tariff was not high, and on the other hand, land use change applications are complicated, taking at least two to three years to be approved."
Wang Chung-shu further pointed out that there is now a regional issue: not every region has both livestock and poultry manure and fruit and vegetable residues at the same time. After the regulations are relaxed, joint biogas power generation treatment centers will handle these wastes simultaneously. "Yunlin and Changhua have many fruit and vegetable wholesale markets. Most of these fruit and vegetable residues are taken for composting. In the future, they can be sent to joint biogas power generation treatment centers and co-fermented together with livestock and poultry waste. Currently almost no one is doing co-fermentation, and those doing it privately are not mature, with small scale and insufficient gas production." Wang Chung-shu pointed out that therefore, not only must regulations be relaxed, but experts will also be found to provide technical guidance to the private sector to promote the scaling up of co-fermentation.
Will relaxed regulations raise food safety concerns?
Will relaxed regulations lead to agricultural waste being improperly reused or even finding its way back onto human dining tables? Tsai Sheng-yen emphasized that no problems will arise. "Because they still have to apply to local environmental protection agencies. Where the raw materials come from and what they will be used for, the environmental protection agencies will go to the site to inspect. Even the kitchen waste fed to pigs at pig farms must be applied for." As for dead livestock and poultry, they are also monitored by environmental protection agencies. After leaving the slaughterhouse, only specific vehicles with certificates issued by local animal disease prevention authorities can transport these dead livestock and poultry, and the vehicles are equipped with GPS, so there is no concern about them reaching consumers.
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(Lead image photo credit: Khuroshvili Ilya via photopin (license))