Pig manure turns into green gold: Taiwan, China's largest biogas power generation operation, Central Livestock Farm, wins the Shennong Award

The long-negotiated water pollution fee was finally levied starting in May of this year. The first wave targeted industrial wastewater, while livestock wastewater is expected to be implemented in the third year. Coupled with Taiwan facing shortages of both water and electricity in recent years, the conversion of livestock wastewater into "biogas power generation" has once again become a hot topic. Presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen has repeatedly invited experts from Denmark, a major pig-farming country, to come to Taiwan to promote biogas power generation, and the Bureau of Energy of the Ministry of Economic Affairs also began subsidizing livestock biogas power generation in January of the year before last.

However, as early as 20 years ago, agricultural authorities had already wanted to turn pig manure into gold, vigorously subsidizing biogas power generation facilities at livestock farms, but it ultimately ended in failure, because Taiwan's pig manure has too high a water content and lacked desulfurization equipment, so the machinery broke down in less than a year.

The problem that has persisted for 20 years remains unchanged to this day. The privately run pig farm "Central Livestock Farm" in Pingtung is the only and largest biogas power generation demonstration zone in all of Taiwan. To avoid excessive moisture damaging the machinery, Central Livestock Farm specially installed "pig toilets" and adopted high-bed raising to reduce the water content in pig manure. These innovative and environmentally friendly measures earned farm manager Su Peng this year's Shennong Award. Su Peng reminds us that developing biogas power generation is not just about building good facilities; the subsequent feeding habit of dry-wet separation is also an indispensable and important supporting measure.