Rivalea Corowa Module 5 Piggery Biogas Project

Rivalea Corowa Module 5 Piggery Biogas Project is an animal effluent management project located at Corowa along the Murray River in the Riverina region of New South Wales. It was registered in January 2013 and covers an unspecified project area.

Animal effluent management projects involve treating agricultural waste to prevent the release of potent greenhouse gases. Under this methodology, the project collects methane generated from piggery manure within covered anaerobic lagoons and combusts it. This process actively treats the animal effluent by destroying the emissions rather than allowing them to vent freely into the atmosphere.

The Corowa area is a prominent agricultural region widely known for broadacre cropping, grazing, and intensive livestock operations such as pork production. The environment features a temperate, semi-arid climate with moderate rainfall, while the regional soils are predominantly fertile red-brown earths and heavy clays that easily support both pastures and grain crops.

An interesting aspect of this project is its integration into a broader circular economy model. Rivalea, a subsidiary of JBS Pork Australia Pty Ltd, utilizes the captured methane to power advanced biogas cogeneration units. This innovative system generates enough electricity to supply up to 85% of the site's peak power requirements for its farming and processing operations. Furthermore, the nutrient-rich byproduct left over from the anaerobic digestion process is used as fertilizer to grow crops on the surrounding land. The project successfully completed a major carbon abatement contract in August 2022 and has continually updated its methodology to align with the latest Carbon Farming Initiative standards.