JBS Beef City Wastewater Biogas Emissions Reduction

JBS Beef City Wastewater Biogas Emissions Reduction is a wastewater treatment emissions reduction project located at the JBS Beef City processing facility in Purrawunda, approximately 35km west of Toowoomba in Queensland. Registered in January 2022, the project operates within the boundary of this vertically integrated feedlot and abattoir, situated in the Darling Downs region.

The project operates under the Domestic, Commercial and Industrial Wastewater methodology. This involves retrofitting or replacing existing open anaerobic lagoons, which historically vented methane directly into the atmosphere, with Covered Anaerobic Lagoons (CALs) or engineered digesters. These systems capture the methane-rich biogas generated during the breakdown of organic matter in the wastewater. In this specific project, the captured biogas is treated and redirected to fuel on-site boilers, displacing the need for natural gas and converting the methane into less potent carbon dioxide through combustion.

The surrounding Darling Downs region is a major agricultural hub known for mixed cropping and grazing. The area typically experiences a sub-tropical, semi-arid climate with an average annual rainfall of approximately 600mm to 700mm. The local landscape is dominated by fertile black vertosols (cracking clay soils), which are highly productive for the grain growing that supports the local feedlot industry.

An interesting feature of this project is its integration into one of Australia's only sites combining a feedlot and processing plant in a single location. By partnering with biogas specialists Energy360 and AGL, JBS designed the system to reduce the facility's carbon footprint by approximately 34,000 tonnes of CO2-e annually while future-proofing against volatile energy prices. A variation to the project methodology was registered in March 2025 to update it to the latest compilation of the determination.