Feasibility study of biogas in CHP plant for a pig farm

Cogeneration, or the Combined production of Heat and Power(CHP), is being promoted at EU level as a way of reducinggreen house gas (GHG) emissions from traditional powerplants.For a long time, CHP systems have been used successfullyin industry but it can be developed across numerous marketsectors, including zootechnics farms. Currently with the rapidglobal economic change and the increasing needs forenvironmental sustainability it is timely to review pig farm heatand electrical power options to reduce costs and optimizeenvironmental outcomes. This paper describes a feasibilitystudy of biogas CHP plant in a medium pig farm in Italy.Biogas, produced by pig manure, is burned in CHP system tosatisfy the demand of electricity and heat. Results illustrate howthe utilization of gaseous product from pig farm effluent(biogas) as fuel for heat and power generation can reduce bothenergy cost and CO2 equivalent GHG emission in theenvironment.