South Korea to turn livestock waste into electricity with W29.8b R&D push

The government is launching a major research initiative to convert livestock manure — most of which has long been processed as compost — into solid fuel for generating electricity and heat. It plans to invest 29.8 billion won ($20.3 million) from this year through 2029 to demonstrate the full process, from fuel production and power generation to pollutant reduction.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy said Monday they will hold a project launch briefing Tuesday at Summit One Seoul Station in Jung-gu, Seoul, to kick off the "Biomass Solid Fuel Production and Utilization Technology Development" initiative.

The research and development program will focus primarily on cattle manure among all types of livestock waste. Cattle manure has traditionally been used almost entirely as compost, but shrinking farmland and over-application have raised concerns about environmental problems such as algal blooms in rivers. Dependence on imported wood pellets and wood chips for biomass power generation has also grown, heightening the need to develop alternative fuels from untapped domestic resources.

The government plans to mix cattle manure with coffee grounds and agricultural byproducts to produce solid fuel for use at power plants and combined heat-and-power facilities. The aim is to reduce the environmental burden of livestock waste disposal while expanding renewable energy production.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs will establish a standardized management system covering everything from the collection of cattle manure and agricultural byproducts to traceability and quality control. It also plans to develop low-energy drying technology suited to the high moisture content of cattle manure, along with dedicated fermentation and drying processes, to bring down production costs.

A smart production system using Internet of Things sensors and data analytics will be built to manage the production process in real time. The ministry will also pursue development of a solid fuel that can be used directly in agricultural facility boilers without a separate compression or molding process.

The Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy will build a production facility that optimizes the mixing ratios and manufacturing conditions for cattle manure, coffee grounds and agricultural byproducts. The facility is designed to produce 15 metric tons of solid fuel per day — with a calorific value of at least 3,500 kilocalories per kilogram — for a total demonstration volume of 4,500 metric tons.

The fuel produced will be used in co-firing operations alongside other fuels at a 330 MW commercial power generation unit. A 4 MW combined heat-and-power boiler running solely on cattle manure solid fuel will also be developed to verify its potential for generating both electricity and heat.

Technologies to reduce odors, wastewater and air pollutants generated during fuel production and use will be developed in parallel. The program will verify ammonia recovery and zero-discharge wastewater processes, and will use catalytic filtration to cut emissions of fine particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and SOx. A life-cycle assessment will also be conducted to confirm actual greenhouse gas reduction effects.

At Tuesday's launch briefing, the two ministries plan to establish a cooperative framework linking each research task — from raw material procurement and quality control to solid fuel production, utilization and pollutant reduction. Detailed technology development and demonstration work will begin in earnest next month.

Lee Jae-sik, director general of the livestock policy bureau at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said it was significant to build an integrated system spanning cattle manure collection and quality management through to low-energy solid fuel production. "We will create a virtuous-cycle biomass ecosystem for livestock manure that actually works on the farm," he said.

Kim Go-eung, director general of the resource circulation bureau at the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy, said the way livestock manure is handled needs a fundamental shift in line with social and environmental changes. "We will actively support technology development for converting livestock manure into energy and work to build a solid fuel ecosystem around it," he said.