(Photo: Disclosure)
JBS USA, the North American unit of the Brazilian company JBS (JBSS3)has entered into a partnership with GreenGasUSA to produce biogas at several beef and chicken processing plants in the United States, according to a statement released on Wednesday (18).
According to JBS, the initiative, with similar projects developed in the company's factories in Brazil and Australia, aims to reduce its own greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
One of JBS’s main strategies to reduce its emissions is to adopt circular economy technologies to reuse and transform animal waste into renewable energy, said the company, the world’s largest meat producer. JBS did not disclose the investments in the U.S. project.
In Brazil, JBS has installed methane capture systems in nine Friboi units. Through effluent treatment, this initiative has enabled the generation of more than 100,000 cubic meters of biogas per day, in a project with an investment of 54 million reais.
At Seara, the company's processed foods and chicken and pork unit in Brazil, JBS has encouraged the installation of biodigesters on integrated pig farms, according to the statement.
Biodigesters are concrete structures covered with canvas that stimulate the fermentation of organic matter, releasing the gas produced through the fermentation of waste.
The methane gas will be transformed into the fuel used by generators to produce electricity on the farm.
At JBS Australia, the company began operating a bioenergy system at its Beef City unit in Toowoomba, Queensland, which captures biogas produced naturally during the treatment of effluents and organic waste from industrial operations.
According to the company, this venture in Australia had an investment of around 35 million reais.