Renewable energy from wet waste stream

Installation at two sites simultaneously

Gold Coast-based renewable energy company Quantum BioEnergy has been busy for the past nine months installing its first 1.26 MW of power generation from wet waste streams. What makes the Quantum situation unusual is that the company is commissioning its first installations at two sites simultaneously.

Quantum BioEnergy has installed 760 kW at Murray Goulburn Co-operative’s Leongatha Dairy plant in Victoria, and the first 500 kW of a 1.26 MW installation at the AJ Bush rendering plant at Beaudesert in South East Queensland.

The Murray Goulburn installation consists of a 500 kW and 260 kW Chinese-manufactured Shengdong engine/genset and a biogas scrubber from the same source. (Quantum BioEnergy is the Australian agent for the Shengdong engines.)

The installation received financial support from Sustainability Victoria, and Quantum will operate the site for 12 months prior to handing over to Murray Goulburn.

Quantum funded the AJ Bush installation itself on a build-own-operate agreement with AJ Bush, which gives the company discounted electricity and thermal energy, plus a share of Renewable Energy Credit (REC) income. In addition, the site has eliminated greenhouse gas emissions from its anaerobic ponds and the newly installed covered pond system has significantly improved nutrient reduction in its waste stream, as an additional bonus.

Quantum has installed two covered anaerobic ponds on the AJ Bush site over the past couple of years with the assistance of both Queensland EPA funding and a Federal Food Innovation Grant. The Quantum system includes patented pond mixing and sludge recycle systems as well as ultrasonic pre-treatment and regularly achieves 95% COD reduction in the covered anaerobic ponds.