Logan City, food and garden organics (FOGO) feasibility study

Summary

Need

In 2019, ARENA supported the Logan City Council with $6.2 million in funding for the Loganholme WWTP Gasification Facility Demonstration Project. This project involved developing and building a gasification facility to treat biosolids at the existing Plant to create a sustainable biochar product.  

The study will explore the feasibility of integrating the FOGO conversion process at the Loganholme WWTP Gasification Facility for improved energy efficiency and reduction in carbon emissions.  

Action

The study will deliver the following objectives:   

1. Verify and quantify existing FOGO volumes in the recipient municipality from residential and commercial sources. 
2. Analyse the energy potential of different FOGO sources, reduce carbon emissions and characterise chemical properties to enable a mass balance of energy and potential characterisation specification of future biochar. 
3. Examine the economic, financial, technical, legal, social and environmental aspects of: 
   1. a separate municipal kerbside FOGO collection service for delivery to Loganholme WWTP. 
   2. constructing additional infrastructure at Loganholme WWTP to process FOGO to convert it into biochar, fertiliser prill and renewable electricity. 
4. Quantify the renewable energy created, electrical energy and carbon emissions reduction associated with the project including future integration with the decarbonisation strategy for Loganholme WWTP and the recipient more broadly. 
5. Provide enough detail to enable the study to progress to Front End Engineering Design (FEED). 
6. Provide detailed findings and recommendations including overall feasibility of the studied project with stakeholders and ARENA. 

Outcome

The study will achieve the following outcomes: 

1. Inform industry of the barriers to implementation of the FOGO collection and processing and offer potential solutions to these barriers. 
2. Accelerate uptake of similar projects across the water treatment and waste industry. 
3. Enable accelerated transformational improvement in industrial renewable energy, energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions compared to landfilling or composting of FOGO within a municipal setting.