Ireland has significant quantities of livestock; meat exportation is a vibrant sector of
the economy. Environmental management of animal wastes has therefore become an
important concern. On the other hand in the last decade, national and EU policy debate has
highlighted the need to investigate alternative energy: in particular energy for transport.

This study investigates the quantities of animal wastes produced in Ireland and their
potential treatment using Anaerobic Digestion technologies. In 2005 Ireland had over 8
millions animals (cattle and pigs) and the annual slaughter accounted for over 4.2 million of
these creatures. These animals have been responsible for the production of about 86 million
tons of excreta per annum, whereas the abattoir industry produced more than 750,000 tons
of carcasses per annum.

These wastes can be employed as feedstock in Anaerobic Digestion processes and
provide biogas which can be upgraded to methane and used as transport fuel. From 1 ton of
cattle slurry it is possible to produce about 21 Nm3 of biogas whereas from 1 ton of pig
slurry it is possible to produce about 24 Nm3 of biogas. Carcasses have a higher energy
potential with a specific biogas yield of about 168 Nm3 of biogas per ton of waste.

A Decision Support Software for assessment of biogas production from animal
wastes has been produced. It contains:
1. A geographical database of livestock and abattoir throughout Ireland;
2. An Energy potential model to estimate the biogas production from a specific
number of animals (input of the model);
3. An economic model to evaluate costs and incomes associated to Biogas plants;
4. A location model to identify valuable areas for biogas projects development.

Go back to top of page Top

Go back to top of page Top

Please Read Carefully Before Downloading

It is important for the EPA and the Environmental Research Community to know that the data and information products we distribute are useful to the user community we support. One way of doing this is by tracking the use of data and information in publications. Parts of or all of the datasets, data, or digital information products available here can be freely downloaded for further use in scientific applications under the condition that the source will be properly quoted in published papers, journals, websites, presentations, books, etc. Whenever possible the EPA strongly urge you to cite the use of these data, information, and web resources in the reference section of your publications. For convenience an automatically generated citation is available below which can be used immediately for citation purposes.

EPA SAFER Data Download Disclaimer: Before downloading any of the data or information objects below you are kindly asked to read the data download disclaimer Read Disclaimer (Opens in New Window). Downloading data or information objects from SAFER-Data indicates an acceptance of the data download disclaimer and the conditions outlined within it.

Suggested Citation Information

The information supplied in the table below should be provided with all citations to this electronic resource. You are requested to format each of the fields below as required by the specific bibliographical style you are using.

An example of this citation in proper usage:

Murphy, J. Poliafico, M.   "Anaerobic Digestion: Decision Support Software". Associated datasets and digitial information objects connected to this resource are available at: Secure Archive For Environmental Research Data (SAFER) managed by Environmental Protection Agency Ireland https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/resource?id=48a1566c-c3b5-102a-90c6-0593d266866d (Last Accessed: 2024-10-11)

Permalink

Go back to top of page Top

SAFER-Data Display URL	https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/iso19115/display?isoID=38
Resource Keywords	Anaerobic Digestion Ireland Pigs Cattle Slaughtering IPPC LIVESTOCK MANURE
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Code	2005-ET-S-11-M3
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Theme	Environmental Technologies
Resource Availability:	Public-Open
Limitations on the use of this Resource	There are no special restrictions regarding the usage of the attached datasets. However, any use of the final thesis report or the datasets from this project should be cited correctly in any 3rd party usage. The citation information below should be used. The authors of this project should be notified in advance particulary in the case of the Abbatoir and Livestock numbers data.
Number of Attached Files (Publicly and Openly Available for Download):	5
Project Start Date	Monday 1st August 2005 (01-08-2005)
Earliest Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Monday 1st August 2005 (01-08-2005)
Most Recent Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Thursday 4th October 2007 (04-10-2007)
Published on SAFER	Thursday 4th October 2007 (04-10-2007)
Date of Last Edit	Thursday 4th October 2007 at 12:06:58 (04-10-2007)
Datasets or Files Updated On	Thursday 4th October 2007 at 12:06:58 (04-10-2007)

Go back to top of page Top

Description of Geographical Characteristics of This Project or Dataset
Zone A comprises the counties of Carlow, Cork, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow. Zone B comprises the counties of Clare, Galway, Kerry, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Roscommon, Sligo and Westmeath. Zone C comprises the counties of Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, and Monaghan. Data on Cattle and Pig populations etc are given on a county by county basis

Go back to top of page Top

In this section some supplementary information about this resource is outlined. Lineage information helps us to understand why this project was carried out, what policy or research requirements did it fulfil, etc. Lineage is important in understanding the rationale behind the carrying out of a project or the collection of a specific dataset etc. Links to web sites, applications, papers, etc are outlined to provide you with additional information or supplementary reading about the project or dataset

Any links supplied by the resource owner are stored such that they will open in a new window. Following such a link may lead to a 3rd party website over which EPA has no control in regards to contents or suitability.

Go back to top of page Top

The following is a list of projects, datasets, and resources on SAFER-Data from which users downloaded attachments from soon after downloading attachments from this resource Anaerobic Digestion: Decision Support Software. You can view the full description for projects, datasets, and resources by using the links supplied.

• Critical Analysis of the Potential of Mechanical Biological Treatment for Irish waste Management View Full Metadata Description
• EPA Ireland Archive of PM10 Monitoring Data View Full Metadata Description
• Towards a National Soil Database View Full Metadata Description
• Introduction of Weight-Based Charges for Domestic Solid Waste Disposal View Full Metadata Description
• Mitigation of large-scale organic waste damage incorporating a demonstration of a closed loop conversion of poultry waste to energy at the point of source View Full Metadata Description

Go back to top of page Top