Oman opens first biogas facility
Oman’s flagship dairy project, Mazoon Dairy Company (MDC), has opened a biogas plant – the first of its kind in the region.
MDC is the Sultanate’s newest dairy farm, comprising an array of facilities over 15km2, including significant dairy herd housing, feed and fodder mixing and storage facilities, a milking parlour, veterinary facilities, a processing and packaging plant, sales and logistics facilities alongside the waste treatment facility.
The biogas plant is part of MDC’s strategy to use waste to energy to enhance the efficiency of waste management. This is the first time ever that a dairy company in the region has adopted clean technology on such a scale.
By 2028, the farm aims to have the capacity to yield over 270 million litres of milk a year, establishing Oman as a net exporter of dairy products in the next 20 years. The plan is to increase capacity to over 900 million litres by 2040.
The switch on of the biogas facility took place on October 12th in the presence of Dr Hamad bin Saeed Al-Aufi, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries in Oman and the Board of Directors.
The Times of Oman reported that Al-Aufi toured the company’s facilities to assess operational readiness, with production slated to commence later this month. Al-Aufi and team visited the farm, the plant and the supporting facilities, including the desalination plants, wastewater treatment plant and biogas production plant.
Yousuf bin Khamis Al-Fazari, Corporate Affairs Manager, said, “Mazoon Dairy is committed to adopting environmentally friendly solutions through waste management, and we are proud to inaugurate the first biogas plant in the region using cow waste. The biogas plant will be used to produce methane gas that will be used to operate equipment at the plant, with plans to power even more of the plant with the increased herd in the future. The first phase of the project will include 12,000 cows that are expected to produce about 225 tons of fertilizer per day.”
Speaking about how the company will deal with the waste and convert it into gas, Engineer Hazza bin Abdullah Al Yahya, a member of projects and maintenance team said, “The farm currently includes 16 barns equipped with a special pond to collect cow waste, which will be transported through special containers to the biogas plant on a daily basis.
“As the number of cows at the farm increases, the plant will reduce its reliance on fossil fuel needed to operate some facilities. This will vastly contribute to managing waste produced by daily operations and drive up operational efficiency.”
