PIGHEAT

• Grant agreement ID: 738874

• Total project budget: 1.984.566,25 €

• Start Date: 01/11/2016

Project Summary: 

BIGAS ALSINA, a family owned company specialized on machinery manufacturing for the Food sector, aims to commercialize PigHeat, a novel technology that allows processing pig fur and pig roughing. Right now, pig fur and roughing are simply dried in order to reduce weight and volume, and used as fertilizer in landfills. In other words, pig meat processing means that there is a waste that actually needs to be disposed of. Not only does pig meat processing incur waste disposal, it also implies an important investment in energy to remove water as well as removal cost.  

Through the proposed PigHeat processes, pig fur and roughing can be used as an alternative source of fuel that creates steam and service water instead of using gas, diesel or electricity. The meat processing industry consumes high amounts of energy. By using pig fur and roughing as fuel, an environmental waste problem is transformed into an important way to save 15% of heating energy, while promoting waste valorization and a circular economy within the sector. 

Our role in the project: 

The role of BETA Technological Center consisted of the scale-up design of the hydrolysis processing unit and of the redesign of the steam generator for the PigHeat technology. In addition, CT Beta carried out the demonstration of the technology by the continuous operation and optimization of the system and the determination of the flue gas emissions.