be’ah mulls plan for biogas project in Oman

be’ah mulls plan for biogas project in Oman

Seeking to divert municipal and household waste away from landfills and into value-adding recycling initiatives, be’ah – the state-owned entity overseeing the management of the country’s solid waste sector – says it is weighing plans for the establishment of a commercial-scale biogas plant to support grid-connected electricity generation.

A likely location for the proposed facility is South Al Batinah Governorate, where Oman’s first Waste-to-Energy (WTE) – also backed by be’ah -- is envisioned as well.

According to be’ah, the proposed biogas plant will process organic waste to produce electricity via the anaerobic digestion process. Around 150-200 tonnes per day of organic waste, segregated at source, will be required as feedstock for a typical biogas plant for electricity production.

This volume of organic waste, gleaned from a variety of sources -- households, hotels and restaurants, industrial caterers, food processing units, farms, livestock yards, meat and fish processing plants, among other sources -- will contribute to a dramatic reduction in waste currently being disposed of in landfills, it is pointed out.

While power generation is the main objective, biogas plants can be upgraded to produce bio-methane for use in other industries. Digestate and high-quality organic fertilisers can also be produced for use in agriculture as soil