World-class innovation in Latvia: how Balticovo turns manure into green energy

Over the past couple of years Balticovo, the leading egg and egg product producer in Northern Europe, has not only reinforced its position in the food industry, but has also become a leader in innovations for sustainable energy production. With more than 3 million chickens laying approximately 700 million eggs per year, the company is also producing a significant amount of by-product – about 70 000 tonnes of manure. Balticovo has successfully integrated this resource into the circular economy of its business group to produce biogas and biomethane. Processing chicken manure into biogas is a global level innovation, which until just recently was still considered technologically impossible. 

The production of biogas begins with delivering the manure produced in Balticovo coops to the Egg Energy biogas station where it is fermented, and then the process continues in the new Bovo Gas facility in Iecava where the biogas obtained from the manure is purified into biomethane – an equivalent of natural gas.  The facility’s current annual capacity of 100 000 MWh exceeds the annual gas consumption of the Bauska Region, and in the coming years it is planned to increase this capacity to 150 000 MWh per year. These plans are closely related to the company’s expansion strategy, including investments in the construction of new cage-free chicken coops. The company has earmarked EUR 49 million for this project this year.

Toms Auškāps, Head of Communications and Strategic Development at Balticovo, highlights the importance of this project not only for the company, but also at a national level: “Production of such a natural gas equivalent is a strategic step not only in the development of our business, but also for national sustainability and Latvia’s energy independence. By producing biogas, we can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and our environmental impact.”

Using chicken manure in biogas production is an innovative process, which is crucial in the poultry industry’s road to achieving climate targets in Europe and the world. “As fas as I know, there is only one other biomethane reactor in the world producing biogas from chicken manure. It is a technologically complicated process due to the high calcium content in chicken manure. But having worked with scientists and experts and after years of research in Germany, we have developed a technology for successfully implementing this process. Just recently, this was still considered to be technologically impossible,” Mr Auškāps says.

Processing manure yields many environmental benefits: it eliminates emissions from unprocessed manure, and the resulting biogas is a significant source of green energy. Moreover, the company receives a green certificate for every tonne of biomethane produced, which can then be used to reduce the company’s CO2 footprint in environmental impact calculations, or they can be sold to other companies that are not as environmentally friendly. “Green certificates serve as additional returns on our investments, which is crucial both in terms of financials, as well as environmental protection. We are committed to not only producing energy from manure, but also actively reducing our environmental impact as a business, and this project is a major step towards that,” Mr Auškāps explains.

In addition to producing biogas, Balticovo is also continuing to develop various other innovations. In cooperation with a Dutch chicken coop manufacturer, the company currently has another innovative project in the the pipeline: fitting chicken coops with state-of-the-art recuperation systems. This project aims to resolve an intrinsic problem of poultry farming, namely the need to provide fresh air to the birds, whilst minimising energy loss. “Chicken coops produce a lot of heat, but the birds also need fresh air, which, in Latvia’s climate, often means additional energy expended to heat it. The new heat recovery devices installed in chicken coops will filter the air and use the heat separated from it to warm-up the incoming outdoor air thus reducing energy consumption and emissions,” Mr Auškāps explains.

The Balticovo group has been focusing its development projects on sustainability and promoting circular economy for many years already. Furthermore, Balticovo makes targeted annual investments in expanding cage-free egg production. This development strategy is in line with the company’s vision regarding improving bird welfare, and the trends in consumer demand in Europe, thus significantly contributing to raising the company’s international competitiveness. About 70% of the company’s products are exported to more than 20 countries around the world, with the main export markets being Estonia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany, but Balticovo products are also sold outside of Europe.