Scottish farmer gets £568k grant to convert porcine dung into electricity, cash!

London, Sept 20 (ANI): Scottish government has given a farmer 568,000-pound grant to convert porcine dung into electricity and cash.

In the biggest project of its kind, financed under Rural Priorities grant scheme, East Lothian landowner Jamie Wyllie will build a 1.5 million-pound "anaerobic digester" which will turn pig slurry into power for his farm, with any surplus being sold to the national grid.

An added bonus for nearby residents is that the process is expected to reduce the smells wafting across the countryside from pig-derived fertiliser, reports The Scotsman.

It was at Reading University that Wyllie, the director of Ruchlaw Produce in Dunbar, learned about how to turn waste into electricity. After graduating last year, he decided to put what he had learned into action.

"Anaerobic digesters are very common in Europe but not at all common in Britain," said Wyllie.

"We used them to try to combat oil and gas shortages after the war, but they were really inefficient. Then we forgot about them. We have always had oil, so we have never needed them.

"Now we are in a good position because countries like Germany and Denmark have done all the hard work," he added.

Methane and carbon dioxide will be created from the pig slurry fed into the digester.

Wyllie said: "The anaerobic digester is a living process, using bacteria which feed on the pig manure and food waste to produce methane gas.

"This methane gas is then burnt in an internal combustion engine to drive a generator which provides electricity for direct farm use or which will be fed into the national grid."

Wyllie said: "I want to help the community and the environment. I'm aware that we have to change the way we do things to do this.

"The construction of a digester will not only do that but also provide us with a better byproduct at the end of it." (ANI)