A scraper robot collects fresh manure in a stable and dumps it into the pre-pit to supply the digester of an agricultural micro-methanization plant, on January 30, 2024 in Marcheville-en-Woèvre, in the Meuse (AFP/Jean -Christophe VERHAEGEN)
Being a dairy farmer in France means “investments, investments, we just buy and the price of milk is falling”, says Aymeric Sauce in despair at his farm in Marchéville-en-Woëvre (Meuse), where installing a micro-methanation system allowed him to bring his farm up to standard.
With the new effluent storage rules, which now require a minimum retention of “six months in France, and nine months” according to European Union regulations, its operation had to undergo transformations in any case.
“Twenty years ago, we were largely up to standard. And now, we were already no longer there,” he sighs, regretting the constant evolution of the rules for operators.
He opted for a micro-methanization system, an approach that is still rare on French farms where large installations supplied by several farms are more common.
In its stable, a scraper robot passes among the cows every three hours to collect the slurry and push it into a pre-ditch. It will then be pumped into a large round machine, the digester, where it will remain maintained at a temperature of around 42°C, allowing the production of biogas.
The technical container and the thermal engine of a short circuit agricultural micro-methanization plant, January 30, 2024 in Marcheville-en-Woevre, in the Meuse (AFP/Jean-Christophe VERHAEGEN)
Combustion engines and generators powered by this biogas can produce electricity and heat. “For the moment, we resell all the electricity we produce,” which finances the installation, explains Aymeric Sauce.
He therefore continues, at the same time, to pay his electricity bills, but ultimately, his farm will be self-sufficient and he should even be able to resell 50% of the electricity produced.
The heat is already reused to power the farm’s machines, the heating of the dairy or the residential house of this farm with 65 dairy cows and 200 hectares of crops, which Aymeric Sauce and his brother have taken over. after their parents retired.
– “Additional income” –
If an open day of his micro-methanization installation had not kept him in the Meuse, Aymeric Sauce would be “in Paris”, with the Young Farmers. Last week, he participated in the blockades of the A4 motorway.
A scraper robot collects fresh manure in a stable and dumps it into the pre-pit to supply the digester of an agricultural micro-methanization plant, on January 30, 2024 in Marcheville-en-Woèvre, in the Meuse (AFP/Jean -Christophe VERHAEGEN)
Stéphane Dugravot, 50, a dairy farmer in the Vosges, also missed the meeting given by the farmers’ unions in Epinal to come and discover the installation. He finds the approach “interesting for everyone, because we add value to our livestock effluent, we produce electricity, it is additional income for the farmer”.
However, “our job is to produce food”, he emphasizes: there is no question of the installation replacing everyday work. “You shouldn’t bet everything on that for a farmer, we’re here to maintain the space, produce healthy food for the French people, but afterward, we diversify if we can,” insists Mr. Dugravot.
The investment, however, is not within the reach of all operators: Aymeric Sauce and his brother spent 300,000 euros, “without any aid” or state subsidy, according to them. For the moment, the methanizer only allows “financing the bringing up to standards” of the operation.
– Greener –
Implementing such a solution also makes it possible to be more in tune with the challenges of global warming, believes Mr. Dugravot: “Without micro-methanation, at home, I produce slurry, manure, I spread it directly but it There is a loss of methane which returns to the atmosphere.
The biogas inlet pipes in the technical container of a short circuit agricultural micro-methanization plant, January 30, 2024 in Marcheville-en-Woèvre, in the Meuse (AFP/Jean-Christophe VERHAEGEN)
And another important point for him, here “we remain at the dimension of exploitation”.
Many large-scale methanizers have emerged, particularly in the Meuse or the Vosges: “But growing corn to give it to the methanizer, I don’t see the point,” says Mr. Sauce. He gives him his corn “to eat for the cows”, so it all ends up in the methanizer “without transport, without anything”.
The methanized slurry, which forms a “digestate”, also gives a more natural fertilizer, assures Sigrid Farvacque, sales manager at Biolectric, which markets these micro-methanizers.
We can also capture in the digester “up to 90% of methane emissions which would otherwise have evaporated into nature”, she insists.
Ultimately, the resale of electricity will allow the operator to diversify its sources of income. “We hope to have ensured the sustainability of the company,” believes Aymeric Sauce, who nevertheless remains cautious.
© 2024 AFP
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