The 2019 Salon International de l’Agriculture trade show and anaerobic digestion: a real-life experience

This new initiative aims to raise visitors’ awareness about the advantages of anaerobic digestion, an energy and environmental solution of the future for the agricultural profession and the regions. Designed by GRTgaz, the operation is implemented jointly by the show, which is committed to promoting innovative agricultural practices, and Thoiry Bioénergie, which will integrate these inputs into its own anaerobic digestion unit. The resultant energy will be used to heat its zoo facilities.

These organic materials correspond to so-called “cleaning” waste extracted at the end of the show from the Pavilion 1 stalls (“Livestock farming and its sectors”). The collection could be up to 250 tonnes of manure and slurry - enough to heat the huge building that houses the male giraffes at the Thoiry Zoo African Reserve for one year.

Producing biogas means producing locally!
Biogas is produced from organic effluents. It is then purified to be directly injected into existing gas networks or stored to meet all usage needs at a later date (heating, cooking, industrial processes, or fuel in the form of bioNGV). This renewable energy also produces digestate - a natural fertiliser that is an effective alternative to chemical fertilisers.

Biogas can be produced all year round, allowing farmers to diversify their business and generate additional guaranteed income, while creating indirect business and local jobs.

Thoiry Zoo: the first in the world to use anaerobic digestion for heating Since September 2018, the Thoiry Zoo has been heating all its facilities using a anaerobic digestion unit located on its site and connected to the GRDF distribution network. This facility received financial support from the Île-de-France Region and the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADME) for Île-de-France, which funded the project in the amounts of 25% and 20%, respectively. To supply the anaerobic digestion unit, nearly 11,000 tonnes of manure, green waste, unsold fruit and vegetables, and agricultural inputs from neighbouring farms are recovered each year to produce biogas.

This unprecedented operation at the SIA is part of the “Le Gaz. L’Energie des Possibles” [“Gas: The Energy of Possibilities”] campaign launched in October 2017 by GRTgaz to present the advantages of biogas and highlight actions undertaken in the regions by farmers, entrepreneurs, local authorities, researchers, etc. To read or re-read these testimonials, visit the website gazenergiedespossibles.fr.