• Environment
• Livestock

Design and costs of installing the Gas Loop innovation: A case study

In addition to the environmental benefit, the economic sustainability of the innovation was assessed, both in terms of impact on the value of the kg of meat produced and by calculating the costs to be incurred in the case of a complete installation or in the case of just preparing the building to host at a later stage the treatment system. The treatment system entails a management and depreciation cost (as of 2023) between 0.15 and 0.17 euros per kg of live weight sold which is compared to the price of €2.27/kg, for heavy pigs in the protected circuit for the supply chain PDO (CUN pigs, December 2023), means an incidence of 7.3%. In collaboration with the partner pig farm Colombaro, a case study was developed based on the reality of one of its 6 sheds that host fattening, the only shed on the farm still to be renovated. The working hypothesis was to demolish the current pigsty and rebuild a new one with the same external dimensions (114.96 x 18.6 m). The new pigsty has a maximum capacity of 1,440 animals in line with the current one. The pits under the slatted floor have a vacuum system to move away the slurry. The estimated cost of the pigsty is €1,284,400, to which must be added the works necessary to prepare the pigsty for the 4-machine Gas Loop system (installation of suction ducts, suction pipes, gate valves, etc.), for a estimated amount of €28,000, while the other device (including treatment machines) can be carried out at a later time, because they are external and do not involve demolitions and/or demanding removals. The total cost of the treatment plant was estimated at €208,000, of which 13.5% was attributable to the preparation works mentioned above. The preparation works for the new building alone have a cost equal to 2.2% of the basic cost of the pigsty, while if the complete system were also installed the incidence would be 16.2% on the cost of the pigsty. The impact of innovation compared to the value of the kg of meat sold is not negligible (7.3%). However, considering the modest cost of the additional preparation works on the total cost of construction/renovation of a new pigsty (2.2% compared to 16.2% of the complete installation), it is advisable to foresee these works, because they will allow in a second time to easily implement the air treatment system. The intervention, on the contrary, on existing pigsties would be more complex and expensive.