PROPOSED RM100 MILLION ANAEROBIC DIGESTION OF PIG WASTES PROJECT

News is in the air now that the Selangor State Government is proposing a centralized pig rearing industry somewhere in Sepang and that there will be a centralized pig wastewater treatment estimated to cost about RM100 million dollars. There must be excitements among contractors and vendors trying to secure the project! After 100 million 0.1 billion worth of money. Its a lot of money and the cost of building such mega anaerobic digestors would probably look easy on paper than in reality. It is very easy to build very large anaerobic digesters but it would not be easy to operate and maintain the process efficiently as the anaerobic digestion process is known for its sensitivity, process fluctuations and lack of stability. I wonder if the marketting people promises the moon in order to get the contract or will the State government will end up with a white elephant project? And the people surrounding the rearing site will still face air and water pollution from the pig generation activities?


Rearing pigs is a dirty business! Everybody knows that pigs generate a lot of wastes mainly through their faeces and urine. It is further compounded by the volume of wasted feed that end up in the wastewaters, Pig slurry is often characterised by very high BOD, COD, Solids and high ammonia and phosphates. It is the Armageddon of wastewater treatment

I feel concerned over the wastewater project being offered to the successful companies just based on a few visits by state representatives who probably knows next to nothing about wastewater treatment of pig slurry and bowled over by the platinum services given throughout their stay and site visits to these holiday spots. It makes me wonder how much they really see or understand the process. Secondly, the data or slide shows being generated to show to the invited guests from from our countries are perhaps too idealistic and does not reflect the reality.

I do hope our state counselors who endorse this project will learn from examples of failed projects almost similar nature.
My suggestion to the state government is that:

1 They must select their own experts who understand and foresee the problems of such ventures and be accountable for failure if any
2 The company being awarded the contract must provide real proof or carry out feasibility studies including scale ups to show that the proposed process is working in reality and not just on paper
3 Such studies should use our own pig wastes and under real conditions

Do not award the tender if these conditions are not fulfilled as it can be a source of embarrassment in the next general elections