Mazoon Dairy inaugurates the first biogas plant in region

Business Bureau, Gulf Today

Mazoon Dairy Company has commenced operations of the first-of-its-kind biogas plant in the region in Al Sunaynah, Oman, which uses waste from cows to produce gas that is used as alternative energy to operate some facilities at the factory. The switching on of the plant took place in the presence of Dr Hamad bin Saeed Al-Awfi, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries in Oman and the Board of Directors.

The biogas plant is part of Mazoon Dairy’s strategy to adopt environmentally friendly solutions and use waste to energy to enhance the efficiency of waste management.

This is the first time ever that a dairy company in the region has adopted clean technology on such a scale, making Mazoon Dairy a forerunner in harnessing environmentally friendly solutions in the dairy sector.

The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries toured the company’s facilities to assess operational readiness as production is slated to commence later this month.

He and the team visited the farm, the plant and the supporting facilities, including the desalination plants, wastewater treatment plant and biogas production plant.

Commenting on the start-up of the biogas plant, Yousuf Bin Khamis Al-Fazari, Corporate Affairs Manager, said: “Mazoon Dairy is committed to adopting environmentally friendly solutions through waste management, and we are so proud to inaugurate the first biogas plant in the region using cow waste.

“The biogas plant will be used to produce methane gas that will be used to operate equipment at the plant, with plans to power even more of the plant with increased herd in the future.

“The first phase of the project will include 12,000 cows that are expected to produce about 225 tonnes of fertiliser per day.”

Speaking about how the company will deal with the waste and convert it into gas, Engineer Hazza Bin Abdullah Al Yahya, a member of projects and maintenance team said: “The farm currently includes 16 barns equipped with a special pond to collect cow waste, which will be transported through special containers to the biogas plant on a daily basis”.

He added: “As the number of cows at the farm increases, the plant will reduce its reliance on fossil fuel needed to operate some facilities.

This will vastly contribute to managing waste produced by daily operations and drive up operational efficiency.

Mazoon Dairy is also committed to managing other waste produced at the site, such as plastic in the factory, and plans to recycle treated water from the sewage plant for irrigation in the facilities.

Mazoon Dairy has announced that its products will be available in Oman market this month.

The launch of Mazoon’s milk in the market is expected to transform Oman’s dairy sector by boosting self-sufficiency.

Citizens will be able to enjoy locally-produced farm fresh dairy a few hours after milking from the most technologically advanced dairy farm and factory in the country.

This marks a major milestone in the country’s journey towards building a self-reliant economy.

Mazoon Dairy Company is a first-of-its-kind, technologically advanced dairy company in Oman.

It was established in 2015 as a Closed Joint Stock Company between the Oman Food Investments Company and other government investment and pension funds with a total capital of RO 100 million, to drive self-sufficiency in food production in the Sultanate.

Mazoon Dairy operates a fully-integrated farm and factory in Al Sunayna in Al Buraimi with, the goal to process over 200 million litres dairy and other products by 2026.

The company aims to introduce a variety of dairy products and juices to the Omani market, including fresh milk (plain), fresh milk (flavoured), fresh cream, fresh laban, fruit yoghurts and desserts, fresh cheese and ice cream.