Feasible study of biogas energy for Thai dairy cooperative from dairy cow manure: The potential and economic analysis

The objective of this study is to estimate the potential of energy from dairy cow manure for the dairy cooperatives in Thailand. According to the information from the Cooperative Promotion Department, there are 118 cooperatives with 25,757 dairy farmers and 364,745 dairy cows. In addition, the dairy cow cooperatives, farmer numbers and cow numbers are divided by regions and the potential of energy is presented in various forms. The highest number of cow by region is found in the Central region with 262,805 dairy cows. The highest number of cow is found in the dairy cooperative in the Central region with 71,952 dairy cows. The highest energy potential is in the Central region with 1,202,656 MJ/day of LPG equivalent. Using the model from a previous successful study in Lamphayaklang Reform Land Dairy Cooperative, the analytical results of finances index, the net present values (NPV), is propose to evaluate the feasible of biogas plant establishment. The results show that the NPV from total Thai dairy cooperatives is about 953,261,057.50 Baht and the NPV of the Central region is 686,840,867.50 Baht that the number of dairy cow cooperatives is 40.68% of total number of dairy cow cooperatives in Thailand. Finally, this paper provides an overview of the potential energy from biogas plant that could use as the renewable energy under the sustainable energy concept.