Sustainable Development Goals
PROJECT INFORMATION AT A GLANCE:
Project Status:
Completed feasibility study and project development
Organizations Involved:
Harris Ranch Beef Company, City of Fresno, FuelCell Energy, Veolia, Biothane, Biodiesel Technologies, JH Kelly, TetraTech
Services / Equipment:
Due Diligence, Feasibility Studies, Plant Efficiency Upgrades, Supply Chain Management, Carbon Management, Packaged Solutions, Component Supply
What if the residues from producing beef could help power the processing plant and fuel the vehicles that take its products to market? Klean’s Harris Ranch concept connected wastewater treatment, manure digestion, rendering, biodiesel and fuel-cell generation into one development plan—using feedstock from the company’s own operations.
The Harris Ranch sustainable beef production concept brought together 3 MW of proposed renewable electricity generation, an outcome scenario of 5 million gallons of biodiesel annually, and a fleet application spanning 250 tractor and trailer refrigeration units. Klean’s completed feasibility work examined how these systems could strengthen the economics and environmental performance of an established food business.
The commercial insight was the connection between supply and demand. Harris Ranch generated recoverable organic material while purchasing electricity and transport fuel. Klean designed a way for those resource flows to support the same business, from livestock production through processing and delivery.
The Challenge
Make sustainability work inside a demanding food business
Harris Ranch’s scale made the opportunity significant. Klean’s project reference described annual production exceeding 200 million pounds of beef and cattle-finishing capacity of up to 120,000 head at one time. Water, electricity, fuel and residue management were substantial operating considerations across that production system.
Harris Ranch engaged Klean to assess technology improvements that could reduce costs and emissions while preserving the continuity of its core operations. The brief required commercially established technologies, practical implementation and attractive investment performance.
A defining constraint shaped the entire concept: the proposed systems had to use feedstock arising from Harris Ranch’s own business. Additional outside feedstock was excluded. That made the relationship between available residues, conversion capacity and internal energy demand central to the design.
Klean approached the assignment through detailed energy and waste audits, lifecycle analysis and an integrated review of the business. The objective was to connect improvements across several operating costs while maintaining the food-production priorities of the company.
The Solution
Build the connections between water treatment and energy production
The concept combined improved wastewater treatment with anaerobic digestion of suitable organic streams. Selected quantities of feedlot manure and processing wastewater would support biogas production, while treatment improvements would reduce the wastewater burden and create opportunities for appropriate water recovery.
Biogas would then be conditioned for use in a 3 MW fuel-cell power system. The development objective was to offset the processing plant’s electricity requirements, with surplus capacity available for grid export. This linked an unavoidable treatment duty with a recurring energy requirement and the potential for additional power revenue.
The commercial benefit depended on designing those functions together: available organic loading, gas production and quality, electricity demand and the fuel-cell system all formed part of the same assessment.
Turn rendering into a source of fleet fuel
Klean also evaluated bringing rendering onsite to recover suitable fats from beef-processing by-products. Those fats would supply an integrated biodiesel plant, creating a fuel route tied directly to Harris Ranch’s processing activity.
The proposed biodiesel would serve tractor and refrigerated-trailer fuel requirements, with surplus production available for sale. Klean’s outcome summary identifies 5 million gallons per year for this development scenario. Fleet use would be matched to fuel quality, blending and equipment requirements.
That connection gave the fuel project a practical internal customer. It also addressed the cost and handling involved in sending processing by-products elsewhere for rendering. The intended improvement combined resource recovery, logistics and greater control over material handling within the business.
Return a biodiesel coproduct to the energy system
The proposed biodiesel process would also generate glycerin. Klean proposed using this coproduct as an additional digester feed to increase biogas production. Its composition and controlled dosing would be incorporated into the biological process design.
This is the distinctive feature of the concept: a coproduct from the transport-fuel system could support the electricity system. The development connected technologies through their material flows, so that one process supplied another.
| Resource stream | Proposed conversion | Commercial purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Processing wastewater and selected manure | Integrated treatment and anaerobic digestion | Recover biogas and improve water management |
| Conditioned biogas | Fuel-cell generation | Supply processing electricity and enable surplus export |
| Recoverable fats from rendering | Biodiesel production | Serve fleet demand and sell surplus fuel |
| Biodiesel glycerin coproduct | Controlled addition to digestion | Support further biogas production |
The Outcome
A completed development plan with a quantified investment case
Klean’s work produced an integrated feasibility and project-development concept covering the wastewater treatment plant, rendering plant, biodiesel plant and fuel-cell power plant. The project record gives a US$70 million turnkey project cost basis for that combined scope.
Klean reported a 65% return-on-investment projection for the development. The historical funding scenario described grant support covering the fuel-cell plant and equipment costs, alongside biodiesel tax credits. This projected return belongs to Klean’s historical assessment and the financial assumptions used for that development.
The assessment also projected more than 90,000 metric tonnes of carbon emissions offset annually. This was a project-level projection supporting the integrated concept. Alongside the energy and fuel outputs, the plan addressed water conservation, reduced offsite by-product transport, technical employment and new skills in resource recovery.
The value of the assignment was a coordinated investment proposition. Wastewater treatment could contribute energy. Rendering could supply fuel production. Fleet demand could provide a use for that fuel. Glycerin could return to digestion. Each connection made the overall business case more complete.
For agriculture and food processors, Harris Ranch illustrates a substantial development opportunity: the same business can be both the source of recovered resources and the customer for their useful outputs. Klean’s contribution was to examine those connections as a whole and translate them into a technical and commercial plan.
1. Start with the resources and customers already inside the business. The concept matched Harris Ranch’s own residues with processing electricity and fleet fuel demand, making internal supply and consumption central to the investment case.
2. Evaluate the connections between technologies. The concept linked rendering to biodiesel feedstock, glycerin to digestion and biogas to fuel-cell generation. Its value depended on how those systems worked together.
3. Build the financial case across the complete operating system. Klean assessed water treatment, energy, fuel, handling and logistics within one US$70 million development scope. The reported 65% ROI belongs to that historical assessment and its assumptions.
These are selected achievements and lessons. Further technical and commercial insights are available through an engagement with Klean.
WHAT DO THESE LESSONS MEAN FOR YOUR PROJECT?
For a livestock business, meat processor or other food manufacturer, the first opportunity is to understand the relationship between its organic residues and its largest operating demands. Klean can assess wastewater, recoverable fats, manure, energy use and fleet requirements to identify an appropriate integrated development.
New equipment projects follow Detailed Equipment Quotation (DEQ) → Detailed Feasibility Study (DFS) → Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED). The engagement package outlines the work; the paid DEQ proposal supplies the preliminary technical and commercial basis. Existing-facility audits and advisory assignments are scoped to the business’s specific objectives.
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ABOUT THE INFORMATION PRESENTED
This case study describes Klean’s completed feasibility and project-development work. Capacities, costs, returns and emissions figures represent the concept and historical assessment. Supporting models, commercial terms and proprietary integration details are addressed within an agreed engagement and appropriate confidentiality arrangements.
The concept connects water management, renewable energy and resource recovery with Goals 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13 and 15. Its contribution is the integrated approach to reducing resource demand and improving the use of agricultural and processing residues.
