Oril-Leader -one of the biggest biogas plants in Europe

Project's context & challenges

Oril-Leader is a full-cycle poultry farm, producing everything from day-old chicks to broiler meat. The production process includes egg incubation, rearing, slaughtering, and broiler processing. The farm supplies products to Ukraine’s domestic market.

MHP aims to achieve full energy independence using organic farming practices. A key part of this goal is the biogas plant, which converts chicken manure into heat, cooling, and energy—helping MHP move toward energy self-sufficiency.

By the end of 2014, the plant reached full capacity. In 2015, it operated at that level consistently. It remains Europe’s largest biogas facility dedicated to processing chicken manure and slaughterhouse waste.

Key figures

~ 900 ton substrates/day

Feedstock

20.000.000 m 3/ year

Biogas

41.000.000 m3/year

Electrical energy

30.000 Gcal/year

Heat energy

Customer benefits

Complete biogas solution by Nijhuis

Turn agricultural waste into energy (5MWh

Treat several types of substrates.

Energy self sufficient system

Solution

In 2012, Nijhuis secured the contract to deliver a full-scale biogas installation for Oril-Leader. The plant began operating at full capacity in 2013, generating 5 MWh of energy—enough to power 15,000 apartments and provide heat to 1,500.

The process starts with chicken manure and sorghum fed into a mixing tank, where they are combined with liquid substrates like wastewater and flotation sludge. The mixture is then distributed across four main digester tanks (AECOMIX-TAURUS). To maximize biogas output, the digestate is further processed in six post-digesters.

The resulting biogas contains high levels of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), which exceeds the tolerance of gas engines. To address this, the system includes a desulfurization unit and a gas scrubber. Once cleaned, the biogas powers:

Gas boilers at the slaughterhouse
Cooling systems via swing absorption during summer
Five combined heat and power (CHP) units

After digestion, the material is separated into a solid fertilizer and a liquid fraction, both of which can be reused as agricultural fertilizer—supporting a circular, sustainable process.