Status analysis of biogas plants construction associated with development of live pig industry in China

The data of live pig industry development scale in China and the corresponding construction status of bio-gas plants from 2007 to 2012 were analyzed in the study. With the development and adjustment of live pig industry, large-scale standardized pig farms grew very fast. In the year of 2012, the proportion of scale pig-breeding farms by which more than 500 live pigs were sold every year achieved 38.5% in the whole country, while the number of pig farms at those scales was doubled during the 5 years. The increase of scale pig-breeding provided the opportunity for bio-gas plant construction. Thus, there was a rapid development of bio-gas plant construction in the 4 dominant pig-breeding areas. Especially, the bio-gas plant coverage of medium-scale and large-scale pig farms in coastal and southwest areas reached more than 80%. Among all the factors that affected bio-gas plant's usage and discarding, live pig industry adjustment and market fluctuation played an important role in the normal operation of bio-gas pl