SecAnim, a UK provider of safe and secure collection and disposal services for the farming and meat production industry, has unveiled a new processing facility.

The new animal by-product processing plant is located at its renewable energy and recycling facility in Widnes, Cheshire. The ‘world-first’ operation completes the firm’s two-stage site regeneration plan, supported by a capital investment of more than £15 million (€16.6 million).

Set to be commissioned in October, the Shepherdson High Efficiency Plant (SHEP) will turn raw material into high-quality tallow meat and bone meal (MBM). The tallow will be used as a core ingredient for the production of biodiesel by firms such as SecAnim’s sister company, ecoMotion, while the MBM will provide fuel for the site’s combined heat and power (CHP) biomass plant.

At the heart of the SHEP development is a highly advanced processing plant, which harnesses low-temperature drying technology to maximise operational efficiencies. The facility uses significantly less energy than the operation it replaces, according to SecAnim, and is powered by renewable electricity generated through the category 1 animal by-product rendering process.

Alongside the site’s existing ReFood anaerobic digestion plant, SARVAL category 3 rendering facility and bubbling fluidised bed (BFB) power plant, the SHEP development will complete the Widnes site’s operations, which will collectively provide the world’s first fully-integrated solution for protein manufacturing, biomass recycling and renewable energy production.

Philip Simpson, commercial director at SARIA, the parent company of SecAnim, SARVAL, and ReFood, said: “Our Widnes operation has provided safe and secure animal by-product processing services since the 1930s. The site has long-since featured in the UK National Animal Disease Control and Eradication plans.

“We are delighted to unveil the culmination of our redevelopment programme, which creates a completely unique, fully-integrated, state-of-the-art solution for by-products arising from the food chain and represents a total recent SARIA investment at Widnes of almost £50 million (€55 million).

“Forming an integrated unit together with the SARVAL and ReFood plants, as well as the BFB, the SHEP facility sets the standards in capability, efficiency and sustainability – no other single operation in the UK can offer similar facilities or deliver similar benefits.”