Bioenergy Devco on Tuesday received conditional approval from the Sussex County Council to move forward in constructing an anaerobic digester that would turn poultry waste into organic soil and natural gas. The plant now awaits final approval from the state of Delaware.

Perdue Farms AgriRecycle had previously owned and operated the facility as a composting station. Maryland-based Bioenergy Devco bought the facility in late 2019 and has expanded it to include the anaerobic digester.

The composting station was capable of converting 30,000 tons of waste into useful organic material per year. With final approval from the Delaware Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), the digester is expected to process up to 220,000 tons of material per year.

Compost is later sold as fertilizer to companies such as Scotts.

Chesapeake Utilities has proposed to truck the excess natural gas created by the digester away to processing facilities and feed it into its pipeline for service across the state.

As part of the Perdue AgriRecycle facility sale to Bioenergy, Perdue Farms has agreed to provide input materials to the facility for 20 years.

The $45 million digester talk should be in full operation by early 2022, if final state approval is received. The facility currently employs 11 full-time staff. Construction is expected to add between 40 and 45 jobs, while the final facility will employ roughly 30 employees for the digester and 11 for the compost facility.

“We are very pleased with the decision made by the Sussex County Council regarding our application for conditional use. The [digester] will provide a much-needed alternative to organic material management in the area,” Bioenergy Devco chief development officer Peter Ettinger said. “Not only will the facility reduce land application, and poultry organics from going into landfills, but will also turn these organics into renewable natural gas and digestate, an organic, virtually odorless soil amendment.”