Austep built and operates an anaerobic digester, producing electricity and heat, used in the butchery processes, situated at Inalca's facility, in Ospitaletto Lodigiano, Italy.  Inalca, one of the world's largest beef producers, needed to cope with the problem of butchery sludges, representing a growing cost as well as a hygienic concern.  Thanks to Austep's complete solution, all of the waste streams, such as thickened sludges, rumina,  fats and blood are now processed in the digester, to produce electricity and heat, used in the butchery department.

Furthermore, closing the loop, the digestate undergoes a liquid/solid separation.

The liquid fraction is treated in an SBR process, removing 75% of the nitrogen content, while the solid part is dried in a drier and sent to a composting station.

Inalca's facility has a slaughter capacity of 400,000 heads per year and outputs 800 tons/week of processed meat.  The weekly waste streams of over 1,100 tons of thickened sludge, 140 tons of rumina, 36 tons of blood, some 15 tons of fats would have normally generated considerable disposal costs, but are now a source of revenue, thanks to an electrical generation of 999 Kw/h, for well over 8,000 hours per year. The CHP heat is also used for driying the digestate, thus heavily reducing the residual volume.