Anaerobic Digestion News

A review of the New 2012 Edition of the "Introduction to Waste Technologies" eBook

2012-01-03T14:01:00.001Z

New goods and services are continually coming on the web. It's tricky to keep abreast of them all. We get tired of the continual notices for new releases, customarily just stop listening to them. Since there's so very little of worth in a lot of offers thrown at us, we become calloused and bored with them, usually just dismiss them all.

Often this works O.K.

On occasion though, there may be exceptions...

You can find unexpected nuggets of value in-between your junk offers. For example, there's a product in the waste technology and Mechanical Biological Treatment ( MBT ) category, named "An Introduction to Waste Technology" that shows a ton of promise.

It's been dreamed-up and developed by Steve Last, who's now offering the new updated 2012 eBook version for sale. So tell me, why is it getting attention and gaining a following? In general, what the 2008 version's been doing currently is steadily selling since it was last updated in 2008.

You'll find 3 unique strengths that make "An Introduction to Waste Technology" stick out from its competition, 3 principal positive aspects that consumers mention in their many testimonials. These three significant advantages are clear and concise outlines of each of the main the waste technology and processes used to steer waste away from rubbish heap, an author who knows his subject and waste treatment process flow charts and tables of arguments for each waste technology described. Let's look at each one of these in finer detail.

Follow the link below to read the full review:

A review of the New 2012 Edition of the "Introduction to Waste Technologies" eBook

Or - go direct to the sales page by Clicking Here.

Anaerobic Digestion News: Renewables Have No Prospect of Becoming Economical...

2011-12-15T13:20:00.000Z

Anaerobic Digestion News: Renewables Have No Prospect of Becoming Economical...: Believe it or not, that headline is a direct quote from a new report from the right wing Adam Smith Institute, titled " Renewable Energy: V...

Strong Criticism Given of Anaerobic Digestion Industry Safety Standards for Its Workforce

2011-12-06T14:56:00.001Z

The experienced process industry supplier Landia feels so strongly about a lack of Biogas safety within the biogas industry that it has issued a press release on the subject. "Standards demand attention" – say Landia.

Pain like this and far worse will be the harsh reality for Anaerobic Digestion plant workers and management if the young industry does not pay more attention to safety on its sites.

Landia says it and several other established pump and mixer manufacturers are seriously concerned about health and safety at biogas plants, which they claim range from excellent to poor, to non-existent. The following is a quote from their press release:

To date in the UK it is fortunate that there has only been one biogas fatality, when a 29-year-old man was overcome by methane fumes at a farm anaerobic digester unit, but according to Landia, the thirst of the young industry to grow and become profitable has moved far faster than basic health & safety regulations.

“Our experience at some sites, quite frankly, has been a joke”, states Landia’s Paul Davies. “Recently we were asked to work up 8-metre ladders with large drills, which we explained we couldn’t and wouldn’t even consider doing because it’s totally unsafe – and is of course against all health and safety laws and Construction (Design and Management) Regulations. It wasn’t that the customer was trying to cut corners; they simply didn’t know. Maybe this is to be expected in a young industry? – but if that’s the case there needs to be some immediate training and education”.

Davies points to Landia’s 97% pass rate for UVDB VERIFY Approval, but says this exacting standard, which covers all areas of Health & Safety, Quality and Environment, Management Systems and On-Site actions, isn’t recognised by the AD industry. He says that promotion and direction from trade associations needs to be significantly improved, with a minimum standard implemented very soon.

Landia’s UK & Eire Director Hugh Vaughan added: “This isn’t just another ‘what if’, or one of those ‘perish the thought’ plugs for safety or insurance. What Landia have witnessed both in the UK and abroad is frightening. So far it’s just pure good fortune that serious accidents haven’t happened”.

He continued: “Apart from shouting out a suitable four-letter warning or such like, there isn’t much you can say when, with your own eyes, you see somebody perched on the edge of a high top rail of a tank whilst he’s unclipping a membrane cover that happens to be partially inflated. Or young workmen walking over the top of a partially unclipped membrane when the digester is full!

“Don’t take a chance. Consider the consequences before placing that biogas order, and make sure those you’ve chosen to work with a company that has a proper understanding of how a biogas plant works, how to maintain it, and how to do it safely”.

Read more at Landia's web site, click here.

Is it possible that Farming Industry and other AD Plant clients are not aware of their responsibilities for Health and Safety in the way in which other industries are? Managers and indeed anyone commisioning contractors to come onto the site of an Anaerobic Digestion Plant within all small businesses are responsible for ensuring that they provide all necessary H&S information to the Contractor. They must also ensure that their appointed contractors have demonstrated to them their competence for carrying out such works safely, before they award work to them.

This should include providing a Method Statement and Working Methods for the work to be done, and which must include DSEAR Compliance where any explosion risk is also potentially present. For DSEAR advice contact info@anaerobic-digestion.com and ask for DSEAR compliance information for AD Plants.

Waste Conversion Technology Meet Clients and Peers in San Jose – Book Before 11 November

2011-11-09T22:28:00.001Z

Waste Conversion Technology Meet Clients and Peers in San Jose - Book Before 11 November

Anaerobic Digestion News: Carr Farm £2.5M Green Energy Project Reaches Miles...

2011-11-07T18:00:00.000Z

Anaerobic Digestion News: Carr Farm £2.5M Green Energy Project Reaches Miles...: Image: Courtesy Farmgen With all the worldwide business news being so bleak at the moment it is easy to forget that the Anaerobic Diges...

Anaerobic Digestion News: Sewage Sludge Reuse: Come On OFWAT the Time for an...

2011-10-29T23:26:00.000+01:00

Anaerobic Digestion News: Sewage Sludge Reuse: Come On OFWAT the Time for an...: By Steve Last: Renewable Energy News Beckton Sewage Works, London We know that until quite recently what to do with sewage sludge was ...

Anaerobic Digestion News: Feces-Powered Motorcycle? Bullsh*t What Do You Thi...

2011-10-25T00:37:00.000+01:00

Anaerobic Digestion News: Feces-Powered Motorcycle? Bullsh*t What Do You Thi...: Let us put the record straight! A three-wheeled motorbike that runs on the rider's feces? It sounded much too unsanitary to be true. Sure e...

Five Major Reasons Why You Should Support Anerobic Digestion

2011-09-18T22:17:00.002+01:00

Perhaps you've been in circumstances that led you to imagine that perhaps you might like to support anerobic digestion? Many individuals have gone beyond just answering yes, and have really started to take some action.

The great majority of folks just consider it quickly, then never do anything at all about it The majority never get moving because they don't know how simple it sometimes is to do. Others imagine that it would probably take a lot of work, which makes them to lose interest. Others just consider it too low a concern to be seriously worth disturbing with. Hold it! Just hang on a minute now...

Are those reasons really satisfactorily good to base a weighty decision on? Did the explanations for receive a fair hearing? Did both the Pro as well as the Con side get considered? The positive things don't appear to have been totally thought through... Learn tips to understand the intricacies of biogas production by visiting this anerobic digestion website at www.anaerobic-digestion.com.

Maybe that truly requires a tad bit more thought... May be we ought to consider say, 5 reasons explaining why maybe you need to support anerobic digestion and then work out how things might look from that point of view. To start, it is a strategy of making power from natural byproducts.

Right, I really can understand your comment this material is pungent and upsetting, whatever anybody does with it'll likely make more smells so just bury it in a rubbish heap.

I cheerfully concede that is a good point. However we need to also look at this, what could actually be better than to use it for a good purpose? Also, if the processing is done within a building and all smells are removed from the exhaust air from the building what odours could that make?

In addition, it is really important to recollect the odours which happen when the digestate is spread as compost on the land are hugely less than spreading the muck without digesting it first.

2nd , anaerobic digestion produces green energy which oes not add to global warming gases in the atmosphere. That's as the CO2 it produces is an element of the natural cycle that has carried on since the planet was made.

That is actually the rationale that, as many have mentioned it is known as "renewable" and it is also referred to as alternative power ( alterative to normal fuel power from coal and oil - normal fuel ). 3rd , the energy we make is secure. Once the plants to supply biogas are built and working no oil crisis in the Middle East or maybe war, can interrupt our energy supplies.

And such interruption sadly looks very likely to occur at this time! 4th , the pricetag can really be less to supply biogas fuel than purchasing oil at current costs. And fifth, the anaerobic digestion plants themselves provide roles for the area folk to run them and to maintain them.

Now, take a quick look at all those reasons and evaluate them. You'll be in a position to observe that a forceful case can be made for beginning to look for approaches to support anerobic digestion. Stop for one minute and consider all that. Do you not think that perhaps, just maybe, you actually should support anerobic digestion?

What Is The Likely Future Scale Of Replenishable Energy In Climate Change Mitigation?

2011-08-24T19:20:00.005+01:00

Like them

or not, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has done more thinking about climate change and how society might change its habits to avoid the worst effects of rising temperatures than any other group of people, so I would suggest that the Anaerobic Digestion Community should take note of what the IPCC publishes.

That's why I was interested when on 9 May this year, the IPCC released a special report on the role of renewable energy in mitigating climate change. In this article, which is based on an interview with Georgie Weedon and published in Nature Climate Change (Vo. 1, June 2011), we have summarised the notes which were published when he spoke to Ottmar Edenhofer, chair of the working group behind the report, about its key findings and implications.

The report was commissioned by a number of world governments who asked the Intergovernmental Panel on Global Warming to offer an evaluation of the potential role of renewables in offsetting global warming. The report investigates the role of numerous technologies like wind, biomass, solar and geothermal energy in the worldwide energy mix, and it also examines the amount to which the deployment of replenishable energy is consistent with energy security, climate policy, and also with accelerating human development, particularly in developing nations.

The main conclusions of the report are that by the middle of the century, the proportion of renewables in the worldwide energy mix may be from thirty percent to round about eighty percent. Also, though renewables will play a crucial role, there's more than one way to achieve a low-carbon economy. The report formulates alternative paths to make certain shareholders and policymakers actually understand the choices.

It proves that improving energy security and human development, and implementing climate policy are all consistent with impressively large scale deployment of renewable power. But, quite naturally it's up to our statesmen and shareholders in a large number of businesses worldwide to choose what extent they develop the potential identified.

Biomass is considered by some as of arguable benefit, due to the demand it places on land use. To what degree the usage of biomass is supportable is a contrary issue.

I suppose that most of all I was disappointed that in this discussion and presumably therefore within the report as well, there was no distinction made between anaerobic digestion of waste biomass, and biomass from food crops. It was disappointing that the point was not made that a lot of biomass would come from what have previously be considered to be waste materials such as manures and organic sludges. I fail to see what there can be any argument about the undoubted benefit from producing “renewables” from waste organic matter.

One critical element in deciding the role of biomass energy will be expectancies and the prophecies for future rural productiveness. With reasonable land-use management and with a fair increase in rural productivity we will be able to quite definitely afford a bit more biomass use without damaging biodiversity and food security.
The report is explicit about these underlying unknowns create such a wide band of predicted utilization and plans to raise the profile about how biomass may be employed in a viable way, within the stakeholder community. Currently bio-energy use is at an especially low level and it can be increased in a supportable way. For appropriate development it needs policy and reasonable management practices to be developed in the rural sector.

Only 14% of global electricity production comes from nuclear power, and many established bodies, eg the World Energy Agency and even the IPCC, say that the proportion of nuclear power for electricity production might decline over a period of time. This suggests that almost all of the electricity production will come from alternative sources like coal, oil and gas, and also from renewables. One critical point is that we've got a lot of coal, oil and gas underground, and without a price on carbon or climate policy we'll use coal. This can increase emissions around the world. This is what we are expecting and thus a mix of renewable power policy and climate policy is needed to reduce emissions and to provide secure and supportable energy.

The report implies that global warming itself can impede the capability for clean energy - by changing wind speeds, as an example.

The report covers the genuine “levelized” value of energy, and the IPCC have considered 164 eventualities to show the potential range of chances. That's due to the fact that they wanted to show more than one pathway to clean energy, to open the space for policymakers to work in.

Solar and biomass are the biggest current sources of replenishable energy. Which may or may not make them the most promising contenders in the future worldwide energy mix as the future it is completely dependent on how policy evolves. Biomass has a crucial part to play if you want to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions, it's a mitigation option. But if there isn't any climate policy, the contribution of biomass would be smaller. Solar electricity has the biggest technical potential.

The largest obstructions to making the switch to replenishable energy are now diminishing. In the past, the expenses for renewable operators were huge.

Regardless of whether you remove the consequences of assistance, most green energy sources were simply not competitive during the past. The most important stumbling blocks now are the issues of integration and the expenses. Also, the deployment of renewables is dependent on having a strong climate policy. It's important to make money from capital in the market when there's a trustworthy carbon price, investment straight away becomes competitive.

The report shows that the developing countries are developing as world figureheads in renewable power generation.

The IPCC Special Report on Renewable Power Sources and Global Warming Mitigation was released in May 2011 and is obtainable from http://srren.org

Georgie Weedon is a journalist and communications specialist based in London, UK. e-mail: georgie [[@]] gingerwinkmedia.cc4

Investment In Waste Infrastructure Creates More Jobs And Saves More Carbon Than Investment In Wind Farms

2011-08-24T02:06:00.001+01:00

The ESA, the voice of the waste and resource management sector, today (Monday) publishes a new report quantifying the economic growth potential of the waste management sector and comparing its impact on jobs and carbon emissions with that of wind farms.

Matthew Farrow, ESA Director of Policy, said:

“The Government has been overly focused on high profile green sectors such as wind power and electric vehicles. Important as these may be, with the economy stumbling and having just adopted very tough carbon budgets, the Government is missing a trick if it does not act to realise the potential of the waste management sector.
Pound for pound, investment in waste infrastructure creates more jobs and saves more carbon emissions than investment in wind farms. Tomorrow’s Waste Review announcement must show the Government recognises the potential of the sector to deliver real ‘green growth.’”

The report, entitled Green growth: don’t waste the opportunity’ compares the jobs created and emissions saved by a £1bn investment in a representative ‘basket’ of waste management infrastructure with the same amount invested in onshore wind turbines. It finds that the waste infrastructure investment creates over four times more jobs (3,000 compared to 650), as well as saving much more carbon emissions (4 million tonnes compared to 1.4 million tonnes).

The report also quantifies the economic impact of the waste infrastructure investment needed to deliver the UK’s targets for waste management enshrined in EU law:

• Total investment needed by 2020: £7.5bn to £20bn (depending on mix of waste technologies deployed)
• Permanent £2bn increase in GDP
• 20,000 construction jobs supported during construction
• 25,000 permanent jobs created in the facilities

The ESA is calling on the Government, in the Waste Review, to put in place the investment framework that will enable the waste management sector to go forward with its investment plans. This framework must include:

• A clear place for energy from waste in energy policy
• A more predictable planning system for waste infrastructure
• A crackdown on illegal waste businesses which undermine the investments of responsible firms.

See more at the ESA website.

How Much does an Anaerobic Digestion Plant Cost?

2011-08-20T14:09:00.000+01:00

We are often asked how much an Anaerobic Digestion Plant costs, and of course, a plant can cost "not much", or "a great deal of money" depending on the scale of the plant, and the degreee of sophstication built into it. plus many other factors. That's not a very helpful answer, is it?

What makes this question of cost even more difficult is that the developers of these plants quite reasonably, consider their costs to be commercially sensitive information and rarely publish information on their costs. The UK government's waste technology development encouraging quango "WRAP", has done a good job in recent years by publishing a comparative table of the range of costs for different technologies to "dispose" of waste for the different solid waste treatment technologies, but their pricing suffers like the rest of us from the dearth or data, and their price guidance is based on just a few examples.

That is why it was good to see that the Fife Council, Scotland, which is seeking to develop new biowaste processing infrastructure on land under its control at its existing Lochhead Landfill site near Dunfermline, has published the contract award price (in the Award Notice), for their new plant on the EU's Official "Tenders online database" (TEDs).

The price they give is admittedly for their very site specific solution to building an AD Plant to meet the needs of the local community, as part of scotland's Zero Waste to landfill targets, so it is only typical of this type of plant.

The proposed facility will utilise AD as a central componentent of its processing technology and will have the capacity to process a minimum of 43,000 tonnes per annum of source segregated biowaste feedstocks (comprising food waste, garden waste and commercial organic wastes). We are also told that the plant will also be designed to maximise the methane content of the biogas generated by the process, for subsequent energy recovery.

The new facility will be operated by Council's own staff and will provide facilities for feedstock reception, storage, handling, processing and management (including maturation, refinement and storage prior to export) of the process by-products, which wil include digestate and biogas energy.

The plant design must is required to meet the technical standard for processing Category 3 materials under the applicable Animal By-Products Regulations in Scotland and must achieve a digestate standard that as a minimum, complies with the quality requirements of BSI PAS:110 Specification for Digestate.

The successful contractor is Luddon has been engaged by the Council to carry out the design, construction, commissioning and performance testing of this new biowaste plant and this will include specialist training of nominated Council staff in AD process operation.

The Contract Award cost is £14, 980 463,01 GBP excluding VAT - which it is understood that the Council being a public body, would not normally be required to pay, so the predicted price of an Anaerobic Digestion Plant is in this example (not including running coosts), in round figures - £15 million GBP.

Find out more about the Contractor at http://www.luddon.co.uk

Biffa Awards AD Ground Breaking Digestate Recycling Contract to 4Recycling

2011-08-07T00:54:00.001+01:00

20 July 2011, original source: edie newsroom

The edie Newsroom has reported that Biffa, the operator of the soon to be fully commissioned Anaerobic Digestion Plant at the Poplars Landfill, has awarded the contract to manage and market their AD digestate to to 4Recycling.

This is dubbed as a recycling contract, but many view AD digestate as a product in its own right.

4Recycling has been awarded the 3-year duration contract by Biffa to recycle their digestate from a their anaerobic digestion (AD) facility at Poplars, near Cannock in Staffordshire.

Production of digestate from the facility, which has the capacity to process 120,000 tonnes of waste per annum, is likely to commence later in the year.

The digestate will be produced to PAS 110 standard and 4Recycling will provide a technical, transport and recycling service for both solids and liquids working with local contractors and landowners to provide a continuous service for the plant.

4R Group's managing director, Mike Holt, is reported by edie.net to have said: "We are really pleased to be supporting Biffa on this important contract."

"Our team have decades of experience in developing recycling outlets for organic materials, delivering huge carbon savings by substituting out fossil-derived fertilizers in agriculture or bringing brownfield land back into use."

Read the full article at edie.net here

Anaerobic Digestion Makes Renewable Energy from Rubbish

2011-07-29T01:20:00.000+01:00

An Anaerobic Digestive system which is appropriate for processing mixed waste has been developed from technology first developed in Israel. It recovers resources from waste while making renewable power and helping to reduce carbon emissions. The ArrowBio process has been developed thru a sequence of pilot and demonstration plants to a level prepared to be used commercially in numerous nations according to its developer, and is, they ssay, most fittingly described as a water-based mechanical biological treatment (MBT) facility, with energy recovery. ArrowBio's process has been developed in precisely the way that it can either be used as a stand-alone solution or together with other technologies.

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As an example, the supplier says that it can be built inside viable energy parks to offer a power source for the park alongside recycled materials for further processing. The recycled materials are re-used as feedstock by the other enterprises based in the park to make a spread of products. 2 Stage Anaerobic Digestor ArrowBio starts out to entirely recover and wash the reusable components of the waste, so it should be favoured by environmental groups which have a tendency to object to alternative processes which handle mixed waste, like incineration, on the proposition the capability of incineration to handle mixed wastes decreases the prerequisite to split and recycle, and therefore the influenza gas can contain noxious chemicals. The discussion is also that incineration makes it too straightforward to neglect recycling, so it shouldn't be used.

None of these beefs apply to Anaerobic Digestion. The process is stated by the company to have at its core a two stage anaerobic digestor that has been optimised for better energy yield than competing systems, from each unit mass of organic matter processed. Removing the maximum available gas yield, is in truth a stated first purpose of the ArrowBio processs. This is recognized as good policy environmentally, and naturally the gas and, or electricity generates cash, which helps to pay for the upkeep of the plant. The process is composed of 2 distinct yet integrated parts : a "front-end" wet Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) and a "back-end" advanced anaerobic digestion system.

The wet MRF, Arrow-Bio states, mixes standard solid waste handling technology together with liquid and slurry pumping, water based processing helps, passive separation, and cleaning of recyclables and their automated conveyance round the facility, while also suppressing odours and dust. The wet MRF cleans, and recovers, ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals and plastics parted by type. These are then sorted into recycled materials of varied grades that may be sold right into the recycling market. A "hydrocrusher" has additionally been successfully developed by ArrowBio, the company says, which is part of the wet ( anaerobic ) process. In effect the bio-degradable waste is jetted with high pressure jets of water thru a sequence of pipes. Food and paper is ripped to shreds, significantly rocketing the surface area available to biological action, while at the same time holding the organic chemicals in a watery solution.

Any waste that's not recoverable or that's not sent thru the anaerobic digesters exits from the ArrowBio facility as a residual waste, and is typically present in only in minor quantities, they say. The 1st part of ArrowBio's anaerobic digestion process is often known as the acidogenic stage, and the 2nd is a methanogenic stage.

The biomass achieves perfect potency compared to single tank AD, they say, and includes optimization of pH levels, temperature and residence times is attained instantly. The plant has claimed low emissions. The ArrowBio design wishes for no expensive gas washing stage, we are told, and the principally water borne method doesn't produce the wearisome ( dust, odour, etc ) emissions experienced from other processes. Recognition of the supportability of Anaerobic Digestion is rising fast. Learn more about this technology for the future at the Anaerobic Digestion internet site, and more on the ArrowBio AD Process.

Read more about the AD process now. Visit the ArrowBio article at Anaerobic Digestion.Com..

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Arla Foods and Xergi Progress with Largest Biogas Plant in Denmark

2011-07-21T23:48:00.000+01:00

The ambitious project to establish a new biogas plant to supply Arla’s production at Videbæk, Denmark, is now entering a new phase. Arla Foods amba and Xergi A/S have agreed to continue their partnership on the project which is yet to be described in detail and obtain official approval.

Arla Foods amba and Xergi A/S have established a basis for decisions for the construction of a biogas plant which is to supply the energy-hungry processes at Danmarks Protein (DP) and Arinco with biogas instead of natural gas. The plant will be capable of reducing CO2 emissions from production. The plant will produce 16 million cubic metres of methane from agricultural animal manures and waste products from Arla’s own production.

The plant will be the largest biogas plant in Denmark.

It has been agreed that Xergi A/S will handle project development, construction, operation and maintenance of the new biogas plant. Povl Krogsgaard, Senior Vice President at Arla Foods, is delighted that work is progressing on the project and sees it as a natural part of Arla’s development:

“The initiative should be seen as part of Arla Foods’ climate strategy where our ambition is to reduce our CO2 emissions by 25% by 2020. We hope that the initiative will benefit the climate as well as farmers and investors. It is, however, a prerequisite that the right framework is in place for biogas which we are now able to clarify as we have a more precise basis for decisions. Until further notice, we see this as a very positive step on the way.”

Jørgen Ballermann, Managing Director of Xergi A/S, is delighted that Xergi has been chosen as Arla Foods partner. “The project supports our strategy of being a leading supplier of biogas technology for the processing and exploitation of animal fertiliser. The project will be of a size and importance that will provide a benchmark for the industry both nationally and internationally.”

Ove Kloch, Chairman of the Board of Xergi A/S, is also looking forward to the partnership which is in line with Denmark's environmental ambitions.

”We hope that, with this initiative, we will help to push developments in the biogas industry in Denmark in the right direction and contribute to the government's ambitions of using 50% of animal manures in Denmark for biogas.”

It is expected that official processing and project development will take approximately two years and that the plant will be ready for biogas production by 2015.

See original press release at Xergi's website here.

Gas Data Clicks Ahead with Anaerobic Digester Gas Analysis and Control

2011-06-21T13:09:00.003+01:00

Gas Data has announced that it has developed a simple but highly effective self-maintenance Click System to give users greater flexibility over traditional fixed-unit gas analyser systems.

Designed to significantly reduce downtime and costly annual service visits, Click allows basic operational maintenance to be conveniently carried out by any qualified electrician.

They point out that a typical Click system installation contains all the necessary component parts such as gas analysers, pumps, filters and switching valves that have a working or calibration life, and would possibly need to be changed during traditional service visits. Individual Click modules can easily be removed for maintenance. Valve and pump modules are supplied with status indicator lights and manual over-ride switches for ease of commissioning and fault finding.

Alongside this new system Gas Data\'s new innovative BOS Biogas oil system has been developed; treating only the vital 5% of gas which enters the crankcase it they say that it combats the corrosive effects of hydrogen sulphide in biogas. They inform us that recently an independent 3,000 hour trial showed cost savings of 39% on engine oil consumption and downtime.

In partnership to these systems the GFM400 series of portable gas analysers provide support and are vital in assisting with the fixed systems, all of which are MCERT approved. The GFM416 is currently unique among portable gas analysers as it is the only MCERT approved Biogas analyser on the market.

Read more about the Gas Data Click System here.

Landfill Gas and Renewables Company Infinis Awards Star Net Geomatics with National Framework Agreement for Geospatial Services

2011-05-17T23:38:00.001+01:00

Infinis awards Star Net Geomatics with National Framework Agreement for Geospatial Services.

Infinis, a UK leading renewable energy generator, has awarded Star Net Geomatics with a national framework agreement for the provision of Geospatial Survey services to its entire landfill gas (LFG) UK sites portfolio. This contract includes topographic, setting out and laser surveys for all its LFG portfolio and also supplying services for its onshore wind and hydro portfolio (a total of 140 operating onshore wind, hydro and LFG plants). As part of this agreement, Star Net Geomatics will also provide a bespoke Star Net (www.starnetisite.com), an online asset management facility which will host all data collected during the survey allowing Infinis’ Engineers and site operatives to access and manage site information at any time and from anywhere in the country.

Duane Longthorn, Procurement Manager, says: “Our thorough and extensive tender process demonstrated that Star Net not only met our expectations but exceeded them with a pro-active and innovating offer including management and control of a database to ensure our information is accessible, central and live. I look forward to developing our relationship into a true partnership that delivers a quality, reliable and cost effective process which provides added value for both parties.”

Douglas Brown, CEO of Star Net Geomatics, states: “I am delighted that our long-term relationship with Infinis, combined with our extensive Geospatial expertise and innovative development within this field, has led to this significant award. This project will provide valuable support at a time when Infinis needs an innovative asset management tool to integrate all of its current sites into a comprehensive data system. I am sure the outcome of this project will prove a successful partnership between the two companies and I look forward to working with the Infinis Team.”

In the year to 31 March 2010 the Infinis (www.infinis.com) group of companies produced approximately 10% of the UK’s renewable power. It operates a growing portfolio of 140 onshore wind, hydro and LFG plants across the UK, with a total generating capacity of 534MW, and employs approximately 390 people.
Star Net Geomatics Ltd (www.starnetgeomatics.com) is a UK-based company that provides a wide range of surveying, inspection and design services worldwide. Star Net’s Geomatics department has been working for over 10 years on Renewables projects and has Framework Agreement currently in place with major consultant and developers in the UK such as Scottish and Southern Energy to provide Geospatial Survey services.

Read more here.

Area company entering the Third Frontier - Zanesville Times Recorder

2011-05-10T03:38:00.000+01:00

NEWTON TOWNSHIP -- Alternative energy is starting to get more attention.

And with the influx of Third Frontier and federal stimulus funds, it's starting to help reshape Ohio's economy.

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Quasar Energy, for example, received millions of dollars in assistance to build a test bed for its biogas process at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster, which in turn aided development of the BioHio Research Center there.

That led to the construction of biogas plants along U.S. 22 near East Fultonham, then in Columbus.

Quasar uses anaerobic digesters to cook down biosolids, such as fruits and vegetables delivered by companies such as Wal-Mart. Bacteria break down the waste products and the methane gas produced is used to generate electricity.

"We aren't building biogas plants. We're building an industry," Quasar Energy President Mel Kurtz said. "Over the past five years, we have worked to transfer European anaerobic digestion technology by sourcing and engineering specialized components from local suppliers. Today, most of the components used in our systems are sourced within Ohio."

"As we continue to grow this industry across the United States, the demand will increase for these Ohio components."

That means jobs for people like Chase Smith and Chase Warne, former classmates at Maysville High School.

The two operate Quasar's Zanesville Energy plant, and their youth -- both are 20-year-olds -- goes hand-in-hand with an alternative energy sector in its infancy.

"This is the future right here," Smith said, while watching a load of feedstock being delivered to the plant. "I can't think of anything else I'd like to be doing than being in this business. This is where it's at. A lot of younger kids like me are looking into careers. We're looking forward to what it could be."

Smith pointed out only 15 percent of the electricity generated at the local plant is used to run the plant; the remainder is diverted to American Electric Power's grid.

"When we're running at about 500 kilowatt hours, I guess we can supply enough electricity to light 300 homes here in Muskingum County," he said.

In addition, construction of facilities such as the Zanesville Anaerobic Digester System directly impact more than 50 Ohio companies, said Quasar Spokesperson Caroline Henry. That includes component manufacturers, fabricators, suppliers and contractors.

"These projects create real jobs, not only at the site as plant operators, but also within Quasar and the Ohio companies we have partnered with to build this industry," she said.

It's also opening the door for potential new industries, Kurtz said.

"The real opportunity is the generation of motor vehicle fuel," he said. "Quasar has plans to install CNG (compressed natural gas) fueling stations at all of our systems, including a public access station in Zanesville."

Smith looks forward to that and more expansion at the Zanesville site.

"I think we'll have another digester here eventually," he said. "We've got about 100 acres out here we could develop. If we start getting more product delivered and demand goes, and the public becomes more aware of what a place like this can do, I think we'll keep expanding."

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Biomass tour showcases three different biomass systems - Biomass Power and Thermal

2011-05-09T10:45:00.000+01:00

Weaving through the six enormous anaerobic digester tanks at Anheuser-Busch’s complex in St. Louis, Ed Randazzo proudly pointed out the lack of foul smells. Randazzo is an operator at the Anheuser-Busch Bio-Energy Recovery System (BERS), just down the street from the company’s brewery and bottle factory, and the first of three different tour locations coinciding with Biomass Power & Thermal’s International Biomass Conference & Expo being held from May 2-5.

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The digester consumes effluent from the beer-making process, among other wastes. Tour participants got to view the biomass used in the anaerobic digestion process through a microscope, almost making it possible to catch a glimpse of the tiny microbes that live on the granular biomass and carry out the process. The system takes in about 3 million gallons of wastewater per day and reduces the facilities’ organic waste by about 80 percent. Material screened out of the wastewater is sold to a family horse radish farm in southern Illinois. The digesters produce about 900,000 square feet of biogas per day, used to generate process heat for the company’s plant.

Randazzo explained that the microbes reproduce and grow quickly, making it necessary to get rid of some of the digester biomass after its depth in the tanks reaches around 30 feet. Twenty-five is ideal, he added.

Randazzo also took tour guests past the evaporation coolers, designed to keep temperatures in the process below 103 degrees Fahrenheit. The microbes can survive lower temperatures and the coldest conditions they’ve worked under is about 85 degrees F.

At the end of the Anheuser-Busch visit, BBI International, publisher of Biomass Power & Thermal, surprised its tour guests with a few cases of beer reserved for the end of the day.

The next stop was the IESI MO Champ Landfill and while BBI didn’t provide complementary bags of trash, the 254-acre site proved to be an exciting location. Because of constant truck traffic, tour guests saw the landfill through the bus windows. A landfill gas recovery operation at the site provides renewable electricity for two asphalt plants, a commercial greenhouse, a concrete facility and a local high school. Plans for expansion of the landfill gas utilization system are slated for operation in August 2012 and will be carried out by electric company Ameren Missouri. The expansion will increase electricity production to about 15 megawatts (MW) and to about 60 MW in 2025, the landfill’s tour guide said

The site also serves as a limestone mine and one of its two landfills sits at the bottom of a 250-foot deep mining trench. The bus crossed a one-way bridge before driving partway into the enormous hole for tour attendees to view a landfill only partially full. A large portion of the black ground liner remained exposed with massive trucks pushing around the garbage piles.

On the way off the site, the tour bus was required to take the same precautions as all other exiting traffic to minimize the amount of sediments and mud removed from the location. It entails driving through a strong sprinkler-type mechanism that essentially creates a white wall of recycled water.

Last, the group stopped at Innovative Energy Inc. to see its 2 MW model of its gasifier in the St. Louis suburb of Fenton. The system can gasify any carbon-based fuel, including wood, municipal solid waste, ag residue, energy crops, plastics, tires, shingles and paper. During the tour, though, the company was experimenting with some switchgrass pellets. CEO Glenn Foy explained that many biomass projects fall through because of feedstock issues. “We thought fuel flexibility was critical,” he said.

The site also has its own briquetting process and Foy displayed a jar full of biochar that he compared to tiny BBs. The gasifier itself is quite small, at about 4 feet in diameter and 15 feet tall. A yellow rope separated the tour guests from the gasifier’s processes, but several company employees spoke to the crowd about the system using diagrams and flow charts to illustrate its functions. Because it is a distributed energy system it doesn’t require transmission lines like wind, coal and hydropower to get the power from where it’s produced to where it will be used, they said.

Innovative Energy was founded in 2001 and has 27 worldwide patents, said Jim Neumeier, vice president of business development. The privately funded company completed its research and development phase at the end of 2009 and since 2010 has been marketing its technology, concentrating on five sectors: municipalities, military, international, commercial and industrial facilities that have waste streams.

Driving back to the city, tour guests discussed the compelling aspects of all the projects and wondered about the proprietary elements of Innovative Energy’s system and what might set it apart from other gasifiers. The company is also an exhibitor at the International Biomass Conference & Expo. For information on the event, click here.

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Councillors urged to reject food waste plant - The Surrey Herald

2011-05-08T20:18:00.000+01:00

May 3 2011 By Carl Gavaghan

Oxfordshire-based waste company Agrivert has submitted plans to Surrey County Council for an 'anaerobic digestion plant' in Lyne.

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RUNNYMEDE borough councillors have been urged by their officers to object to plans for an 'anaerobic digestion plant' to be built in Lyne.

The plant could be built on a site where proposals for a giant waste burner were abandoned in 2009 after objections from councillors and residents.

Oxfordshire-based waste company Agrivert has submitted plans to Surrey County Council for the plant on land adjacent to Trumps Farm, in Kitsmead Lane.

A report that will go before RBC's planning committee on Wednesday, May 11 states that councillors should object to the proposals because: “The applicants have failed to demonstrate very special circumstances to allow inappropriate development within the Green Belt either that there is sufficient local need for the facility, not that there are not more appropriately located sited for the proposed facility.”

If given the go-ahead the company claims that the digester could take up to 48,500 tonnes of waste a year, which is less then a third of the rubbish that Surrey County Council planned for a giant incinerator on the same site.

An AD plant disposes of waste biologically by treating it with micro-organisms in an oxygen-free environment.

Harry Waters, commercial director of Agrivert, told the Surrey Herald that such digesters will become commonplace in the county.

"Surrey has a lot of waste and will need four or five of these plants to handle it all. There is a lot of commercial waste produced in the county, the majority of which is exported, which is obviously not environmentally-friendly."

The final decision on the plans will be taken by Surrey County Council later this year.

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Countrystyle Recycling purchases Halstead Renewable Power Project - Invest in UK

2011-05-08T05:48:00.000+01:00

Countrystyle Recycling Ltd recently acquired the Halstead Renewable Power Project (HRPP) from Glendale Power, and will now forge ahead with the development of an Anaerobic Digestion Plant at the Essex site, for which full planning permission has been granted.

The Halstead Project is an exciting new development for Countrystyle, a renewable power plant that will run on locally collected food waste to produce renewable electricity sufficient to power 3000 homes and enough heat for the future expansion of the adjacent industrial estate.

The project will also provide soil conditioner suitable for improving local clay soils and a greenhouse gas reduction to more than offset the total output of all of the town’s cars.

All of these outputs will come from materials that would otherwise go to waste, either via landfill or incineration.

Jeremy Elden, Managing Director of Glendale Power, said Countrystyle is an acknowledged leader in Organics Recycling and Glendale Power is looking forward to working together on this progressive scheme.

Elden reiterated that Glendale will be retained as a partner in the project, and will combine the two firms’ strengths to develop an AD plant that sets the highest standards.

Mat Stewart, Managing Director of Countrystyle, said Countrystyle believes that Anaerobic Digestion has the potential to deliver substantial environmental benefit by closing the loop in returning nutrients to the soil and recovering the energy from materials that would otherwise go to waste.

Detailed designs for the development will now be created, with construction beginning in early 2012, ready for the commissioning of the plant in late 2012.

Countrystyle Group consists of several integrated companies working in complete harmony to provide a comprehensive range of waste management & recycling services. From providing a skip hire service to one-off domestic customers to dealing with complete waste streams from large multinational companies, the capabilities of the Group are constantly expanding throughout the public and private sector.

Capable of handling and processing almost all forms of waste including WEEE and Hazardous Waste, Countrystyle tailors the most effective strategy for each business, offering a fully auditable approach which complies with all EU and Government waste legislation.

Countrystyle operates a network of its own waste transfer stations and materials recovery facilities, where collected waste and recyclables are managed by expert operatives and customer deliveries are accepted directly for treatment.

Countrystyle also operates specialist facilities for plasterboard recycling and wood recycling.

2nd May 2011

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Green: Waste-to-Electricity Plan Draws Mixed Response in N.Y. - New York Times (blog)

2011-05-07T15:21:00.000+01:00

One of the new initiatives included in the recently updated version of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s environmental agenda — a plan to solicit proposals to try out new technologies that convert garbage into heat and electricity –- is drawing mixed reviews from environmental groups.

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Waste-to-energy technologies are widely used in Europe, but have not caught on in a big way in this country, where most trash still goes to landfills. The Bloomberg administration wants to experiment with two specific technologies — anaerobic digestion and thermal processing – to convert solid waste into either electricity or fuel to reduce the use of landfills and the costs associated with transporting waste to them by truck and rail.

Anaerobic digestion uses microorganisms to break down waste and produce a biogas that can be combusted to generate electricity. Thermal processing uses heat to produce a synthetic gas and produce electricity.

Marcia Bystryn, executive director of the New York League of Conservation Voters, called waste-to-energy plants a plus that produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the current disposal system. “And you have this twofer,” she added. “You’re creating energy and disposing of waste.”

But groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council say that waste-to-electricity systems are not the best use of resources in New York City, given that it has a recycling rate of less than 20 percent. In Europe, they note, countries like Denmark and Germany that use the technology burn only the trash that cannot be recycled.

“Right now the focus of the Sanitation Department should be on resurrecting the city’s recycling program, finding better ways to handle food and yard waste and making the trash collection system more cost-effective and efficient,” said Eric A. Goldstein, a senior attorney with the council. “They have their hands full.”

PlaNYC, as the city’s environmental plan is known, states that the technologies will be part of a strategy that also envisions “robust” recycling programs. But one program the city has been hoping to expand, the recycling of plastics, may have to wait. Citing limited markets for certain types of plastic, the plan says the city will revisit the expansion of plastics designated for recycling “as markets evolve.”

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Digester Gas Engine: What Is It and What Are Its Benefits?

2011-05-06T23:27:00.000+01:00

A digester gas engine-also referred to as a biogas engine-is an engine that turns natural gases produced by an anaerobic digester into electricity. Medium to large size structures that mix biodegradable wastes (e.g. sewage and food waste) to release their natural gasses, anaerobic digesters typically contain four levels on their interior: a mixing zone where most solid waste is slowly churned by a mixing device, a sludge zone, a liquid zone, and biogas zone at the top. Biogases are taken from the top of a digester and put through treatment that makes them "digestible" for a gas engine. Below, we look at the potential benefits of biogas production for entities that are able to take advantage of the process.

Elimination of gas bills

Perhaps the most obvious benefit of biogas production is the elimination of a facility's utility gas bill, as an anaerobic digester supplies all the gas a facility needs, and then some. Unlike utility power rates, the materials used to produce biogases are generally inexpensive and tend to remain at set prices.

Elimination of electric bills

When a facility turns digester gas into electricity, it may be able to eliminate its electric bill as well. This is often the case for two types of facilities: primary digesters, who have an ample supply of organic waste as a result of their line of work, and small to midsize facilities that have an adequate sized digestion engine and anaerobic digester.

Increased energy budget

By eliminating or reducing their annual gas/electric bills, facilities have more room in their energy budget. In some instances, facilities use their utility savings to invest in energy efficient technology that reduces their gas/electricity consumption, thus increasing the availability of biogases.

Opportunity to sell electricity

When facilities produce more electricity than they need, they can sell it to a utility provider for a preset price per kilowatt-hour, which varies by state. Depending on the amount of electricity produced, this opportunity could yield thousands of dollars a year.

Increased eco friendliness

The more a facility reduces its commercial energy consumption, the smaller its carbon footprint becomes. An anaerobic digester allows facilities to reduce or eliminate their reliance on utility power, thus increasing their eco friendliness.

Support for emergency power systems

Biogas is an ideal source of power for both gas powered generators and generators that run on a mixture of diesel and natural gas via a Bi-Fuel system.

When is biogas production a good idea?

Whether to pursue biogas production involves several considerations, particularly: the cost of implementing an anaerobic digester, the cost of delivering organic waste material if none is readily available, the cost of waste material if none is available, and the return on investment (ROI) of the project. When considering these and other aspects of biogas production, it helps to dialogue with entities that have insight into the advantages and disadvantages of the process for specific types of facilities, such as a generator services provider that specializes in digester gas engine servicing and implementation.

In my research on generator services, I've studied the cost benefits of implementing a digester gas engine.

How to Secure Long Term Contracts to Recycle Food Waste and be Profitable - San Francisco Chronicle (press release)

2011-05-06T07:33:00.000+01:00

How to Secure Long Term Contracts to Recycle Food

Robin Sweere, Operation and Sourcing Manager at Quest Recycling, presented to a large crowd of food recycling operators, renewable energy scholars and EPA representatives how Quest Recycling successfully manages food waste recycling for its customers across all 50 states.

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(Video is about eWaste and is not connected directly to the text.)

"Quest Recycling is at the forefront of a new industry that allows customers to now view traditional waste as a resource", Robin said. "Today, organics materials (your produce, bakery, deli and dairy products) can effectively be recycled into nutrient rich composts or animal feed faster and cheaper than ever."

Robin explained why anaerobic digestion is of highest use. "Anaerobic digesters present low liability to the generator, they accept stream with meat, dairy and post-consumer by products, and generate renewable energy credits." "In addition, anaerobic digesters offer increased feedstock, a possible alternative source of revenue and increased gas production."

"You have to consider the pros and cons of long term contracts, both from the hauler and the digester's perspectives. For the Digester, a long term agreement will help secure financing, will facilitate the recipe quality insurance process and will ease the traffic patterns. However, you could miss on additional revenue should the market value increase and you will have to go through a lengthier contract process."

Quest Recycling understands well the needs of both the digesters and the haulers. Quest Recycling designs contract with balance clauses to help haulers and digesters achieve the highest yield.

About Quest Recycling LLC

Quest Recycling Services, www.questrecycling.com, is one of the nation's fastest growing full service recycling companies. Quest Recycling, which is based out of Frisco, Texas manages the recycling effort of over 7,500 locations nationwide.

Quest's customers span from automotive to industrial, fleet, municipalities, hospitality and foodservice industries. Quest also partners with www.earth911.com, providing consumers with information about recycling and local community resources.

Quest's provides nation-wide, one-stop recycling solutions for all waste streams to both companies and communities.

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Kent could get new biomass and anaerobic digestion facilities - Guttridge

2011-05-05T15:53:00.000+01:00

Anaerobic digesters for food waste and biomass boilers could soon be providing Kent with green energy, if new plans are approved.

Proposals for a 300-acre green energy park near Sandwich have been submitted to Kent County Council, ThisIsKent.co.uk reports.

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The plans include biomass facilities, as well as a recycling centre for household, commercial and industrial waste and timber.

Gary Lever, development director for BFL Management Ltd, which has drawn up the designs for site owner Richborough A Ltd, says the proposals constitute a "world class" energy park.

"At this stage we are very keen to ensure our plans and aspirations for the site are drawn up in conjunction with Kent County Council and the local authorities, Thanet and Dover, as well as local residents and interest groups," he told the news provider.

This follows news that opposition to the proposed construction of a biomass plant has prompted a review into the plans by site owner Helius Energy.

Typical Guttridge equipment used in the biomass industry includes:

Conveyors – screw conveyors – chain conveyors – belt conveyors

James Smith

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On-Farm Anaerobic Digester Trends In The United States - BioCycle magazine

2011-05-05T00:13:00.000+01:00

BioCycle April 2011, Vol. 52, No. 4, p. 36 AgSTAR point person ruminates on the successes, challenges and future of livestock methane as viable renewable energy source.

By Dan Sullivan

U.S. EPAs AgSTAR is a voluntary outreach and educational program promoting the recovery and use of methane from livestock manure. EPA and USDA whose Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) and other mechanisms has helped fund on-farm biogas projects, have been working together since AgSTAR's inception in 1993 and in May 2010 signed an interagency agreement to promote digester systems nationwide. AgSTAR is also working closely with the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy and its Dairy Power Program, which signed a Memorandum of Understanding with USDA in December 2009 with the intent of helping reduce the carbon footprint of the dairy industry by 25 percent by 2020.

BioCycle caught up with AgSTAR National Program Manager Chris Voell just as his office had finished crunching the latest numbers related to trends in on-farm anaerobic digestion (AD) systems in the United States, AD Trends at a Glance). Voell offered some perspective behind the statistics regarding what is driving the growth of AD in America. In a nutshell, he says, if we want to realize the environmental and economic benefits that digester systems can bring, business models must be developed to make the projects viable (e.g., revenue, financing), a more conducive environment to attract investors must be created and energy policy has to be altered to be more supportive of smaller, distributed generation projects like AD. While government incentives and private investment are helping to drive growth, a handful of states are demonstrating how visionary policy is perhaps what is needed most.

"You look at places like Vermont and a few other states with policies and financial incentives that allow for investment in farm-based projects, and that?s where you find the digester system growth," he says. Voell points to volunteer programs such as Cow Power, a Central Vermont Public Service (CVPS) voluntary program that allows customers to purchase electricity generated from dairy digesters at a premium (the generating farms receive 4 cents per kilowatt hour if they participate in the program). He also touted the Vermont-based standard offer program, which guarantees 14 to 16 cents per kWh to participating projects. Vermont also has net metering rules that allow projects to flourish on smaller operations.

Programs such as these, Voell says, allow citizens the opportunity to encourage development of smaller renewable energy projects in their communities and realize the improved quality of life that they bring (odor control, enhanced revenue generation, air and water quality improvements). 2New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are other states with equitable rate structures and utility and energy policies in place that have led to the growth of AD. But for a small or medium-sized farmers to invest in an AD system in most places in the country is not feasible," he elaborates. That's why farmers and project developers who are currently investing time and money are looking at larger farms and codigestion to realize economies of scale and a decent return on investment. Also, a major issue is that for investors and project developers, it's certainly not cookie cutter across the county. Every state and every utility has different requirements. This makes it very difficult to plan for long term investments.

Since the USDA first added an energy title to the federal Farm Bill in 2003, the agency has awarded more than $40 million in grants to more than 100 on-farm digester systems. About 20 AD projects have come online annually since 2003 (many of these received USDA funding assistance), accounting for more than 140 of the 167 currently in existence in the United States, according to AgSTAR data. ?One of the biggest reasons we have a start on the digester industry is the USDA?s REAP,? Voell says, adding that this and other federal assistance such as USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentive Program) funds have been bolstered by state programs. These include Focus on Energy in Wisconsin, Cow Power in Vermont and programs of the California Energy Commission and NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority). Still, he says, much work remains to be done.

UTILITY RATES, REQUIREMENTS
Getting appropriate rates for the energy, while probably the single largest hurdle, is only one part of the challenge, he says. ?Interconnection standards and studies, and the fees charged for those by utilities, vary widely as well. These fees can often be enough to kill a project There are many cases where they have been multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Net metering basically the deduction of an energy outflow from metered energy inflows is a frequently discussed issue with regard to energy offsets. While you might hear that 35 or 38 states have net metering as part of their energy policy, he says, "the actual details and application varies widely". He offers that a good net metering policy is one that allows for aggregation of all meters across the farm and contiguous properties, letting the farmer offset a higher level of energy use than they can in a lot of places. A bad net metering policy, he says, is where the farmer is required to pick a single meter to offset. Many digester projects will generate more energy than would be used by a farmer through one electricity meter.

There are typically multiple meters all across the farm, for example, at the barn, for the irrigation pumps, the farmer's residence, etc., Voell explains. "Say you are generating 100 kW from your digester project and your highest use at a single meter is 50 kW. You often cannot get credit for the remainder, and it is forfeited."

Some states, such as Pennsylvania and Vermont, go one step better with virtual aggregate metering, he adds, meaning that the meters do not have to be physically connected to allow for more energy use to be offset.

As a not-so-good example of utility policy and Voell was reluctant to name a specific state or utility he referenced a farmer ?down South? who abandoned the electricity generation portion of his AD system (the digester is working fine with the gas being flared) because the standby charges he had to pay when his system was down for regular operation and maintenance were so exorbitant that it basically obliterated any profit that might be realized in the project. Standby charges are a fee for the privilege of being hooked up to regular utility service when a self-generating system is shut down. When negotiating with utilities, pay attention to every detail,? he adds. ?Hire someone who is fluent in utility contract negotiations. When you get down into the weeds in terms of negotiating contracts, net metering, standby charges, interconnection fees ? that?s where the rubber hits the road.? Voell predicts this type of situation will happen less frequently as farmers become more savvy, these projects become more commonplace and support organizations such as AgSTAR become more involved.

NEW ENERGY POLICIES
Status quo policies built around centralized output of nonrenewables put up another major roadblock. "he way we?ve set up energy policy in this country is not conducive to the growth of distributed energy projects," he says. It's traditionally been built around fossil fuel generated electricity at a much larger scale. The policy paradigm needs to change if we want to see proliferation of these kinds of projects. Voell adds that the current difficulty is that energy policy is all done state by state. Sometimes the federal government steps in, but for the most part states and individual utilities set their own policies, he says. And policy change at any level comes slowly. It takes a champion to get it done.

He suggests several energy policy fixes that could help digesters along and allow smaller operations to be more economically viable. These include rates paid for the energy that recognize the broad suite of benefits these projects bring, streamlined permitting process and appropriate fees for interconnection and standby charges. If on the back end there's no return on investment, these projects aren't going to happen, he explains.

That's why we have 160 when there could be easily 10 or 20 times that many. Until we have a fundamental shift in business models, energy policy and public support, the transition to seeing hundreds or thousands of these projects grow in the near future will not occur. Energy policy is not set up, in most cases, to encourage these. I know of instances where it costs people 8 cents to generate energy through this process, and they receive 4 cents for it that's not going to get it done.

Voell points to the 100 percent shift in production by the Big Three automakers at the behest of President Roosevelt to support the war effort during WWII and America winning the race to the moon as two examples of our country being able to make necessary innovations when circumstances require action. ?" think the country is trying to go in that direction in terms of energy usage and policy, but right now we are relying on market forces and volunteer efforts, which is not quite as commanding as FDR making a decision in time of war," Voell says.

ONE FARMER, MANY HATS
The reality today is that embarking on a digester project requires business acumen that includes an awareness of all the potential financial benefits, counsels Voell. These include energy production (gas production for direct use or to power a genset and produce electricity and heat), codigestion (bringing in organic waste materials to boost gas production and generate tipping fees) and use of the liquid digestate as fertilizer and the manure fibers as bedding material or for other beneficial purposes. Basically you have to cobble together every benefit you can get for these to make a project viable in today's environment,? he says, adding to that laundry list management of on-farm nutrients and odors. The way [odor control] translates to money is that when a dairy wants to add cows and the neighbors are happy about the operation, things tend to go much more smoothly.

There is no question that the digester route is more expensive than business as usual manure management, Voell says. The reality is that without government assistance up to this point at the state and federal level, we would not even have a start on the digester industry. The ultimate goal is to have projects that can generate revenue to pay the debt service with a reasonable profit. But in reality we heavily subsidize all the traditional energy sources in this country. If we would like to move toward alternatives like anaerobic digesters and biogas, we would have to expect to prime the pump for those new energy sources to be able to compete. If we want to achieve energy independence and energy security, helping promote systems like manure digesters offers an excellent way to get there. There is also a growing desire to be more self-sufficient at the local level and not always having to rely on large central infrastructure.

Benefits of these projects go well beyond energy generation, he says. They provide more stable revenues to farmers in rural communities. There's a direct greenhouse gas reduction benefit of less methane into the atmosphere. And they provide for a better quality of life for the people who live in these communities. As we talk about investment of state and federal dollars, we have to realize the comprehensive benefits that come out of these projects.

Helping other regional businesses such as food processors manage their wastes more sustainably is another plus, he adds. Everybody I talk to is looking for that potential if it can be done appropriately. Securing a year-round supply of organics is no small task, but I think it's a trend that's on the rise. And we're definitely seeing growth of third party owner/operated projects capital being brought in by a third party. This reduces the risk to the farmer, and it brings in technical expertise as well as expertise in contract negotiations. Nutrient management keeping nitrogen and phosphorus out of waterways has been another big driver, he notes.

ENERGY INTERDEPENDENCE
Backdropped by rising petroleum prices and dire times for other energy sectors such as nuclear power, Voell sees biogas from organics recycling as a growth industry with great, if largely untapped, potential. The recently formed American Biogas Council (ABC) is another leg of the stool in helping move the industry forward, he says. Without appropriate technology and service providers, this industry will not thrive. We're also seeing a definite convergence of the agriculture, livestock, waste management and organics recycling sectors. Folks in all of these sectors see anaerobic digestion as an opportunity to help them meet their goals of greenhouse gas reduction, green energy production, improved waste management, building a supply chain that's more sustainable and providing a home for the organics waste stream. It is definitely moving beyond just an idea at the farmer level.

Allison Costa, AgSTAR Program Manager
Copyright 2011, The JG Press, Inc.

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Anaerobic Digestion: Unaddressed Opportunity - RenewableEnergyWorld.com

2011-05-04T07:41:00.000+01:00

The most common waste-to-energy applications in the U.S. include the combustion of municipal solid waste (MSW), landfill gas-to-energy, and the digestion of farm waste or waste water. An often overlooked waste-to-energy resource, however, is mixed organic waste (for example, food and yard waste) anaerobic digestion (AD). AD technologies comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, so for now, we've used assumptions provided by a dry fermentation (that is a digester that accepts higher-solids waste) technology provider.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that in 2008, 250 million tons of municipal solid waste (including organic and non-organic) was generated in the U.S. While 22 million tons of organic waste was diverted for composting, an estimated 43 million tons of organic waste was sent to landfills. The total electric and thermal power (assuming a combined heat and power application) associated with this organic waste is approximately 1 GWe and 1.4 GWth, respectively. The total electric output is equivalent to serving close to 1 million homes.

While composting may appear to be a direct competitor to AD for organic waste, the two are mutually beneficial because remaining digestate from the AD process can be composted and sold. In fact, composting facilities such as Cedar Grove Composting in Everett, Wash., are a primary target for new AD projects.

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European companies such as Germany's Viessmann (BIOFerm) and GICON Bioenergie GMBH and Austria's Entec Biogas GMBH have digester technology that is suitable to convert food waste, yard waste and other organic material into energy. Anaerobic digestion was first widely applied in Europe in the 1930 and 1940's and has a history of success due to beneficial waste management practices and energy policies. While the technology is fully commercial, the application in the U.S. has been limited to farm and wastewater treatment plant facilities. Given the greater land availability for landfills, the U.S. has enjoyed cheaper municipal waste disposal than densely populated Europe.

Take a large industrial or institutional facility, such as a naval base or university. The facility could consider converting its waste to energy to replace boiler fuel for steam generation or for combined heat and power (CHP). The facility can save on its cost of waste disposal while generating on-site, renewable energy. CHP analysis reveals a simple payback of 7 to 10 years, excluding incentives, which compares favorably to a waste combustion application, using the same analysis parameters, which has a payback of greater than15 years, even under the highest energy price scenario.

The lack of organic waste separation is the greatest logistical barrier for mixed organic waste AD project in the U.S. Similar to composting, AD conversion requires a specific organic waste composition and a sufficient supply, without which biogas output will be lower, and the project will be uneconomic.

The majority of the U.S. population still discards organic and non-organic waste into the same container. However, many U.S. universities, such as the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, and local governments, such as the City of San Jose in California, have commissioned pilot studies or commercial projects for either composting and/or AD that require separation of organic waste from the regular waste stream.

Higher solids organic waste digester technology and its application are relatively new to the U.S., requiring education of new potential developers, policymakers and project-hosts in order for it to gain wider acceptance and adoption. Permitting can be a barrier if a state has no prior experience with this type of project, which is certainly the case in many states.

Successful implementation of AD faces its unique challenges in the U.S., but its outlook is positive. In fact, in mid-March, Harvest Power, one of the new dry fermentation AD project developers in the U.S., announced $51.7 million in funding, led by former Vice President Al Gore's investment firm. There will likely be higher demand for AD applications such as dry fermentation in the coming years due to the growing population, declining land availability for new landfills, a continued interest in renewable energy and pursuit of efficient resource use.

Given its greater land availability and more dispersed population, the U.S. has relied upon landfills for waste disposal in comparison to densely populated Europe, which focused on waste combustion and AD.

View the original article here

On-farm power plant nears big switch-on - Your Renewable News (press release)

2011-05-03T15:09:00.001+01:00

A FARM-based anaerobic digestion (AD) plant is approaching milestone in its £30 million expansion programme.

The £3m AD plant in Warton, Lancashire, will start producing electricity next month and official opening ceremony will take place on May 21.

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(Video is not necessarily related to the text.)

Run by Farmgen, Carr Farm will be its first operational power plant. It is also building a second ‘sister’ plant near Silloth and has submitted planning applications for two other operations in Cumbria.

High Street giant Marks and Spencer has signed a five-year contract to buy the energy generated from the Warton plant at a fixed price as part of its ‘Plan A’ commitment to procure more renewable energy from small-scale energy sources.

Farmgen’s chief operating officer Ed Cattigan said: “We firmly believe Carr Farm will point the way forward for future farm-based AD plants across the UK.”

Established in 2009, Farmgen has put together an impressive consortium of expert UK-based firms to deliver its first tranche of AD plants, including Carr Farm. The consortium includes leading members of the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA).

Source: Farmers Guardian

View the original article here

Anaerobic digestion biomethane must be integrated into UK National Grid

2011-04-02T03:25:00.000+01:00

Guttridge Feed Source - Biomethane produced during the anaerobic digestion process should be integrated into the National Grid energy supply, according to an industry expert.

This would encourage the best use of biogas for meeting the UK's renewable energy targets, notes the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA) chairman, Lord Rupert Redesdale.

Welcoming the Department of Energy and Climate Change Renewable Heat Incentive, he indicated that it is a "huge vote of confidence" for the industry.

He noted: "The decision underlines ministers' commitment to AD [anaerobic digestion], and has obviously involved a lot of complex work from civil servants to bring it to fruition."

However, he urged the government to consider increasing energy from waste through anaerobic digestion, which was promised following the formation of the coalition.

ADBA chief executive Charlotte Morton added that upgrading biogas to biomethane for grid injection is the "best way to maximise the contribution of the AD industry to mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and addressing energy security issues".

Typical Guttridge equipment used in the anaerobic digestion industry includes; Conveyors etc

by James Smith

View the original article here

Anaerobic Digestion Facility Goes On-line in Vietnam - Waste Management World

2011-04-01T14:53:00.000+01:00

15 March 2011

Anaerobic Digestion tank supplier, Kirk Environmental, has completed a 1.2 MW turnkey infrastructure project in for the San Miguel Corporation - South East Asia?s largest beverage, food and packaging company - in Vietnam.

Working in partnership with the Malaysian based subsidiary company Biodome Asia and Filipino Client Sure Inc, the San Miguel Corporation Plant will be producing biogas in a matter of weeks, and be self sufficient in power.

The recently completed facility utilises San Miguel's waste, combined with slurry from 15,000 sow hogs located on the Binh Duong farm to produce biogas which is captured in top mounted Biodome gas holders located on two of the four glass coated steel tanks constructed at the site.

The collected gas is then converted into electricity which will be used to power the whole facility.

The waste water which is produced on site will also be treated to wash and clean the facility and livestock on a daily basis and then further recycled back into the digesters.

Kirk Environmental says that this solution enables San Miguel to utilise the waste produced on site as a renewable energy source, which has previously incurred costs for disposal as well as limit the bad smell issue into the nearby environment.

Kirk Environmental and Biodome Asia are also nearing completion of the San Miguel Sumilao Farm Project in Bukidnon, Philippines as well as developing projects around the world.

View the original article here

Anaerobic Digestion sector slams feed-in tariff review - Business Green

2011-04-01T02:33:00.000+01:00

It was meant to be the one part of the government's fast-track review of feed-in tariffs that would prove uncontroversial.

After today proposing deep cuts to the level of support for large solar installations, the government also announced increases to the incentives available to anaerobic digestion (AD) technologies as part of an effort to accelerate adoption of the waste-to-energy technology.

However, businesses have accused the government of failing to understand the full economic requirements of anaerobic digestion technology and proposing inadequate levels of incentives for AD systems. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has launched a consultation proposing increased incentives for AD plants, arguing that only two AD plants have been accredited for feed-in tariffs to date.

Under the current feed-in tariff scheme, all AD power plants with a capacity of up to 500kW will receive 12.1p/kWh from 1 April, while plants with a capacity of between 500kW and 5MW will receive 9p per kWh. However, the consultation proposes changing the banding and increasing the incentives, so smaller plants capable of producing up to 250kW will receive 14p per kWh, while medium-sized plants capable of producing between 250kW and 500kW will receive 13p per kWh. Plants with a capacity of more than 500kw will see their feed-in tariffs remain unchanged at 9p per kwh.

But industry groups have now warned the proposed rates will fail to encourage businesses to install AD plants and will do little to boost investor confidence.

Charlotte Morton, chief executive of the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association, said DECC's key aim of boosting "farm-scale" waste-to-energy plants would not be acheived with the proposed rate of incentives. She told BusinessGreen that AD plants that process waste also require expensive pre-treatment facilities, which can cost as much as the power-generating technology. Therefore, she argued it would not be economically viable for a business to install a waste-to-energy plant smaller than 1MW.

Meanwhile, plants with more than 1MW capacity will not see their incentives increase under the proposals, prompting Morton to predict the changes will fail to boost adoption of AD systems of any size.

She accused the government of developing "completely inconsistent" policy and said it has misunderstood how AD can work on a small scale. "The band rates are not really going to please anybody, and we're also not clear about what the government is trying to achieve," she said. She also urged DECC to set specific dates for when the tariffs would be decreased in order to provide potential investors with certainty.

Her comments were echoed by the Renewable Energy Association's chief executive Gaynor Hartnell, who described the tariff changes as "meagre" and unlikely to prompt much of an increase in small-scale AD.

"That's a missed opportunity, as methane emissions from agriculture can be reduced by on-farm biogas plants," she said, adding that government's concern over energy crops "is totally misplaced".

Simon Rigby, non-executive director of AD specialist Farmgen, was similarly disappointed with the proposals. The company builds 1MW plants, but had also been considering selling 500kva and 250kva units. However, he said the review of feed-in tariffs would not make these smaller systems economically viable.

"We were hoping for a decent platform for on farm AD, but the review is so marginal I cannot see it achieving the government's objective to balance the feed-in tariffs, and therefore will not affect the take-up," he said. "If anything, the change sets back our plans as it is so marginal and does not apply to economic plants [of 1MW or more], and will therefore knock confidence in on-farm AD even further."

View the original article here

Anaerobic digestion wins in subsidy review

2011-03-31T09:51:00.000+01:00

From Energy and Environmental Management (EAEM) Magazine feed source

The government is recommending increased support for farm-scale anaerobic digestion (AD) at the expense of “solar farms" over 50kW, in an effort to maximise the benefit of limited resources.

The new consultation follows the launch in February of the fast-track review into how the Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) work for solar photovoltaic (PV) over 50 kW. This followed evidence of 169 MW of large scale solar capacity in the planning system - equivalent to funding solar modules on the roofs of around 50,000 homes if tariffs are left unchanged.

The government feels that leaving this unchanged would soak up most of the subsidy that would otherwise go to smaller schemes or other technologies. Such a development was not envisaged at the start of the programme.

The consultation also recommends increasing support for farm-scale AD, as it has received disappointing uptake so far. The heat component of AD is also supported through the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). This means that where the biogas is burnt to produce heat and power AD is eligible both for the RHI and FITs.

It could be argued that it doesn't matter where the PV modules are as long as they are generating electricity. But the government's concern is that PV be available to ordinary people and not big business.

Greg Barker, climate change minister, said: “I want to make sure that we capture the benefits of fast falling costs in solar technology to allow even more homes to benefit from feed in tariffs, rather than see that money go in bumper profits to a small number of big investors.

“These proposals aim to rebalance the scheme and put a stop to the threat of larger-scale solar soaking up the cash. The FITs scheme was never designed to be a profit generator for big business and financiers."

The consultation quotes figures saying that already prices for PV technology are 30% lower than originally projected. It argues that this means that the technology requires reduced support. Therefore installations larger than 50 kW will receive support as follows:

• 19p/kWh for 50kW to 150kW

• 15p/kWh for 150kW to 250kW

• 8.5p/kWh for 250kW to 5MW and stand-alone installations.

These compare with the tariffs that would otherwise apply from 1 April of:

• 32.9p/kWh for 10kw to 100kw

• 30.7/kWh for 100kw to 5MW and stand-alone installations.

These reductions are comparable to those in schemes in Germany, France and Spain, where tariffs for PV have been reduced sharply over the past year.

The new increased tariffs for AD, designed to make them more attractive, are:

• 14p/kWh for installations up to 250kW

• 13p/kWh for installations from 250kW to 500kW.

These compare with the tariffs that would otherwise apply from 1 April of 12.1p/kWh for AD up to 500kW. The tariff level set for biomethane injection into the gas grid under the RHI and also for small scale - below 200 kilowatt thermal (kWth) – combustion of the biogas produced by AD is 6.5 pence per kilowatt-hour of heat generated.

The idea is specifically to increase the energy obtained from waste through anaerobic digestion, not to promote energy crops, particularly where these might be grown instead of food crops. DECC is in discussions with Defra and others about ways to ensure this does not happen.

Subject to the outcome of the consultation and parliamentary scrutiny, the revised tariffs would be introduced from 1 August 2011.

Over 27,000 installations have been registered for the FIT scheme to date.

What is anaerobic digestion?

A survey last December found that 80% of farmers in the UK wanted to have solar photovoltaics on their roofs within the next three years - and yet the fact is, that in terms of the carbon saving and other benefits anaerobic digestion (AD) provides better value for money than solar PV.

For example, farmer Clive Pugh at Bank Farm, Mellington, near Churchstoke, Wales, put in his first AD plant 20 years ago. He now has a state-of-the-art, three chamber unit that provides all of the farm's own energy needs, and that for two homes and the farm dairy, as well as generating an income of up to £10,000 a month from supplying the National Grid - without the new FITs subsidy, because he was an 'early adopter' and so the scheme is excluded from it.

“We initially went for an anaerobic set-up because we needed a new slurry store and it was something we had been looking into for some years,” said Mr Pugh.

“It revolves around using the slurry from our 140-cow dairy herd. In order to keep the gas production fairly constant throughout the year, we also use poultry manure, silage effluent, waste silage, discarded milk and whatever other green waste we can get hold of.”

While ten cows are needed to produce 1kw of energy, in fertiliser value terms 1,000 gallons of separated liquid will provide around 30 units of nitrogen, 40 units of potash and 12 units of phosphate.

“The quality of our grass is certainly most noticeable these days, and our need for phosphate and potash is now nil. We also only need top-up units of nitrogen depending on the type of crops being grown,” Mr Pugh added.

In a typical plant, vats ferment farm slurry and crop waste (and can also process food waste) in the absence of oxygen to produce methane which can be used to generate heat and power.

The facility would normally be owned and operated by the farmer/farm business, but might sometimes be part of a co-operative venture. They often would not be approved to accept animal by-products at this scale.

The biogas produced in AD is a mixture of methane (65%) and carbon dioxide (35%) which can be used to generate heat through a boiler, or heat and power through a combined heat and power (CHP) system. In addition, following further processing, biogas is also a suitable fuel source for vehicles.

Hot water may be used on site, for example to heat polytunnels or greenhouses for market gardening. Some farms use AD to power a generator for the digester and pasteurisation. Other benefits include:

• it avoids landfilling of organic wastes;

• the biogas can be burnt as a fuel;

• there is a reduction in the use of fossil fuels, offsetting carbon dioxide emissions;

• it is a predictable and reliable source of electricity and energy, unlike wind power and PV;

• the digestate products return nutrients to the land, reducing dependence on inorganic fertilisers;

• there are economic benefits from reduced fuel and fertiliser use, as well as the subsidy;

• farms can become more self-sufficient, with socio-economic opportunities, e.g., gate fees can be charged for waste taken in and electricity, biogas, fertiliser and soil conditioner can be sold;

• odour is reduced by around 80% compared to farm slurry;

• methane (a greenhouse gas) emissions are reduced;

• a range of organic waste materials can be processed - the highest gas yields come from the co-digestion of fatty (food processing wastes), liquid wastes (animal slurries) and green wastes;

• the amount of farm slurry sprayed onto farmland - and of run-off and pollution of waterways - is reduced;

• harmful bacteria and viruses are destroyed, reducing the spread of harmful disease causing pathogens.

The energy generating potential is determined by the size of the digester and waste feedstock composition.

A typical farm installation might be up to 0.5MW. A small farm using farm waste can produce enough heat to warm the digester and meet domestic heating requirements. If electricity is generated through CHP of 10kWe capacity, enough electrical energy could be generated to supply up to 13 homes.

A brand new installation can cost anything from £150,000 for a fairly basic liquid-only unit to more than £375,000 for an all-embracing 120kW producing version.

This high initial cost is why the technology needs support at this stage. Without support, simple economic payback is approximately 20 years. Factoring in savings made in waste disposal, according to the Carbon Trust, mean that payback times for installations tend to be under five years. Compare this to solar PV in much of the UK, which is two to three times longer.

A range of AD scales exists, from single on-farm digesters through to large centralised anaerobic digesters (CAD) collecting waste from a larger surrounding area.

These CADs will usually accept animal by-product wastes for digestion. The gas produced at this scale can also be used for other purposes, for example to power vehicles or be injected into the National Grid.

AD at this scale is economically viable and requires little support. Most plants operate as co-digestion plants with slurries, in additional to wastes from the food, brewing and other industries.

This website and video is a useful source of further information.

In Germany, there are more than 3,000 on-farm anaerobic digesters, while in the UK there are perhaps around 50.

View the original article here

Could anaerobic digestion by-products replace manufactured fertiliers?

2011-03-30T17:09:00.000+01:00

The government has launched a study into how waste from anaerobic digestion plants could be used to replace manufactured nitrogen fertilisers to help control costs for farmers and boost production.

The government-backed Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) last week announced it has kicked off a research programme designed to improve understanding of how effective digestate would be as a fertiliser for farmers.

Digestate is a waste produced through anaerobic digestion, a process that breaks down the waste in the absence of oxygen in order to produce biogas that can then be harnessed to produce heat and energy.

The resulting digestate is seen as a valuable source of available plant nutrients, particularly nitrogen, but the rate at which nitrogen is released for uptake by crops is not well understood.

WRAP hopes the project will fill this knowledge gap, enabling farmers to include digestate in their nutrient management plans, thereby displacing manufactured fertilisers, which are energy-intensive to produce, or phosphates, which are mined from non-renewable resources.

By investigating a range of variables in crop, soil and climate types, the project also aims to unearth new applications for digestates. For example, it could be used as a liquid fertiliser and applied to grassland to offer significant cost savings compared to traditional fertilisers.

The four-year project is also funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, WRAP Cymru, and Zero Waste Scotland.

Agriculture minister Jim Paice said the research will be crucial for boosting innovation in the sector to help farmers reduce costs and become more sustainable.

"Farmers know they have to become more innovative by producing both energy and potentially reducing fertiliser costs, so this research is critical," he said. "Young people especially understand the need for sustainability, so by working with colleges this will be an exciting project."

The news came as the government last week proposed increased feed-in tariff incentives for anaerobic digestion plants in an attempt to accelerate adoption of the technology amongst the farming community.

However, AD experts warned that the proposed incentives are still not attractive enough to encourage investment in the technology.

View the original article here

Plans to slash solar incentive published - FarmersWeekly

2011-03-30T01:09:00.000+01:00

Plans to slash solar incentive published - 3/18/2011 - Farmers Weekly

Proposals to slash the financial incentive for large-scale solar installations and increase the payment for farm-scale anaerobic digestion have been published today (18 March).

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) announced back in February that it would fast-track the review of Feed-in Tariff rates for solar installations over 50kW as it feared a massive surge in the number of field-scale “solar farms”.

As part of this review, a consultation published today proposes massive cuts to the tariffs for larger installations in a bid to calm these fears.

The current FiTs for solar PV are 31.4p/kWh for 10-100kW systems and 29.3p/kWh for larger 100kW-5MW systems. However, DECC suggests cutting these tariffs to:
• 50-150kW systems: 19p/kWh
• 150-250kW: 15p/kWh
• 250kW-5MW: 8.5p/kWh

The consultation also proposes to increase FiT payments for smaller anaerobic digestion projects in order to encourage more uptake of this technology on farms.

The current FiTs for AD are 11.5p/kWh for systems smaller than 500kWh and 9p/kWh for systems over this size. DECC suggests changing these bands and payments rates to:
• <250kW: 14p/kWh
• 250-500kW: 13p/kW

DECC is seeking views on the proposed tariffs until 6 May 2011 and any changes could take effect from 1 August this year, subject to the outcome of the consultation and Parliamentary approval.

The government said it would not act retrospectively and any changes to generation tariffs would only affect new entrants to the FiT scheme. Installations already accredited for FiTs at the time would not be affected.

The news sparked a fierce response from the Renewable Energy Association, which said the coalition government was making an “horrendous strategic mistake” with its plans to slash rates for solar.

Chief executive Gaynor Hartnell said: “Larger PV projects are cheaper, and have a major role in driving down costs. We don’t want boom and bust in this sector either, but pulling the rug out from under the feet of those that have ventured into this market was precisely the wrong response.

“The UK will return to the solar slow-lane. It’s as good as a retrospective change and that does untold damage to investor confidence. It’s not acceptable and we will fight it.”

The consultation can be found on the DECC website.
© Reed Business Information Ltd
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Skeptical City Council Picks Apart Organic Waste Plan

2011-03-29T09:09:00.000+01:00

Cedric de La Beaujardiere City Council, residents and staff debated anaerobic digestion for four hours on Monday night.

Shipping the city’s food scraps, yard trimmings and solid organic waste to large, regional facilities may pump twice as much greenhouse gas into the atmosphere as a local aerobic digestion plant, and may not be any cheaper, according to a report presented to the Palo Alto City Council Monday.

The report, which detailed a contentious preliminary analysis of alternatives for dealing with Palo Alto’s organic waste, or “residuals,” compared monetary and environmental pros and cons but was picked apart by city staffers who told the City Council not to read too far into it.

“We wouldn’t recommend drawing conclusions tonight from it,” said Phil Bobel, environmental compliance manager for the city of Palo Alto.

Up for debate is whether to build a dry anaerobic digestion (DAD) facility on a nine-acre portion of the city landfill at Byxbee Park, or to truck the city’s residuals to a DAD plant in San Jose or to a compost facility in Gilroy.

Right now, the city incinerates wastewater solids—known as “biosolids”—and ships away food scraps and composting yard trimmings, totaling about 60,000 tons per year. The city’s combined organic waste is expected to hit 74,000 tons per year by 2034.

Bobel said that the assumptions used in the study’s models would have to be rethought before city staff suggests a plan.

“A number of runs at the model with different assumptions would be good to see before drawing conclusions and making recommendations,” he said.

Even the consultant evaluating the DAD plans, Jim Binder of Alternative Resources Inc., agreed it was too early to draw conclusions, noting that the contractors who were contacted as potential vendors for processing the city’s waste were the ones who determined the estimated costs of those contracts.

Councilwoman Gail Price took issue with this fact.

“What is the process by which we validate these numbers?” she asked. “Am I misunderstanding what I heard … that the numbers were reported by the companies?”

Binder, who seemed uncomfortable defending an analysis he repeatedly explained was incomplete, said, “These are the best numbers that the companies can put forward. These are not bids. Companies aren’t in a position to be able to come up with those numbers.”

Indeed, there does not yet exist a dry anaerobic digester in the United States, he said, and thus any estimated cost is likely to be optimistically low. The DAD plant in San Jose, being built by Greenwaste, is still in the permitting phase and would be the first in the nation.

“My guess is that those numbers aren’t firm numbers, so just keep that in mind,” he said.

Furthermore, city staff insisted that public comments received earlier in the year had yielded tremendous input that should also be reviewed before making any final recommendations.

“It was the volume of comments from a range of perspectives by the public that really made it difficult to put us in a position to beg for some action,” said City Manger Jim Keene.

As Palo Alto Patch reported last fall, the two competing sides in this debate are both self-described environmentalists. In one corner, conservationists are arguing that Byxbee Park, which is protected parkland, should remain as such once the city landfill is taken offline next year.

Former City Councilwoman Emily Renzel told the council Monday night not to “ruin Byxbee Park” with an industrial anaerobic digester when the city could take advantage of regional offerings.

“It makes no sense for every small city to make massive capital improvements rather than taking advantage of economies of scale regionally,” said Renzel, who prefers that the city upgrade the Water Quality Control Plant in order to process biosolids and continue exporting the rest of its organic waste

“Zillions of dollars might drop out of the sky to improve the [anaerobic digester] odds, but don’t count on it. Sooner or later, the costs will fall on ratepayers,” she said in a letter to the council.

In the other corner, climate activists argue that the city should be responsible for its own waste, and that to build a digester locally would allow the city to come much closer to its climate protection goals and, perhaps, even generate renewable energy.

Former Mayor Peter Drekmeier, who helped gather signatures for an initiative that would change the parkland designation of the Byxbee Park site so it could be built upon, touted what he said were significant environmental benefits to building a local digestion facility.

“One thing that people do agree on is that this project would be good for the environment, reducing greenhouse gases by 12,000 tons,” he said. “That’s the equivalent of what would be released by burning 1.2 million gallons of gasoline.”

Drekmeier went on to say that a local plant would help the city meet more than half of its goals for climate protection and save the city more than $2 million a year.

Nobody in the Council Chambers seemed wholly convinced about the economic viability of DAD technology.

Multiple council members wanted to know if a wet anaerobic digestion facility that could process all three kinds of waste might be feasible for the water control plant, and if gasification of methane produced by such a device might be used to produce renewable energy.

And then came a third option—plasma arc conversion—touted by Councilman Greg Schmid as one worthy of examination.

“The city of Salinas has been recommended a [plasma arc conversion] project that will achieve 98 percent recovery or reuse of all municipal solid waste,” said Schmid. “The technology has been endorsed by the EPA as the future.”

Bobel agreed.

“I think that Councilmen Schimid is on target,” he said.

The council eventually decided to table any decision on the issue until city staff could come back with better analysis of the DAD options as well as details of what would be required for an examination of the other alternatives presented Monday night.

That meeting will occur in June.

View the original article here

PMC BioTec Participation in UK Trade Mission Identifies Opportunity

2011-03-28T14:34:00.001+01:00

March 28, 2011 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time Waste to Energy Biotechnology Leader Confirms UK’s Commitment to Funding Strategic Renewable Energy Initiatives on Recent Trade Mission Led by Massachusetts Governor Patrick

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PMC BioTec, a global environmental biotechnology leader in the production of biogas, today announced, upon its return from a key trade mission to the United Kingdom (UK) conducted earlier this month, that the UK is committed to waste-to-energy initiatives including anaerobic digestion and the production of renewable biogas as part of a government mandate to achieve aggressive renewable energy levels.

“Based on the enthusiastic reception our renewable biogas technology received during our recent trade mission, PMC will be formally expanding its business operations in the UK”

Taking part in the Massachusetts Innovation Economy Partnership Mission 2011 led by Governor Deval Patrick, PMC BioTec met with leading government, university, and financial experts including Gregory Barker, the Minister of State in the Office of Energy and Climate Change for the United Kingdom. These meetings confirm the UK is committed to a goal of supplying 20 percent of its total energy requirements through renewable means by 2020 and allocating over £200 billion in funding for related projects.

“The positive reaction to PMC BioTec’s environmental biotechnology technology during our UK trade mission is encouraging,” said Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. “The potential for wide scale adoption of this cutting edge technology could translate into an economic windfall for the state of Massachusetts, which is one of the leading proponents of innovative clean tech solutions on a global scale.”

PMC BioTec’s groundbreaking environmental biotechnology produces the fastest and most efficient anaerobic digestion process that doubles the production of renewable biogas while eliminating energy intensive and costly residuals disposal.

“Based on the enthusiastic reception our renewable biogas technology received during our recent trade mission, PMC will be formally expanding its business operations in the UK,” said Frank Sinton, Jr., CEO of PMC BioTec. “With government mandates for renewable energy initiatives that include waste-to-energy solutions that can be implemented with our breakthrough anaerobic AFC process, the UK represents a tremendous market opportunity for PMC BioTec.”

Anaerobic digestion technology capable of high volume biogas production is an important aspect of the UK’s renewable energy objectives as high volumes of food, human and agricultural waste is readily available for economic conversion to renewable energy.

“The ROCs (Renewable Obligation Certificates) and tipping fees make waste-to-renewable energy farms very attractive in the UK, and we expect to be an important technology supplier to this market including exports of proprietary PMC equipment,” added Mr. Sinton.

About PMC BioTec

PMC BioTec is a global environmental biotechnology leader enabling waste water treatment operators, bio-refineries, and waste to energy biogas plants to double their production of biogas, recover nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer, and virtually eliminate damaging and energy intensive residuals disposal. The company's groundbreaking advances transform millions of tons of environmentally harmful bio-solids into renewable natural gas capable of producing billions of BTUs, clean water and valuable fertilizers. For more information please visit: http://www.pmcbiotec.com/index.html.

View the original article here

Waste Treatment and Anaerobic Digestion Proposals in Devon - Waste Management World

2011-03-21T10:06:00.000Z

10 March 2011

Proposals have been submitted to Devon county council for the construction of an advanced anaerobic digestion facility.

AAD (South West) Ltd - a partnership between UK based engineering company AeroThermal Group Ltd, and 4Recycling Ltd - is proposing the development of a sustainable waste and resource treatment facility at the site of Imerys Minerals Ltd's clay refinery plant at Lee Moor, South Devon.

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The above video is for illustrative pruposes only and not associated with the text article.

According to AAD, the site proposed is suitable as it already has existing plant and infrastructure that, with modifications, can be converted into an advanced anaerobic digestion facility.

A scoping report has been submitted to Devon County Council, that will provide its scoping opinion on the proposal at a later date.

The Scoping Report is one of the earliest stages of the planning process and nothing will be constructed until the proposal has passed through the full planning process and all surveys have been carried out.

AAD says that its proposal will provide an innovative and modern alternative solution to treat waste which would otherwise be sent tol andfill through the use of the AeroThermal Group Ltd's combination of industrial autoclave processing and anaerobic digestion technology, and 4Recycling Ltd's experience of running operational facilities.

AeroThermal Group Ltd is proposing to construct an advanced anaerobic digestion facility, which incorporates autoclave and anaerobic digestion.

According to the company the plant will separate out materials for recycling, generate energy, and produce a soil conditioner. The compost-like material produced by the process will be used at the nearby Imerys Minerals Ltd Lee Moor China Clay workings as part of their ongoing restoration programme.

Commenting on the proposal, the AeroThermal Groups Ltd's Commercial Director, Tristan Lloyd-Baker, said: "Our ?9 million investment will create 22 long-term, skilled jobs for local people. In addition the facility will divert up to 75,000 tonnes of waste from landfill every year thereby avoiding harmful methane emissions and providing a facility to enable local businesses to maximise landfill diversion."

AAD says that it will be carrying out a public consultation prior to submitting a planning application, in line with national and local best practice guidelines.

View the original article here

Waste powers green hope - Montreal Gazette

2011-03-21T01:54:00.000Z

Waste not, want not. That adage has a 21st-century twist here, where tonnes of sewage sludge are being converted into a renewable natural gas that promises to become a cash crop for this city.

The three tanks on the city's southern outskirts look like squat versions of the agricultural silos that dot this farming region. In fact, they are anaerobic digesters that process solids at the waste-water treatment plant.

It's a closed-loop, energy selfsufficient system that is unique to Quebec, rare in North America, and said to be saving the city more than a $1 million a year in waste-treatment costs. The modest-looking facility has become something of a mecca for folks interested in seeing the future of waste treatment.

"At last count, we have had about 850 visitors since operations started up in January 2010," Pierre Mathieu, head of the city's water-treatment division, said this week.

There has been a delegation from Gabon, representatives from municipalities and businesses in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, provincial officials, and college and university students.

Interest is particularly high in Quebec, where almost $650 million is available in federal, provincial and municipal subsidies to divert organic waste from landfill sites to composting centres or biogas plants.

Quebec's policy that will gradually ban organic material in landfill sites by 2020 is also acting as a spur.

St. Hyacinthe's current $5-million biogas system, which was built without subsidies, is expected to pay for itself within five or six years, Mathieu says.

Before it was in place, the city was hauling 13,500 tonnes of treated sewage a year to a landfill site where "tipping fees" averaged $90 a tonne. Each round trip was about 100 kilometres.

Now they have a treatment system that creates less residual matter and supplies the biogas needed to dry the material into a "digestate" that can be used - and maybe one day sold - as an organic fertilizer.

The city is applying for government aid to add anaerobic digesters to handle organic waste from city households and area businesses.

Among the companies interested in providing organic waste to the expanded treatment centre is Saputo Inc., said Michael Brown, business development director for Bio-Méthatech, the company that supplied the first digesters and hopes to supply Phase 2.

Saputo's cheese-making facility is close enough to the treatment centre that its cheese whey can be transported underground by pipeline, Brown said.

That rich feedstock, along with organic material from the chocolate factory and similar businesses, will supercharge biogas production, Brown said.

Surplus biogas will be upgraded and injected into the natural gas distribution grid operated by Gaz Métro, Mathieu said.

The city, which has yet to get government approval for the subsidized expansion, anticipates selling between 4 million and 5 million cubic metres of biomethane per year, Mathieu said.

The price has yet to be settled but it probably would be close to the market price of natural gas, about 25 to 30 cents per cubic metre, said Frédéric Krikorian, Gaz Métro's renewable energy project manager.

Biomethane-producing municipalities may also get a "green" premium for their renewable gas, Krikorian noted.

"In Quebec, the theoretical potential for biomethane production ... is about 15 to 20 per cent of the current natural gas consumption in Quebec, which is about 200 billion cubic feet per year," he said.

St. Hyacinthe is in the happy position of being located near Gaz Métro's pipeline.

Other municipalities that don't have the option of hooking into the natural gas grid can use surplus biogas to fuel municipal vehicles.

On the island of Montreal, four organic waste processing facilities are in the works.

Current plans call for the treatment of about 230,000 tonnes of organic waste annually either through composting or anaerobic digestion. Two biogas plants are envisioned.

Municipal biogas projects such as St. Hyacinthe's point to a new era in clean energy in North America, Kurt Sorschak, CEO of Xebec Adsorption Inc., said in a recent interview.

His Blainville-based company supplied the biogasupgrading technology at the wastewater treatment centre in Escondido, Calif.

That project - the first of its kind in California - will provide energy to about 1,200 homes.

"Waste-to-energy is the next big thing in renewables," said Sorschak whose company is active in Asia and, according to Sorschak, is the only foreign company with biogas upgrading operations in China.

"We can basically produce energy without wind or without the sun shining. We just use either the organic waste, wastewater, farm waste or manure from farms. It's a huge opportunity to generate renewable energy."

Asia promises to offer the greatest opportunities for biogas upgrading, but the U.S. and Canada represent compelling markets, he said.

"In the U.S., there are 1,000 waste-water treatment facilities large enough to warrant biogas upgrading, according to Environment Protection Agency numbers," he said.

Add to that large North American landfill sites that could also have economically viable biogas operations.

In Quebec, Xebec is tracking 14 municipalities that have expressed interest in biogas projects and the company hopes - and expects - to be awarded some of the contracts.

Xebec and Gaz Métro are among the industry players who see natural gas increasingly being used as a transportation fuel.

Gaz Métro is working with Robert Transport, a Boucherville-based trucking firm that has ordered 180 liquefied natural gas (LNG) trucks, with help from provincial government incentives.

The gas distributor plans to install three LNG refuelling sites along the highway corridor between Quebec City and Toronto.

"There is no renewable fuel standard for natural gas but it will come because it makes sense," said Sorschak who is positioning his company to benefit from the trend to natural gas vehicles and renewable gas through biogas upgrading.

Both Xebec and Bio-Méthatech point to Europe where anaerobic digesters are becoming commonplace.

According to one industry figure, biogas plants increased from about 300 in 2000 to more than 4,000 in 2008 in Europe.

Germany, where biogas helps feed the electricity grid, is the biogas leader.

Montreal-based Bio-Méthatech is a joint venture involving the family-owned Dominion & Grimm Inc. - suppliers of equipment to maple syrup producers - and waste management company RCI.

The company has the licence to represent and manufacture LIPP KomBio digesters, a German technology, in Canada and the Northeastern U.S.

In the past 18 months, three LIPP digesters were built in its territory - in St. Hyacinthe - while 80 were built in Italy alone, Bio-Méthatech general manager Vincent Pepin said.

"And in Germany, there is a war over waste," said Pepin, adding that waste collection territories are well-defined and regulated there.

The slogan on his business card sums up his company's expectations - and perhaps those of the blossoming Canadian waste-to-energy industry: Valuable green energy from manure.

lmoore@montrealgazette.com

TRANSFORMING WASTE INTO GAS

Anaerobic digestion involves the biodegradation of organic material in the absence of oxygen. Occurring naturally in nature - marshes, some animal digestive tracts - it can be reproduced in a controlled environment.

The resulting biogas is essentially methane and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide can be removed and the biogas upgraded to pipeline-quality biomethane.

Biogas can also be upgraded and compressed for use as a vehicle fuel as compressed natural gas or liquefied natural gas, which is favoured by the long-haul trucking industry.

In the U.S., biomethane is considered a renewable energy and qualifies for some energy subsidy programs.

One cubic metre of pure biomethane is the energy equivalent of 1.15 litres of gasoline or one litre of fuel oil or diesel fuel or 10 kWh of electricity.

Lynn Moore

RENEWABLE GAS REDUCES EMISSIONS

Dena, the German Energy Agency, assessed the impact of blending renewable gas with natural gas. Within the group of fossil fuels, natural gas has the greatest potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Dena said in the 2010 study. But adding biomethanal has a dramatic impact. Blending 20% biomethane can reduce CO2 emissions by 39% in comparison with petrol, while if pure biomethane is used, reductions of up to 97% can be achieved depending on the method of assessment used.

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TEG Group wins waste processing contract from LondonWaste Ltd - Proactive Investors UK

2011-03-20T06:16:00.000Z

Design and production of specialised plant and equipment for the composting of organic wastes for sale to third party customers and in house projects

TEG Group wins waste processing contract from LondonWaste Ltd

Wed 8:39 am by Andre Lamberti

Shares in The TEG Group PLC (LON:TEG) were lifted by news it won a contract from the operating company responsible for waste management for the North London Waste Authority.

London Waste Ltd (LWL) has awarded the group a contract to process mixed food and green waste for an initial 3-year term, commencing in April 2011, with an option to extend to April 2017. Financial details were not disclosed.

The stock rose more than 10 percent in early deals to 29 pence in response.

The annual volume of the waste is expected to be 12,000-15,000 tonnes with a maximum obligation on TEG of 20,000 tonnes per annum.

TEG Group develops and operates organic composting and energy plants, and is currently developing a new anaerobic digestion (AD) and in-vessel composing (IVC) plant in Dagenham, East London, which is expected to be in operation in 2012. The waste from the latest contract will be processed at the Dagenham plant from 2012 and in the meantime will be processed at TEG's IVC plant at Carleton Rode.

TEG chief executive Michal Fishwick said "We are delighted to have secured our first contracted waste in London and look forward to the development of our AD and IVC facility in Dagenham. It is very pleasing to have the support of LondonWaste Limited and this support will very much assist the development of the Dagenham plant."

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SBI Energy sees global waste-to-energy market at USD 27bn by 2021 - Waste Management World

2011-03-19T17:44:00.000Z

ADP News Renewable Energy Track
March 11, 2011

The worldwide market for waste-to-energy technologies is to reach USD 27 billion (EUR 19.6m) by 2021 from USD 7 billion at present, SBI Energy writes in a recent study.

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The market research firm expects the market for incineration, gasification, plasma gasification, pyrolysis, and anaerobic digestion to grow at an annual rate of some 11% in the next 10 years. The forecast is motivated by the projected growth trends within the sector in Europe, the US, India and China.

"As landfill availability continues to decline, the demand for waste management solutions will remain regardless of economic stresses, and will continue to drive the installation of new waste to energy facilities," SBI Energy publisher Shelley Carr said.

The sector has already experienced significant growth during the past five years, driven by global concerns and government actions related to climate change. In 2006 the waste-to-energy market stood at USD 5 billion.

At present, over 2 billion tonnes of waste are being produced each year globally. According to SBI Energy the amount provides more than 24 quadrillion British Thermal Units (Btus) of available energy, or as much heat as is needed to supply some 10% of the global power consumption for a year.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.727)

Wire News provided by

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RHI level will help AD - The Low Carbon Economy

2011-03-19T05:24:00.000Z

Lord Redesdale, chairman of the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association, has welcomed the announcement of the Renewable Heat Incentive in the Spending Review.

"After months of work on the RHI, the Government's decision is very welcome. It will allow the huge increase in AD promised in the Coalition Agreement to be realised – the level of the RHI is a huge vote of confidence in this new and growing industry.

"The decision underlines ministers' commitment to AD, and has obviously involved a lot of complex work from civil servants to bring it to fruition, so I'd like to take this opportunity to thank them all.

"Moving forward, the Government now needs to consider steps such as socialising the cost of gas grid connection to encourage the best use of biogas for meeting the UK's targets, including the huge increase in energy from waste through anaerobic digestion which the coalition promised."

The announced level is 6.5p/kWh for biomethane injection to the grid, guaranteed for 20 years. AD has the potential to provide over 40 TWh of energy, which would be enough to heat a city larger than Birmingham and is equivalent to 20% of the UK's domestic gas demand.

Charlotte Morton, ADBA's chief executive, said: "As independent studies have shown, upgrading biogas to biomethane for grid injection is the best way to maximise the contribution of the AD industry to mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and addressing energy security issues. I hope that the RHI will now make this viable for many projects, and that the AD industry will expand to play a significant role in the UK's green energy mix."

Key facts you need to know about anaerobic digestion and biogas

• Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a natural process which converts organic matter such as household food and garden waste, farm slurry, waste from food processing plants and supermarkets, into biogas.
• Biogas can be utilised to generate electricity, heat, and, upgraded to bio-methane, be either used as a transport fuel or be fed directly into the UK's gas grids.
• According to the Carbon Trust, the generation of bio-methane, which is very similar to natural gas, would save twice as much carbon dioxide as producing electricity by 2020.
• AD is the only renewable that can be scaled up fast enough to enable the UK to reach its 2020 renewable energy target.
• AD reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
• AD preserves critical natural resources such as nitrates and phosphorus. Phosphorous is a finite resource for which there is no known alternative. It is critical for plant growth and world resources are already running out.
• AD reduces our use of fossil fuels.
• AD significantly improves Britain's energy security.

Five facts you need to know about ADBA

• ADBA stands for the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association.
• The Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association was founded in September 2009.
• Since its launch ADBA has acquired over 200 members.
• ADBA's chairman is Lord Redesdale, former energy spokesman of the Liberal Democrats.
• ADBA's aim is to help enable or facilitate the development of a mature AD industry in the UK and to represent all businesses involved in the anaerobic digestion and biogas industries, to remove the barriers they face and to support its members to grow their businesses and the industry to help UK plc meet its renewable energy, climate change and landfill targets, as well as the preservation of critical natural resources.

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Anaerobic Digestion Facility Given Green Light in Warwickshire - Waste Management World

2011-03-18T16:52:00.000Z

04 March 2011

Anaerobic Digestions (AD) specialist, BiogenGreenfinch has secured planning consent for the construction of an AD facility at Merevale & Blyth Estate in Warwickshire.

The 45,000 tonne per annum capacity plant will be built, owned, and operated by BiogenGreenfinch and will treat food waste collected from households, food manufacturers and food retailers in the region.

According to the company, the electricity produced by the Merevale plant will be enough to meet the annual demand of up to 2000 average homes - equivalent to the combined households of Baxterley and Atherstone in Warwickshire.

The food waste will be processed by means of anaerobic digestion in order to generate renewable electricity for the grid and a valuable biofertiliser for use on the surrounding Estate and other farmland.

Richard Barker, CEO explained that the Merevale site is a ideal for an AD plant - centrally located with excellent transport links to nearby large population centres.

This is a definite "win-win-win" project - we are diverting food waste from landfill, we are generating renewable electricity for the national grid and also delivering a fantastic biofertiliser for crops on the land around the plant. We look forward to working with local food waste producers in the coming months and years to make this plant a success"

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Landmark trials may open new markets for anaerobic digestate in landscaping - Pitchcare (press release)

2011-03-18T04:32:00.000Z

By Press Release in Industry on 28th Feb 2011 8:00

Work is underway in England and Scotland on a series of landmark trials examining the potential for using anaerobic digestate as an alternative to commercial fertilisers in landscaping and regeneration projects.

The studies, organised by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme), could have significant bearing for the UK's burgeoning anaerobic digestion (AD) industry by opening up potential new markets for digestate; the nutrient-rich bio-fertiliser produced as part of the AD treatment process for organic waste.

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The results could offer a cost effective alternative to expensive commercial fertilisers for the UK's landscape and regeneration sectors; benefiting small independent firms and large environmental regeneration projects.

Paul Mathers, Programme Manager, Landscape & Regeneration at WRAP, explains

"We have seen significant improvement in how vegetation establishes itself in brownfield restoration and sport turfs through the use of BSI PAS 100 compost. I am confident that anaerobic digestate offers similar environmental and economic benefits.

"If successful, the results will have far reaching implications for a wide range of regeneration programmes and sports turf applications. The use of anaerobic digestate could open new markets on a national scale."

English trials

In Yorkshire, Walker Resource Management (WRM) is working in partnership with the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI) to examine the effectiveness of anaerobic digestate when used as a sports turf fertiliser.

Two field trials, one held at the STRI grounds and the second at Marsden Park golf course in Lancashire, will compare the performance of anaerobic digestate when injected into golf greens and fairways against surface application. The trial plots will be compared with ones treated with conventional industry fertiliser, and with untreated control sites. Grass cover will be measured and photographed monthly, and assessed by chlorophyll meter. The trials will run until early spring.

A third trial will examine a very different use for digestate. The site in question is located at Stannon pit, a former China clay pit near Camelford in Cornwall which is deficient in all major and most minor nutrients. A five hectare test area has been established within the 150 hectare site, which is currently being restored as part of a landscape scheme implemented by South West Water and monitored by Cornwall Council. Here, Waste Treatment Water (WTW) is examining the use of anaerobic digestate, alongside water filter sludge and BSI PAS 100 quality compost, to assess the suitability of digestate as an aid to establishing vegetation on harsh landscapes.

The trial, which is being conducted by contractor Nexus Sustainability, will look at soil function and physical structure and will report its findings in late March 2011. If successful, the study will feed into current thinking guiding mine restoration sites, initially in Cornwall and the South West.

Scottish trials

Further WRAP trials are also underway in Scotland, this time examining the use of anaerobic digestate in the establishment of newly planted trees and energy crops.

David Jarvis Associates, in partnership with Forest Research, is running the first of the three Scottish trials. Based at the Forestry Commission Newton nursery near Elgin, this study examines the effectiveness of anaerobic digestate when used in combination with BSI PAS 100 quality compost as a water retention 'blanket' to target root growth in trees, and in the retention of nutrients in soil. Alder trees will be used and soil quality and tree height will be assessed in the spring.

A second Scottish trial, located on the Heartlands brownfield restoration site at Polkemmet central Scotland, is being carried out by Earthcare to look at the benefits of using digestate in the growing of energy crops*.

The trial involves the planting of five hardwood tree species, including Red Alder, Cherry, Eucalyptus, Poplar and Birch into the site's poor quality soils - which have been blended with quality digestate and compost. Following the incorporation of the organic materials, the tree crops will be planted according to standard commercial practice.

The third Scottish trial is being run by the Forestry Commission. This will ascertain if silver birch, grown for biomass production, can be established on post-industrial land. Compost and digestate fibre will be cultivated into the existing soil and then planted in the tree plugs by spring. The project consists of two trial sites at Dalquhandy, a former open cast coal mine in Lanarkshire; and Addiewell, a former oil shale spoil tip in West Lothian.

The digestate used in all three Scottish trials is being provided by Scottish Water Horizons. The trials will assess improvements in the growing medium in the short term (by end of March 2011) by sampling the amended soils and assessing initial plant establishment.

Anaerobic digestion (AD) involves the breaking down of biodegradable material using micro-organisms in the absence of oxygen. It is currently used to treat wastewater at sewage treatment works in the UK, but can also be used to treat other organics wastes including household food waste, farmyard manures and energy crops. The process also provides a source of renewable energy in the form of biogas (a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide). Anaerobic Digestate, or biofertiliser, is the organic material produced during the process of anaerobic digestion. This is an organic material which is naturally high in valuable nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and other elements required for healthy plant growth and fertile soil.

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CPI opens anaerobic digestion centre - The Engineer

2011-03-17T11:50:00.000Z

15 February 2011

Teesside, UK – The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) has opened its Anaerobic Digestion Development Centre (ADDC) - a facility where companies can test and develop novel feedstock and technology combinations.

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CPI said it aims to provide the UK with a base to advance and develop new commercially viable processes and intellectual property in the area of anaerobic digestion (AD) technology.
click here

The Coalition Government has cited AD as being a vital tool in achieving its goal of becoming the greenest government ever.

Reducing carbon emission, providing energy security and generating green jobs, the Government’s aim is to be ambitious with its implementation of AD technology. CPI’s ADDC embodies this bold approach.

With national technology centres in printable electronics and industrial biotechnology already established and with a proven track record, CPI has received investment from the Department of Energy and Climate Control’s (DECC) Low Carbon Investment Fund (LCIF).

There are around 37 AD plants currently in the UK using food and farm waste, and another 60 planned or under construction. AD is an increasingly important technology as the UK pushes for a low carbon future.

The UK produces around 100 million tonnes of food, farm and other organic waste each year, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). This could be used to generate up to 7 per cent of the renewable energy required in the UK by 2020.

The ADDC can process a wide range of organic waste in single or mixed streams and has a range of adaptable pre-treatment, digestion and post-treatment technologies aimed at facilitating new and improved anaerobic digestion processes. Designed to be rapidly reconfigurable, it provides a ’plug and play’ solution for organisations wishing to improve and develop AD technology.

According to the CPI, the ADDC facility will, typically, conduct work and production runs with the aim of:

* Reducing the size and cost of AD installations
* Increasing the yield of methane from all types of feedstocks
* Further developing pre- and post-treatment technologies to improve yields
* Enhancing the properties of the digestate to develop high quality natural fertilisers
* Improving effluent water quality
* Developing purification and monitoring processes to allow the injection of biogas into the gas grid

Methane gas is one of the primary products of AD. It is created inside sealed tanks when micro-organisms digest biomass, and can be used to generate heat and electricity that can be either utilised on-site, by nearby businesses, housing developments etc, or put into the national grid. The biogas can also be used as a transport biofuel.

As part of the zero-waste solution, this helps reduce the consumption of and reliance upon dwindling fossil fuels and, therefore, reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The ADDC provides a vital toolbox for those seeking sustainable low carbon alternatives to traditional energy production, while driving the UK’s AD advances and attracting wealth and opportunities for economic growth.

CPI director of sustainable processing and advanced manufacturing, Dr Chris Dowle, says: “The ADDC will offer the facilities and expertise to provide advice, guidance, trials and new technologies, which will accelerate the development and application of installations turning waste into energy, and other valuable products, naturally.”
Readers'

comments (1)

SEAMUS CRICKLEY | 4 Mar 2011 2:06 pm

This is a desirable facility for us as end-of-line design engineering companies in the bio-energy sector

Why a Best-Selling Energy Author Is Giving Away His Book for Free

2011-03-16T19:08:00.000Z

“Writing Renewable Energy – Facts and Fantasies was a great project. I had fun doing it, readers loved it, and a whole bunch of people bought it within the first week or so,” says Shields. “Now it's time to move along – but before I do that, why not put it in as many people’s hands as possible?”

Download the free book:

http://2greenenergy.com/renewable-energy-facts-fantasies-ebook/

There is no doubt that the migration to clean energy is the most pressing issue of our time. Whether our worries are global warming, peak oil, national security, or simply America’s competitiveness in world markets, or our siphoning off another $1 billion in our wealth off to foreign entities every day, 365 days a year, there is definitely room for concern. In fact, you’ll have to try hard to find anyone who thinks that our addiction to oil and coal is a good thing. But, looking at the problem in practical, realistic terms, how can we “get there from here?”

According to Shields, “The truth is that we face tough realities. The technologies are constantly improving, albeit at an uneven rate. And big money and politics make this ten times more complicated than it would have been if we were not talking about energy – home to the largest and most sophisticated business interests on Earth. As I imply in the book’s title, we live in a world in which not everything is possible, and we must make difficult choices as we migrate away from fossil fuels in the direction of clean energy.”

The book is based on interviews with 25 of the world’s top researchers, authors, analysts and industry leaders – a surprisingly large percentage of whom point to these “tough realities” that exist in the technology migration, the economic implications, and the political issues that affect the world energy industry.

Shields continues, “All of us – well, almost all of us – want clean energy. Whether our concerns are healthcare issues caused by emissions, enriching terrorists, military conflicts, social chaos and injustice, global climate change, or other forms of long-term environmental damage, there is no doubt that we need to put an end to our reliance on fossil fuels. But it’s just not that easy. We would do well to understand the realities if we are to have informed, relevant discussions as to what we must do as a nation – and as a civilization.”

Though Shields is by nature a modest gentleman, he doesn’t hide the fact that he believed in the book’s success from the onset. “I wrote it for several different groups – each fairly large. There are people who simply want a broad and objective treatment of the subject. There’s a great deal of science, current events, international relationships, and economics to keep tabs on; that’s not an easy task for anyone,” Shields explains. “But there is also a significant business audience,” as folks see a multi-trillion dollar industry forming and say, ‘Hey, I’d like to be a part of that too.’”

Reviewers have gushed praises. Paul Scott, co-founder of Advocacy group Plug-In America writes:

The whole 2GreenEnergy project is extremely worthwhile -- and this "Facts and Fantasies" is a good example of the value that Craig and his team add to the renewables and sustainability movement. It would be hard to find more stimulating ideas – and more compelling reasons to move to clean energy, all stuffed into one small place. Readers will walk away with a greatly expanded understanding of the factors that face us all in our quest for clean energy.

Shields is already hard at work, setting the course for his next book, in which he’ll continue along the path of his independent investigation: What, pragmatically, are we facing – technologically, economically, and politically – in terms of the migration to renewables?

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Feed-in Tariffs or Bidding: How Best to Assign Renewable Contracts

2011-03-16T03:08:00.000Z

The reference is specifically to the unprecedented financial innovation that occurred over the course of the last decade, innovation that was heralded by many within the sector as a means of improving the overall "efficiency" of the financial market. Efficiency in this context means that resources (financial and other) would be allocated in a way that would better promote human welfare.

As the economy continues to reel from the effects of the financial crisis, average citizens may be excused for failing to see the welfare gains that came from all this "innovation;" indeed, two years on, it is now generally acknowledged that this innovation was taken too far, and resulted in a net loss of welfare for society, and for the taxpayers who are now footing the bill.

One of the insights behind Lord Turner's comment is that, in such situations, it is indeed possible for us to be penny-wise and pound-foolish, to put too much faith in efficiency at the expense of market stability.

An Analogy

An analogy can be drawn between this situation and the current debate unfolding in the U.S. surrounding renewable energy policy, in particular the debate between standard offers (or feed-in tariffs) and renewable auction mechanisms (or RAM).

Standard offers guarantee a fixed price for electricity sold to the grid and are generally awarded specifically to renewable energy projects to bolster revenue certainty and reduce overall investment risks. The electricity can be generated by a host of different renewable electricity technologies, including solar, wind, biogas, and geothermal power.

The price offered to each technology and size class is generally determined through detailed analyses of renewable energy project costs. These analyses provide benchmark prices that are locked in and offered for a fixed period of time, until market conditions change and require the prices awarded to subsequent projects to be adjusted, either automatically or by review.

Standard offers are currently being used in the U.S. by municipal utilities in places such as Gainesville, Florida, and in certain states such as Vermont and are being considered across the U.S. from states ranging from Colorado and Arizona, to New York and Michigan.

The renewable auction mechanism relies instead on a form of "reverse" auction, a process through which individual developers bid against one another to provide a certain block of electrical capacity. The goal of using an auction mechanism is generally to deliver the lowest cost electricity to the grid.

Conventional economic theory holds that such a competitive process should, by definition, yield the most "efficient" outcome. A competitive process will tend to foster more accurate price discovery, leading to fairer (i.e. more accurate) prices, and ensure that ratepayers are not overpaying for renewable electricity. This is "allocative efficiency".

The competitive nature of auction-based mechanisms is rapidly making them a favored policy option among U.S. policymakers, who are concerned that standard offers and other such policies that "set the price" will result in disastrous inefficiencies.

It is argued that these inefficiencies will result primarily because no third-party analysis can ever rival the market mechanism in terms of price discovery: prices will deviate from reality, supply will exceed demand, and the entire electricity market will be distorted beyond recognition. Thus, the reasoning goes, no standard offer framework could ever be as "efficient" as an auction-based system.

As a result, it is commonly argued that such policies will overcharge ratepayers, decrease social welfare, and bring us all one catastrophic step closer to communism.

Theory & Practice

This debate merits a closer look.

It is inevitable that standard offer policies will occasionally deviate from "market realities" in certain project classes, at certain points in time, resulting in higher payment levels being awarded to certain project owners than intended by policymakers.

By the same reasoning, these deviations will also work the other way at times, leading to lower returns in some project classes, which will tend to slow the rate of investment, and signal the need for a correction. The objective ultimately is to ensure that prices are "about" right, hovering in range that allows profitability, while encouraging private investment, and stimulating the development of new electrical capacity.

However, despite its many imperfections, the overall system has been shown to work rather well, and accomplishes precisely what it is designed to accomplish: namely, encourage the rapid and sustained scale-up in renewable energy investments.

Standard offers achieve this by creating the conditions of stability, transparency, and investment certainty required to finance large volumes of capital intensive assets. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, standard offers may well be the worst renewable energy policy going, except for all the others.

What's Wrong with Auctions?

Indeed, auction-based mechanisms are not without their flaws either. Under an auction-based system, an incentive is created for bidders to bid as low as possible in order to increase their chances of securing a contract. Recent experience from jurisdictions such as China and Brazil suggests that underbidding is widespread, and contract failure rates remain high, leading to slower growth.

If repeated over several auction cycles, this process can be timely, costly and highly inefficient, both for regulators and investors, and can effectively undermine investor confidence, as well as a jurisdiction's ability to meet renewable energy targets on time.

On a different level, auctions significantly increase the overall risk of renewable energy investments, as there is a relatively low likelihood that any individual project will receive a contract. Bidders must therefore put up significant sums in order to mount a bid at all, adding layers of transaction costs with little assurance that this risk will be rewarded with an actual contract to build. This risk must then be reflected in the cost of capital, as both debt and equity providers will rightly identify increased contract and completion risks, and demand higher returns. These higher returns may well wipe out any gains derived from greater price efficiency.

A further challenge with an auction-based mechanism is that it will prove exceedingly difficult under such frameworks to develop robust and dynamic manufacturing and supplier markets, partly because the latter will have to rely largely on periodic auction calls.

In other words, the final market demand for renewable energy products and services under an auction framework becomes contingent on the ability of the auction to result in viable contracts (i.e. bankable projects). If it largely fails to do so for a significant period of time, any local renewable energy industry is likely to fail along with it.

This can lead to a start-and-stop pattern of development, potentially creating another kind of "valley-of-death" for renewable energy manufacturers and service suppliers.

Finally, auctions by design create a higher barrier to entry for new players. This may in fact result in less competition, not more, as fewer developers can afford (or stomach) the high upfront costs (and risks) of participating. This could have the unintended consequence of discouraging innovation within the market, potentially driving entrepreneurs to focus on sectors with lower barriers to entry.

Tradeoffs and Takeaways

The key behind the success of standard offer policies is that the price is designed to approximate the cost of generation, and offer a reasonable rate of return on investments in different renewable energy project classes. In so doing, they create a continuous stream of project-level investments and foster stability within the regional renewable energy market.

Under standard offers, the prices are known, and set for a certain period of time, communicating a transparent signal to the marketplace. Provided the policy is framed within a longer-term objective, such as a Renewable Energy Standard, this enables longer-term capital investments in manufacturing and associated industries to take place.

In countries like Germany, this stability is valued as an objective in itself, as it fosters job creation, reduces the cost of finance and the barriers to entry, and leads to positive cluster effects as industries develop in proximity to one another. This leads to more robust supply chains and more efficient communication between suppliers and developers.

In fact, this policy stability has been one of the most decisive factors in helping Germany become a major hub in global renewable energy supply chains, developing a powerful export complex that now yields an annual turnover in the tens of billions of dollars. This stability has also enabled its renewable energy sector to weather the financial crisis surprisingly well, as financing continues to be available for relatively low-risk capital investments.

However, it has been argued that auction-based mechanisms may be more suitable for larger (>100 MW) projects where there is a greater risk that these relatively minor losses in allocative efficiency will result in fairly significant losses at larger project sizes. This would occur if the standard offer price deviates significiantly from actual, risk-adjusted generation costs, and awards an unreasonably inflated price over a 20-to-30-year period of time.

Yet, it remains the case that larger capex projects require greater investment certainty, not less. Thus price certainty and transparency are arguably even more important at this scale than at smaller sizes. This suggests that standard offers may still be a tradeoff worth making at this scale, particularly if policymakers aim to stimulate rapid and sustained investments in renewable energy projects.

Provided proper checks are in place to counter the formation of bubbles, as occurred in Spain in 2008, the overall gains derived from the stability and certainty of standard offer frameworks arguably outweigh the losses in "allocative efficiency" that can result from temporary price divergences.

At its most basic level, implementing a standard offer policy is a tradeoff, one between greater investment certainty on one hand, and gains in allocative efficiency on the other hand.

If Lord Turner is right, it may in fact be better in the long run to be pound-wise, than penny-foolish.

This article is a guest post by renewable energy policy expert Toby Couture that was reprinted by Paul Gipe. The original article, Penny-foolish or Pound-wise: The Case of Renewable Electricity Policy, can be found on the E3 Analytics website.

Toby Couture is Energy & Financial Markets Analyst at E3 Analytics, based in London. He works and writes on renewable energy finance and policy issues, and has published widely in the renewable energy field. He is currently completing a degree at the London School of Economics. More analysis can be found E3 Analytics.

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BTEC Webinar to Tackle Biomass Air Emissions, Boiler MACT, and Control Technologies

2011-03-15T11:08:00.000Z

By Biomass Thermal Energy Council | 2011-03-11 09:37:00.0 March 11 - Washington, D.C Engage three diverse perspectives on biomass air quality issues that impact your organization, business, or community. Register now and attend, "Biomass Air Quality: Measuring, Controlling, and Regulating Emissions," a free webinar on Thursday, March 17 at 2PM ET, by the Biomass Thermal Energy Council (BTEC).

Across the nation, citizens and businesses alike have been asking and responding to complex questions on emissions from biomass energy applications: what is the carbon profile of biomass; how clean is biomass combustion; and, how will biomass be regulated? Gain insight into these questions and more during this free webinar.

Event Description

This free webinar will address issues concerning emissions from biomass thermal conversion technologies. Topics include:

A review of the Environmental Protection Agency's new Boiler MACT rules Comparing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants from different biomass end uses New studies and tools for calculating biomass emissions Exploring pollution control technologies for biomass thermal technologies Question & Answer session with the speakers. Read more >>
Speakers
Jim Eddinger, Energy Strategies Group, Environmental Protection Agency Carrie Lee, Staff Scientist, Stockholm Environment Institute John Hinckley, Principle Consultant, Resource Systems Group Moderator - Joseph Seymour, BTEC Program Coordinator for Policy and Government Affairs. Read more >> Registration and More Information
Advance registration is required, click here to sign-up>> This webinar is free of charge You only need a computer, internet access, and at least one hour of your time Time and Date: Thursday, March 17 at 2PM ET All registrants will have access to a live recording and copy of the presentation after the webinar. For additional questions on this event, please contact: Joseph Seymour
Program Coordinator - Policy and Government AffairsAbout the Biomass Thermal Energy Council The information on this page was created and posted by the company identified above. RenewableEnergyWorld.com does not endorse, edit, or substantiate this information and assumes no obligation for this content's accuracy.

About: The Biomass Thermal Energy Council (BTEC) is a nonprofit association dedicated to advancing the use of biomass for heat and other thermal energy applications. ... more »

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Methane emission from fixed dome biogas plants in hilly and plain regions of northern India [An article from: Bioresource Technology]

2011-03-14T16:33:00.000Z

This digital document is a journal article from Bioresource Technology, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Methane emissions from the slurry displacement chambers of different fixed dome type biogas plants (Capacity 2 m^3) installed in hilly and plain regions of northern India were quantitatively estimated. The slurry temperature in the biogas plants in the hilly areas of Himachal Pradesh at an altitude of 1300 m above mean sea level remains below the lower mesophilic range (16-25 ^oC) during most part of the year. Difference in the ambient temperature under the two climatic conditions of Hills and plain regions affects the CH"4 flux. Methane fluxes from the plants ranged between 7 and 120 gm^-^2d^-^1. In northern plain, temperature remains warm (21-33 ^oC) throughout the year except during winter (December to January) when there is a steep fall. Seasonal emission of CH"4 ranged between 10 and 178 gm^-^2d^-^1. The annual average methane emission from the biogas plants in plain areas was 83.1 gm^-^2d^-^1 as compared to 43.1 gm^-^2d^-^1in the hilly areas. Annual contribution per plant to the global methane budget from a fixed dome biogas plant (Cap 2 m^3) in plain region of northern India was 53.2 kg as compared 22.3 kg in hilly area.

Price: $8.95

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POTENTIALITIES OF BIOGAS TECHNOLOGY: PRODUCTION AND UTILIZATION OF BIOGAS

2011-03-13T21:58:00.001Z

Rational utilization of different wastes is an important problem of today. It is connected on one hand, with an opportunity of the use of a huge energy potential of a biomass for the production of liquid and gaseous fuel (biogas) and on the other hand with the necessity of the preservation and improvement of the ecology of an environment by the prevention of pollution of reservoirs, infection of ground by pathogenic bacteria and decrease of the cutting down of woods. In this book information presented is not only regarding traditional biogas digesters constructed in a number of Asian and European countries; but it also contains information regarding emerging technologies as bio-reactors for the hydrogen production. This indeed is a very promising emerging technology at present, by taking into account the importance of hydrogen economy for future energy production and storage. A number of topics including production of biogas, its upgrading, utilization, conversion into mechanical and electric power, economic analysis and safety regulations during use are described due to their practical importance at present.

Price: $65.00

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Farmgen applies for latest anaerobic digestion plant - Place North West (subscription)

2011-02-11T14:16:00.001Z

9 Feb 2011, 17:23

Lancashire-based energy-from-crops company Farmgen has revealed plans for its second facility in Cumbria.
The company, which has embarked on a £30m investment drive nationwide, has applied to Carlisle City Council for permission to create the farm-based anaerobic digestion plant at Murray House Farm in Cumwhinton.

Its team has been working for some time on the plan with Peter Bainbridge and his father, Peter, who both farm at Murray House and the application has been submitted to build a plant that can generate up to 1.2MW of electricity.

Crops used at the £3m plant would be supplied by the Bainbridges, who organise the popular annual Cumwhinton horse trials, and neighbouring farmers.

Building work has already started on Farmgen's first AD plant in Cumbria at Dryholme Farm, near Silloth. Dryholme and Farmgen's inaugural plant at Carr Farm in Warton, near Preston, Lancashire, are both scheduled to be up and running this year. Once in operation, they will each generate enough continuous power for more than 1,000 homes and will provide a significant boost to their rural economies.

Ed Cattigan, chief operating officer at Farmgen, said: "The application we have submitted for Murray House underlines our great belief in the huge potential that exists for farm-based AD in Cumbria.

"As the country moves over to 'green' energy, as part of the drive towards a low carbon economy, there is a strong opportunity for many farmers across the county to create a sustainable and stronger future for themselves by switching to 'energy farming'.

"We are in talks with a number of other farming operations across Cumbria and in other parts of the UK to create similar plants and we are hoping to reveal more planned sites in the very near future."

Farmgen has organised an open day at Murray House Farm on Thursday 17 February, between 11am and 3pm, so interested farmers and the local community can see and discuss the plans for the plant.

For more details call 01253 600 800.

View the original article here

New market opportunities in anaerobic digestion highlighted - Industry Today (press release)

2011-02-10T23:55:00.000Z

Supply chain opportunties in the sector anaerobic digestion were highlighted at a recent event hosted by RENEW and MAS North East.

Posted via Industry Today. Are you into it? Follow us on Twitter @IndustryToday

Over eighty delegates from the North East turned out last week to an event to highlight huge opportunities within anaerobic digestion (AD) supply chains.

The event, organised by RENEW and MAS North East, held at Durham County Cricket Club, was designed to give North East businesses an introduction to the anaerobic digestion process and opportunities across the whole of the UK. Businesses that attended were able to find out about the technology, where the opportunities exist and how they can access the market.

The Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association predicts that 1,000 anaerobic digestion biogas plants will be built in the next five years at a cost of £5 billion, mostly funded by the private sector. Fifty-four plants are already operational across the country with another 50 in the planning stage and businesses in the region were encouraged to explore the potential and take advantage of current opportunities.

Peter Walsh, Energy Manager, RENEW said: "There was an excellent turnout at the event, far more than expected which shows the level of interest in Anaerobic Digestion from businesses in the region. It's good to see this interest from manufacturers wanting to get involved and take forward the information to make the most of the huge opportunities in the region."

"There is lots of support out there for suppliers, manufacturers and plant projects including a number of networks such as the REA (Renewable Energy Association), ADBA (Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association) and the EEIF (Energy and Environmental Industries Forum). I would encourage anyone who is interested in Anaerobic Digestion to get involved in these networks and get onto the suppliers and projects list soon, as I'm sure event like this will be taking place across the country as businesses look to move into this renewable energy sector."

RENEW facilitates and delivers commercial energy and environmental technology projects across North East England and is committed to ensuring the region is at the forefront of the UK's low carbon sustainable energy drive. Working with businesses, communities, investors, regulators and technology suppliers, RENEW helps low carbon energy and environmental technology projects make the transition from development to the marketplace.

Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) North East, who co-hosted the event, play a vital role in helping UK manufacturers to share knowledge, improve productivity and achieve success in an increasingly competitive global economy.

Simon Taylor, Principal Consultant, MAS North East said: "The attendance was excellent, demonstrating the high regional interest in this emerging business area. Feedback from the delegates indicated that the information presented by the speakers was very good and several delegates requested follow up from both MAS North East and RENEW. All in all a very successful event."

The event was based around ten speakers who focused on varying specialties in their fields of expertise and the Government's Renewable Obligation and Feed in Tariff schemes were highlighted by various speakers to support the payback timeframe of plants.

Lucy Hopwood, Head of Biogas and Feedstock, National Non Food Crop Centre, who gave a speech on AD market opportunities said: "We are currently way behind many of our EU counterparts when it comes to AD - it's embarrassing really. There are two main opportunities; either farm-scale, self-sufficient in feedstock, or commercial scale handling external feedstock such as food waste. We currently have just 32 farm-based plants and 22 commercial plants in the UK , some way off the aspiration for 1,000 and 200 respectively by 2020. We can't sit around and wait for this to happen, we need to act now."

The other speakers at the event included Graham Hillier (CPI), Kevin Quigley (Emerald Biogas), Sally Johnson (Northern Biogas), Graham Humphries (CPI), Richard Gueterbock (Clearfleau), Steve Scott (Xebec) and Iain Ward (CNG Services).

Further information about potential Anaerobic Digestion opportunities can be discussed with Peter Walsh at RENEW on 01642 442493

Contact Information

Christina Pounder
Velvet Communications
Wynyard Park House
Wynyard
TS22 5TB

Industry Today was developed by Simply Marcomms (SMPR) Online B2B PR services. Visit www.industrytoday.co.uk to publish and distribute news from your Industry. Optimised press releases now appear in Google News.

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OFT investigates anaerobic digestion opportunity - ShareCast

2011-02-10T11:23:00.000Z

LONDON (SHARECAST) - The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is investigating the market for the treatment of organic waste in order to assess whether there are appropriate incentives for technologies such as anaerobic digestion.

It is government policy to encourage the generation of energy from waste through anaerobic digestion, which is a process where microbes break down the waste and turn it into biogas.

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The above video is not be associated with the authors of this article.

There are three main sources of organic waste, sewage, household food waste and the waste from food factories and farms.

The study will assess whether price regulation of sewage sludge treatment is still appropriate and whether there is scope for more competition. The OFT will also assess if there are any barriers to efficient investment in co-treatment plants where waste from different sources is treated in one facility.

The OFT will also try to identify what can be done to encourage investment in anaerobic digestion and other technologies.

Water firms, such as United Utilities and Northumbrian Water, have been building anaerobic digestion facilities. Northumbrian is generating part of its own power requirements from one such plant and another is planned.

Shanks Group is starting construction of its second anaerobic digestionfacility, which will be based in Buckinghamshire. The £11m facility will generate up to 2MW of electricity. Shanks is seeking planning permission for a third facility in east London.

AIM-quoted TEG Group is also involved in building plants that combine its own composting technology with anaerobic digestion facilities. Alkane Energy has linked up with TEG to provide its expertise in turning the gas produced into power. Ireland-based Kedco also intends to use German technology to build anaerobic digestion plants in the UK.

AIM-quoted Pressure Technologies, which makes seamless steel gas cylinders, set up a new business in November 2008 to sell Greenlane? equipment that can be used in anaerobic digestion plants. It will be a beneficiary of increased investment in this area.

The OFT study is expected to last six months and be completed in July. The recommendations can then be taken into account in water regulator Ofwat?s review of economic regulation in the water and sewerage sector.

View the original article here

New market opportunities in anaerobic digestion highlighted - Industry Today

2011-02-09T23:44:00.000Z

Supply chain opportunties in the sector anaerobic digestion were highlighted at a recent event hosted by RENEW and MAS North East.

Posted via Industry Today. Are you into it? Follow us on Twitter @IndustryToday

Over eighty delegates from the North East turned out last week to an event to highlight huge opportunities within anaerobic digestion (AD) supply chains.

The event, organised by RENEW and MAS North East, held at Durham County Cricket Club, was designed to give North East businesses an introduction to the anaerobic digestion process and opportunities across the whole of the UK. Businesses that attended were able to find out about the technology, where the opportunities exist and how they can access the market.

The Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association predicts that 1,000 anaerobic digestion biogas plants will be built in the next five years at a cost of £5 billion, mostly funded by the private sector. Fifty-four plants are already operational across the country with another 50 in the planning stage and businesses in the region were encouraged to explore the potential and take advantage of current opportunities.

Peter Walsh, Energy Manager, RENEW said: "There was an excellent turnout at the event, far more than expected which shows the level of interest in Anaerobic Digestion from businesses in the region. It's good to see this interest from manufacturers wanting to get involved and take forward the information to make the most of the huge opportunities in the region."

"There is lots of support out there for suppliers, manufacturers and plant projects including a number of networks such as the REA (Renewable Energy Association), ADBA (Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association) and the EEIF (Energy and Environmental Industries Forum). I would encourage anyone who is interested in Anaerobic Digestion to get involved in these networks and get onto the suppliers and projects list soon, as I'm sure event like this will be taking place across the country as businesses look to move into this renewable energy sector."

RENEW facilitates and delivers commercial energy and environmental technology projects across North East England and is committed to ensuring the region is at the forefront of the UK's low carbon sustainable energy drive. Working with businesses, communities, investors, regulators and technology suppliers, RENEW helps low carbon energy and environmental technology projects make the transition from development to the marketplace.

Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) North East, who co-hosted the event, play a vital role in helping UK manufacturers to share knowledge, improve productivity and achieve success in an increasingly competitive global economy.

Simon Taylor, Principal Consultant, MAS North East said: "The attendance was excellent, demonstrating the high regional interest in this emerging business area. Feedback from the delegates indicated that the information presented by the speakers was very good and several delegates requested follow up from both MAS North East and RENEW. All in all a very successful event."

The event was based around ten speakers who focused on varying specialties in their fields of expertise and the Government's Renewable Obligation and Feed in Tariff schemes were highlighted by various speakers to support the payback timeframe of plants.

Lucy Hopwood, Head of Biogas and Feedstock, National Non Food Crop Centre, who gave a speech on AD market opportunities said: "We are currently way behind many of our EU counterparts when it comes to AD - it's embarrassing really. There are two main opportunities; either farm-scale, self-sufficient in feedstock, or commercial scale handling external feedstock such as food waste. We currently have just 32 farm-based plants and 22 commercial plants in the UK , some way off the aspiration for 1,000 and 200 respectively by 2020. We can't sit around and wait for this to happen, we need to act now."

The other speakers at the event included Graham Hillier (CPI), Kevin Quigley (Emerald Biogas), Sally Johnson (Northern Biogas), Graham Humphries (CPI), Richard Gueterbock (Clearfleau), Steve Scott (Xebec) and Iain Ward (CNG Services).

View the original article here

Anaerobic digestion FiT review welcomed - The Low Carbon Economy (blog)

2011-02-09T23:38:00.001Z

The government's decision to review the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) payments for farm-based anaerobic digestion (AD) has been welcomed by members of the industry.

Energy and climate change secretary Chris Huhne announced this week the government would be conducting a review into the initiative due to concerns that large-scale solar farms could receive payments intended for homeowners and small businesses.

Research into farm-based AD will take place alongside the study to see if the current payments make generation "worthwhile", following lower-than-expected installations. Just two applications for AD projects have been received, compared to the six anticipated.

The Country, Land and Business Association (CLA) has been calling for the payments to be reviewed since the FiT scheme was first announced in February 2010.

William Worsley, president of the CLA, said: "Our work with the government on the AD action plan will support increased payments by reducing red tape. We will be working further with the Department of Energy and Climate Change to determine the right level of FiT payments to ensure that on-farm AD flourishes."
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Small Scale Anaerobic Digestion to Boost Biogas Markets - Waste Management World

2011-02-09T23:03:00.002Z

Small scale, distributed anaerobic digestion plants could offer an environmentally and economically stable solution for locally produced biogas.

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The above video is not associated with the text but we thought it would be of interest.

In Germany government incentives have led to the development of over 6000 anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities, generating twice as much power as all of the country's waste to energy facilities combined.

However many of these are large scale, 1 MW plus facilities, and the proliferation of such plants has affected both tipping fees for food waste - which have fallen from between Eur 60 to 80 per tonne down to Eur 10 to 20 per tonne - and biocrop prices to such an extent as to put many at risk of becoming economically unviable.

According to Craig Benton of Composting and Recycling Consultants, mini-biogas facilities could offer the ideal solution for farm waste.

Speaking at the Energy from Biomass and Waste Conference in London today, Benton claimed that most vendors of anaerobic digestion and biogas equipment offer systems starting at around 250 kW. In most farm applications, such systems lead to a dependence on importing feedstocks from the surrounding area which can be economically risky.

However, Benton claimed that a new system from Austrian firm, Bio4gas could offer the ideal solution. Available in two sizes - 20/25 kW and 50 kW - the system enables farmers to use animal slurry from their own farm to generate heat, power and digestate.

At the heart of the product is the patented 'Thermal Gas Lift' - a passive mixing system that Benton said offers reduced energy consumption through the use of gas pressure to force the slurry mixture through holes in the bottom.

The smaller of the two systems features a 220 cubic metre tank that is dug into the ground and holds 180 cubic metres of material. In addition a double chamber digester produces more biogas than a single tank.
According to Benton the advantages offered by a more distributed approach to biogas are significant, with potential returns on investment ranging between 12.5% and 16.4% based on conservative figures.

Benton added that small scale biogas production could free the operator from the "whims of the market", insulating them from rising biocrop prices and the prospect of falling tipping fees.

Additionally, as all of the feedstock is sourced from the host farm itself, the digestate can be used to fertilise the farmer's own land with no solid waste permit or license is required.

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Gas Data will be at Energy Now Expo Stand M2 16th & 17th February, Malvern Showground, United Kingdom

2011-02-08T15:46:00.001Z

At this years Energy Now Expo Gas Data will be showcasing their range of portable and fixed instrumentation from a one gas portable analyser to a multi-gas modular fixed site system for use in biogas, landfill, remedial work and many more applications. Gas Data are also offering all visitors to their stand (M2) the chance to be entered into a free prize draw to win hire of the latest gas monitoring equipment!

With the current emphasis on renewable energy Gas Data are playing a key role by providing a solution for monitoring the gases produced by Anaerobic Digesters (AD). The precise monitoring of the gas quality and quantity produced by AD units is crucial and has two major benefits. Firstly, the user can optimise the use of feed materials and therefore maximise revenue and secondly, the H2S (hydrogen sulphide) in the gas entering the engine causing corrosion and shortened life of the engine can be monitored before damaging levels are reached. By installing a Gas Data fixed site Click! System or using a portable analyser the GFM416, the gas can be monitored and the effects both controlled and minimised.

Both of these instruments will be on show by Gas Data at Stand M2, Energy Now Expo 2011 and will be demonstrated to show the importance and benefits of monitoring the gas produced.

Modular fixed site Click! system for on-line biogas monitoring

Updated Biogas from Waste and Renewable Resources with New Sections Added

2011-02-06T15:18:00.002Z

This highly informative and authoritative volume, provides a practical introduction to biogas plant design and operation, the author covers both the biological and technical aspects of biogas generation by anaerobic digestion.

The full range of biogas substrates and processing methods are explained, from agricultural and industrial waste to marine algae and sediment. On-site use of biogas for conversion into electricity, fuel and heat is also discussed, as are safety and regulatory issues.

The authors have used dozens of real-life examples of European biogas plants already in operation to illustrate the contents, and there are also many schemes, diagrams and summary tables to aid presentation of this high value information

For this new edition, the authors have included the recent advances in the processing of biomass that now allow a greater range of substrates to be used.

They have also extended the biogas analytics sections, and included sections on the quality control required for feeding biogas into natural gas networks.

There is also a completely new chapter on the microbiology of biogas-producing bacterial communities.

Essential reading for all those about to make an investment in anaerobic digestion plants.

Price: $155.00

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Dry Fermentation Process Biogas Plant is the First in US at University of Wisconsin

2011-01-21T00:39:00.000Z

The first dry fermentation anaerobic bio-digester in the country, which will convert biowaste into biogas, has been instructed to go ahead by the College of Wisconsin Oshkosh. The green energy facility has been designed by BIOFerm Energy Systems, and the biogas produced is combusted in a 370 kWh biogas CHP cogeneration system, to be supplied by 2G-CENERGY.

This new Renewable energy source is going to be found close to the Dempsey Trail, opposite to the Witzel Avenue Campus Service Center at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. The plant will produce 4183 MW of heating energy to the campus, and 3071 MW of electricity each year, almost all of which should be used on the College Campus site, with any extra power sold to the electricity distribution grid locally.

This can be viewed as green energy which will replace energy which would have otherwise been made using normal fuel based power sources like oil, gas, or coal. By employing a waste product in this fashion as the fuel, UWO will be manufacturing power from an laternative energy source which should reduce carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Additionally the waste will be discarded in a way which won't one day harm the environment by filling up a rubbish heap. If all biowastes were employed in this way to produce energy the planet's production of carbon-dioxide would be reduced. As carbon-dioxide is thought by many to be the root cause of greenhouse gas warming of our world this may have an extraordinarily advantageous result in reducing global warming. The dry fermentation process was at first developed in Germany as the most efficient system to provide biogas, electricity, heat and fuel to automobiles from replenish-able biowaste. Dry fermentation is a technique which works independently of other energy supply routes.

If also done by others in the area this sort of power plant creates a local or regional energy cycle. Promoting such plants inspires the development of autonomous power production not dependent on enormous distribution networks. This diversification if implemented to its fullest could have further benefits in stabilizing and reducing energy costs.

We apreciate that some of you aren't acquainted with the term "biomass". Biomass pertains to any plant matter grown from many species and a broad variety of biodegradable wastes. To treat the varieties of different biomass feedstocks, and produce biogas, technologies like the dry fermentation process are needed, which supply a high feed flexibleness. Biomass is introduced to the fermentation chambers in groups.

In most designs a quantity of biomass is fed into a fermentation chamber and left to digest in a culture of micro-organisms, for roughly twenty-eight days. In this time the biomass conversion process runs immediately thru the biological fermentation phases, using a carefully balanced mixture of needed substrates and bacteria.

Waste-to-energy schemes could save cash - Gazette Live

2010-12-06T06:45:00.000Z

Nov 30 2010 by Kelley Price, Evening Gazette

GREEN chiefs on Teesside say food waste-to-energy schemes could prove a money saver for cash-strapped councils.

As many as 1,000 energy plants could be built in the UK using Anaerobic Digestion (AD), which uses food and other types of organic waste to produce power.

Last week top Defra minister Lord Henley, who was visiting Teesside, said the Government supported AD.

The following video may be of interest but is not linked to this article.

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In January, industries from manufacturing to construction will attend an event by Wilton-based RENEW and Manufacturing Advisory Service North-east to find out about the opportunities from the emerging sector.

Work on the North-east’s first commercial AD plant will begin in a few weeks, fuelling hopes the scheme will be a springboard for more like it.

Newton Aycliffe company Emerald Biogas will take commercial food waste and turn it into green electricity.

RENEW chiefs claim advances in the technology to produce renewable gas as well as electricity could lead to a revolutionary “closed loop” system for councils, turning waste from kerbside collections into fuel for their fleets.

The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), a cashback scheme that comes into force next year, is also expected to galvanise the industry.

The next step for RENEW is a study with Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Stockton councils to gauge the potential for AD on Teesside.

“The scale we are talking about makes AD plants large enough and too expensive to ship from the continent, so there’s a very real need for local production,” said Peter Walsh, RENEW’s energy manager.

“That means more work for manufacturing, fabrication, installers processing, equipment installation, civil works.

“We want to see much more local content, not importing of technology. Large fabrication structures, tanks, pipework instrumentation - these are all skills and industries that people are familiar with on Teesside.

“There hasn’t been the financial incentives until now - although they’re not as high as we wanted,” he added.

Speaking during his tour of world leading plastics recycling plant Biffa Polymers, Redcar, Lord Henley, who has overall responsibility for UK waste and recycling, said: “We are keen to encourage AD, and we’re working hard with other departments to do what we can.”

Antony Warren, from Emerald Biogas, said: “Landfill tax makes its competitive to take food out of the waste stream for companies.

“We need this to take off, there’s a push from Government and all the marketplace incentives are there to make it happen.”

View the original article here

Harvest Power Receives Canadian Government Grant to Open First High Solids ... - Business Wire (press release)

2010-12-05T14:50:00.000Z

Company moves closer to goal of first commercial HSAD facility in Canada

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Harvest Power, a developer of renewable energy and compost facilities for next-generation organics recycling, today proudly announced that its Fraser Richmond Soil & Fibre facility will receive up to $4 million over two years from the Government of Canada. The funding will be used to finance the construction of the country’s first high-efficiency system for producing renewable energy from food and yard waste.

“We are especially excited by this project because of the incredible potential of HSAD to serve as a fundamental pillar in the North American organic waste management portfolio.”

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Harvest founder and CEO Paul Sellew announced the grant alongside the Honourable Christian Paradis, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, at a ceremony in the Fraser Richmond facility. The grant comes from the Government of Canada’s Clean Energy Fund, which is investing $795 million in clean energy technology development and demonstration over five years.

The project will utilize Harvest’s high solids anaerobic digestion (HSAD) technology, which efficiently biodegrades dry organic waste (such as urban food and yard waste) in a two-stage system that maximizes throughput, system stability and methane concentration in the resulting renewable biogas. The project will divert up to 27,000 tons of food and yard waste per year from landfills.

“Harvest has already made dramatic progress in our goal of becoming the first commercial HSAD facility in Canada, and this grant from the Canadian Clean Energy Fund positions us to achieve that goal in the near future,” said Sellew. “We are especially excited by this project because of the incredible potential of HSAD to serve as a fundamental pillar in the North American organic waste management portfolio.”

“Investments in clean energy technologies are a key part of our balanced approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and climate change,” said Minister Paradis. “Our Government is investing in this project to encourage clean energy innovation and help create high-quality jobs for Canadians.”

The Clean Energy Fund is investing $795 million in clean energy technology development and demonstration over five years. The Government of Canada’s support will help launch nearly 20 projects, including the Fraser Richmond facility, under the renewable and clean energy portion of the Clean Energy Fund, totaling up to $146 million. Three carbon capture and storage projects have also been announced, totaling $466 million from the fund.

Recently named both a 2010 Global Cleantech 100 Company and the “Emerging Company of the Year” by the New England Clean Energy Council, Harvest is rapidly expanding its business and developing new facilities throughout North America.

About Harvest Power

Through innovative technologies and unparalleled industry experience, Harvest is ushering in a new era of organics recycling. Harvest develops, builds, owns and operates state-of-the-art facilities that produce renewable energy and compost from discarded organic materials. Deploying best-in-class technologies, Harvest provides capital for projects and top-tier talent to finance, engineer, construct and operate the facilities. By harnessing the energy and nutrients of organic materials, Harvest enables communities to increase their energy independence, reduce their environmental impact, and harvest valuable resources.

View the original article here

New anaerobic digestion plant opened - Guttridge

2010-12-05T12:10:00.000Z

A new £9 million anaerobic digestion (AD) plant has been opened in Oxford, it has been revealed.

Organics recycling firm Agrivert has launched the facility, which is capable of processing 45,000 tonnes of waste a year, in Cassington.

The anaerobic digestors will turn food waste into around 2MW of renewable electricity for the National Grid.

Councillor Ian Hudspeth, cabinet member for growth and infrastructure at Oxfordshire county council, expressed his delight at the development.

He said: "This is a fantastic facility that is performing a key role in reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill in Oxfordshire, providing sustainable and renewable electricity for over 4,000 homes.

"The plant will also provide quality fertiliser for local agriculture – a real win-win scenario."

The plant was developed in a joint venture with M&M Skip Hire as part of Agrivert's 20-year contract with Oxfordshire county council.

Typical Guttridge equipment used in the anaerobic digestion industry includes; View the original article here

Siemens expands Anaerobic digestion offering - Environmental Expert (press release)

2010-12-04T22:50:00.001Z

Siemens Water Technologies has acquired the JetMix hydraulic mixing system from Liquid Dynamics. This system agitates sludge within the anaerobic digestion process, optimising digestion and methane production. The latter can be captured and used as energy within a wastewater treatment facility.

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Compared to similar mixing systems, the JetMix system allows operators to schedule mixing times, which can reduce power usage by 60% to 80% without decreasing gas production or negatively affecting volatile solids reduction. Suitable for use in new installations as well as retrofits or upgrades for a variety of municipal and industrial applications, the JetMix system complements Siemens' existing line of equipment and solutions for anaerobic digestion.

The JetMix system creates an effective mixing volume rating of 95% or more, even with internal piping and roof support columns. The system uses powerful jets to maintain or resuspend solids. Nozzles mounted inside the tank can be rotated 360 degrees to create a flow pattern that virtually eliminates solids settling, reduces energy requirements, and makes dead spots obsolete. A top nozzle effectively controls scum and grease as well as foam and other floatables.

The modular design of the JetMix system allows for various pumps and nozzles to be used in combination to meet a wide range of application requirements and load fluctuations. Viscosity, particle size, density, settling rate and tank geometry are all considered when designing the mixing system.

The mixing system can be paired with thermophilic as well as mesophilic digesters, and can be coupled with heat exchangers. The system can be used in channels as well as in circular, square, and rectangular tanks. Suitable applications include tanks with gas holders, or fixed and membrane roofs, with the tanks located either above or below ground. There are more than 300 JetMix system installations around the world.

View the original article here

UK brewery embraces anaerobic digestion - Guttridge

2010-12-04T17:35:00.000Z

Rapid growth of the anaerobic digestion sector has been highlighted by the adoption of the technology by a Suffolk brewery.

Adnams Brewery has introduced anaerobic digestors to its Southwold plant to turn waste from the site and surrounding companies into biogas for the national grid.

Climate change minister Greg Barker expressed his delight at the move as it follows the announcement that Thames Water and British Gas will turn sewage into biogas.

He said: "This has been an excellent week for progress in renewable energy. As well as the waste from making beer, Adnams Bio Energy is taking in food waste from local businesses large and small."

Adnams claimed that the waste by-products generated from brewing 600 pints of beer could generate enough gas for one home a day.

In addition to producing power for the local community, the gas will also be used to power the Southwold brewery and run its fleet of vehicles.

Typical Guttridge equipment used in the anaerobic digestion industry includes; elevators – bucket elevators – valves

James Smith

View the original article here

United Ethanol to generate methane - Biofuels International

2010-12-03T23:54:00.001Z

"In an attempt to get more value out of the corn used in its biofuel production facility, ethanol producer United Ethanol is to install an anaerobic digester. Within a matter of weeks United Ethanol’s anaerobic digestion project will be underway at its 50 million-gallon-a-year ethanol plant in Milton, Wisconsin, US. Eisenmann Corp. has been contracted to install the biomass equipment, which is expected to be up and running by Q4 2011. ‘It’s a way to extract a little more value out of our inputs – the corn – and make the plant greener and more energy efficient,’ commented the VP of United Cooperative and United Ethanol Alan Jentz.

The new anaerobic digester will produce methane from thin stillage, reducing the consumption of natural gas at the facility by 25%.

In addition to reducing the plant’s carbon footprint the anaerobic digester will also minimise the amount of fermentation solids that need to be recycled, reduce both fermentation inhibitors and evaporator bottlenecks and eliminate syrup load-out. $2.25 million (€1.6 million) of the $6.75 million project will come from Wisconsin’s economic development tax credits and energy programme, which is funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

In an attempt to get more value out of the corn used in its biofuel production facility, ethanol producer United Ethanol is to install an anaerobic digester. Within a matter of weeks United Ethanol’s anaerobic digestion project will be underway at its 50 million-gallon-a-year ethanol plant in Milton, Wisconsin, US. Eisenmann Corp. has been contracted to install the biomass equipment, which is expected to be up and running by Q4 2011.

‘It’s a way to extract a little more value out of our inputs – the corn – and make the plant greener and more energy efficient,’ commented the VP of United Cooperative and United Ethanol Alan Jentz. The new anaerobic digester will produce methane from thin stillage, reducing the consumption of natural gas at the facility by 25%.

United Ethanol to generate methane
1 November 2010

In an attempt to get more value out of the corn used in its biofuel production facility, ethanol producer United Ethanol is to install an anaerobic digester.

Within a matter of weeks United Ethanol’s anaerobic digestion project will be underway at its 50 million-gallon-a-year ethanol plant in Milton, Wisconsin, US.

Eisenmann Corp. has been contracted to install the biomass equipment, which is expected to be up and running by Q4 2011.

The new anaerobic digester will produce methane from thin stillage, reducing the consumption of natural gas at the facility by 25%.

$2.25 million (€1.6 million) of the $6.75 million project will come from Wisconsin’s economic development tax credits and energy programme, which is funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

View the original article here

Renewable specialists Farmgen seal £2.1m of bank funding - Click Green

2010-12-03T23:00:00.001Z

by ClickGreen staff. Published Tue 09 Nov 2010 10:55 Work starts on pioneering new AD site

Renewable energy specialist Farmgen has secured a £2.1million loan from the Co-operative Bank – marking the first bank debt-financed on-farm anaerobic digestion (AD) plant in the UK.

The pioneering 11-year deal will support the construction and operation phases of the AD plant at Carr Farm, in Lancashire – which will become the blueprint for Farmgen’s future sites.

Central to the funding structure and securing the loan for Carr Farm is a 20-year Feed in Tariff, the Government backed scheme that guarantees payments for electricity generated from renewable sources.

In addition, Marks & Spencer has signed a five-year contract to buy the energy generated from the plant at a fixed price – in keeping with the retailer’s commitment to procure more renewable electricity from small-scale energy sources.

Manchester-based solicitors Heatons advised Farmgen on the deal, which represents a major milestone in the company’s plans to drive the biggest AD ‘energy farming’ expansion programme in the UK.

The construction of the £3m AD plant at Carr Farm, near Preston, is now well underway. When the plant becomes fully operation in spring 2011 it will generate 800kW of electricity – the equivalent of powering more than 1,000 homes.

Ed Cattigan, Chief Operating Officer at Blackpool-based Farmgen and broker of the deal, said: “This arrangement is the first of its kind for an AD plant in the UK. The Co-op was chosen as the bank has previous experience in this type of deal for wind farms and this philosophy was utilised in the brokering of the loan.

“To have secured such a deal with the Co-op Bank is testament to how robust our offering to the market is and the growing belief in what AD plants can deliver in the UK.”

Matthew Andrews, Senior Corporate Advisor of The Co-operative Bank, added: “The bank recognises the importance of renewable energy in helping the UK's transition to a low carbon economy and is committed to supporting projects that not only fit perfectly with our ethical values but also make full use of sustainable energy resources.

“Farmgen was able to obtain the long term contracts that are fundamental to a project finance package and the bank was delighted to be able to assist in making the development of the facility at Carr Farm a reality.”

Mervyn Bowden, Head of Energy Management at M&S, said: “Since 2006 we’ve been actively encouraging the development of Anaerobic Digestion as a technology for generating renewable electricity.

“We’re delighted to see this plant going ahead. For M&S it helps to support our commitments under Plan A, our sustainability programme, to procure 100% ‘green’ electricity by 2012. For farmers and landowners it’s a great case study on how to get involved with renewable energy generation.”

James Flynn, Partner at Heatons LLP, added: “This deal represented a new direction for the Co-operative but Farmgen’s plans for the plant are absolutely ground breaking. This was a real team effort that encompassed a number of different specialisms within the firm and it was very rewarding to manage the project from inception through to financial close.”

The plant is also being supported by funding from a small group of major private investors, including Simon Rigby, the founder and former CEO of Spice plc.

Established in 2009, Farmgen is now Britain’s leading specialist in farm-based AD power generation. The company has several other sites in the pipeline in Cumbria, Lancashire, Yorkshire and the Midlands. Construction on a second Farmgen plant in Silloth, Cumbria is set to begin later this year.

There are no comments yet on Renewable specialists Farmgen seal £2.1m of bank funding. Be the first to leave one, enter your thoughts below.

View the original article here

Call for more detail on renewables incentives - New Energy Focus

2010-12-03T22:57:00.001Z

Friday 22 October 2010

Scottish finance secretary John Swinney has called for more information on Scottish Government access to the £190 million Fossil Fuel Levy

The government has been urged to set out details of its plans for renewable energy incentive schemes in order to provide investor confidence.

This has come as more trade bodies have joined in the celebration of Chancellor George Osborne's announcement that the government will fund an Renewable Heat Incentive and will not amend Feed-in Tariffs until 2013 (see this NewEnergyFocus.com story).

However, while the Spending Review has been fairly widely accepted by the renewables industry, it has now stressed the need for more information to come quickly so that projects can move forward.

Cathy Debenham, director of community energy forum YouGen, said: "Given that our recent poll found that 85% of people are holding back on installing renewable heat at home due to uncertainty about the renewable heat incentive, this announcement is good news. However, it does not go far enough.

"Until we know more detail people still won't have confidence to invest, and installers will continue to be in limbo. I urge the goverment to release its response to the consultation as soon as possible, so that consumers, industry and investors have clarity and the confidence to move forward."

She added that a rumour has been circulating that the microgeneration end of the RHI may be cut.

Also awaiting more surety on the scale of the RHI, Lord Redesdale, chairman of the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA), called for the government to prioritise AD.

He said: "Making a commitment of £860 million for the RHI is a major step forward. The most effective use of government incentives is to promote the production of biomethane through anaerobic digestion"Unlike many other renewable technologies, anaerobic digestion can help meet a wide variety of targets, including renewable energy, climate change and resource preservation. It can also scale up quickly at relatively little cost."

Elsewhere, the microgeneration sector welcomed the news that FiTs are unlikely to be reviewed and amended until 2013, as was scheduled. However, chief executive of the Micropower Council, Dave Sowden, added that it is important to have sufficient notice of changes to give investors confidence in the stability of the regulatory framework.

He said: "The reductions are of course going to be challenging, but they are sufficiently far into the future that the industry has time to plan for them, and assist government in constructive policy proposals to bear some of the burden.

"The most important thing is to give sufficient notice for customers and investors to remain confident in the stability of the regulatory framework. This is a good day for our industry, its investors, and its customers."

Looking at how the Spending Review announcements will affect the Scottish renewables sector, the Scottish Government and trade body Scottish Renewables welcomed many of the measures.

Scottish finance secretary, John Swinney, said: "There are elements in today's statement that we welcome. I note the Chancellor's words to support clean energy and renewables."

However, he claimed that there were major questions about how and when the proposed Green Investment Bank would operate.

And, the Scottish Government has also called for answers about what exactly the Treasury is proposing regarding Scottish Government access to the £190 million Fossil Fuel Levy, and how it can be used to directly support the renewables sector.

Following on with this issue, Niall Stuart, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, added: "We're still working through the detail, but the fact that any money drawn down by Scottish ministers from the Fossil Fuel Levy fund will continue to result in a corresponding deduction from Departmental Expenditure Limit means that it is not yet clear if the Scottish Government will be able to increase its spending on renewables at this critical time in the industry's development."

View the original article here

United Ethanol to install anaerobic digester - Ethanol Producer Magazine

2010-11-21T20:16:00.000Z

A $6.75 million project to install an anaerobic digester at a 50 MMgy ethanol plant in Milton, Wis., will begin in a few weeks. United Ethanol LLC will complete the project with the help of $2.25 million in state energy program funds. ?It?s a way to extract a little more value out of our inputs, the corn, and make the plant greener and more energy efficient,? said Alan Jentz, United Cooperative and United Ethanol vice president of grain operations and risk management.

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On Oct. 21, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle announced $2.95 million in funding for three southern Wisconsin companies, including United Ethanol. The money comes from Wisconsin?s economic development tax credits and energy program, which is funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The other two projects were $250,000 in tax credits for Standard Process Inc., a whole food supplements company, and $450,000 in energy program funds for Idle Free Systems Inc., which sells battery-powered, idle-elimination systems for over-the-road trucks.

In total, more than $55 million in state energy funds from the recovery act are being used in Wisconsin to help manufacturers with energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. According to the governor?s office, Wisconsin is the only state using 100 percent of these funds for these types of projects. In August, Ace Ethanol LLC received $595,000 in funding from the same program for heat exchange equipment.

United Ethanol's' anaerobic digester will utilize a portion of the plant?s thin stillage to create methane, which will help reduce natural gas use at the plant by up to 25 percent. The project will have an estimated four-year payback, Jentz said.

The project has multiple benefits, including reducing the plant?s carbon footprint. The anaerobic digester is also expected to reduce the number of fermentation solids that have to be recycled, reduce fermentation inhibitors, reduce evaporator bottlenecks and eliminate syrup load-out, Jentz said.

Technology provider Eisenmann Corp. will install the digester. The project should take about a year to complete. ?We hope to get that under way here in the next few weeks, so hopefully it will be online by this time next year,? he said.

Anaerobic digestion isn?t the only technology upgrade project United Ethanol has on its plate. David Cramer, president and CEO, mentioned three projects in the company's August newsletter. The company is working to tie in the CO2 scrubber stack and process vent gas scrubber stack into the regenerative thermal oxidizer for odor control. In addition, it has a license agreement with GreenShift Corp. to use its corn oil extraction technology. United Ethanol has also contracted with Arisdyne Systems Inc. to install controlled flow cavitation, a patented process to reduce particle size, disrupt cell structures and disperse agglomerates for increased ethanol yield.

View the original article here

Save Money With Renewable Energy Biogas

2010-11-21T04:16:00.000Z

Renewable energy biogas is a fuel mixture that can be made from biomass and contains methane and carbon dioxide; it has sixty five percent of the former and thirty five percent of the latter. Biogas is usually prepared by anaerobic fermentation using bacteria which can degrade organic substances to form this fuel gas.

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Many people have now turned to using renewable energy biogas as it is highly economical and also safe for the environment. In addition, it also helps to decrease organic waste load that is otherwise dumped and left to degrade on its own. By preparing this fuel gas, we help to reduce this load efficiently without polluting the environment.

Another advantage of renewable energy biogas is that it can be created using minimal investment even in the backyard of your home. The digested sludge that is given out as a waste product is very useful as manure for agronomic purposes and thus helps to grow produce in an organic manner. Since biogas can be used for all home needs, it cuts down on the use of LPG and thus on the consumption of fossil fuels.

The manure that is formed this way has fewer odors and can be easily assimilated by plants; there is also the added advantage that using this fertilizer can reduce the risk of disease causing organisms affecting the plants which is good both for the economy as well as health of the society. This also helps to keep out other insects near the storage pit thus maintaining the area neat and tidy.

There is very little money involved in building an apparatus for making renewable energy biogas. Invest in this today itself and create free fuel for all your household needs from the organic wastes that gets accumulated at home.

If you're considering adding a solar panel to your home, to dramatically lower your electricity bill, then check out my video's on how I made my own solar panel for only few hundred dollars!

The Basics Of The Anaerobic Digestion Process

2010-11-20T11:34:00.000Z

It is, therefore necessary to contain and treat these wastes so that the treated waste sludge is stable; the offensive odour is removed; the quantity of pathogenic bacteria is reduced; the mass and volume of sludge is reduced and the sludge can be readily dewatered and dried.

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Anaerobic digestion is the most common method in use today for treating waste water sludges. Its attractiveness comes from it being a relatively stable process if properly controlled, with low operating costs and the production of a useful by-product, a combustible gas, which can be used as a source of energy.

The advantages of this process:

The organic content of the sludges is significantly reduced by conversion into gaseous end-products; the obnoxious odour of the sludge is removed and the final digested sludge has a characteristic 'tarry' odour; fats and greases are broken down by the process; there is a significant reduction in the quality of pathogenic bacteria; there is a marked chemical change after digestion. The liquid fraction (supernatant) contains increased levels of ammonia as a result of the breakdown of organic nitrogen (proteins). This makes the digested sludge liquor potentially suitable for agricultural use; the biogas that is formed is a mixture of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) that can be used for digester heating or to generate power.

The disadvantages of this process:

A relatively high initial capital cost is involved, which tends to limit the process to medium to large size waste water works. The slow rate of bacterial growth requires long periods of time for start-up and limits the flexibility of the process to adjust to changing feed loads, temperatures and other environmental conditions. The process is prone to upsets if not regularly monitored and if corrective action is not taken in time.

Anaerobic Digestion is a multi-stage biological waste treatment process whereby bacteria, in the absence of oxygen, decompose organic matter to carbon dioxide, methane and water. In this way, the waste sludge is stabilised and the obnoxious odour is removed. The process can, however be described adequately and simply as occurring in two stages, involving two different types of bacteria. The first stage, the organic material present in the feed sludge is converted into organic acids (also called volatile fatty acids) by acid forming bacteria. In the second stage, these organic acids serve as the substrate (food) for the strictly anaerobic methane-producing bacteria, which converts the acids into methane and carbon dioxide. The end result of the process is a well-established sludge in which 40 to 60% of the volatile solids are destroyed. Finally, a combustible gas consisting of 60 to 75% methane and the remainder largely being carbon dioxide.

The digestion process is continuous. Fresh feed sludge must be added continuously or at frequent intervals. The gas formed during digestion is removed continuously. In high-rate digestion, stabilised sludge is displaced from the digester during feeding. In low-rate digestion, sludge 'supernatant' is normally removed as the feed sludge is added, stabilised sludge is removed at less frequent intervals.

It is essential that the organic acids formed in the first stage of the waste treatment process are converted to methane at the same rate at which they are formed. If not, they accumulate and ultimately lower the pH, leading to inhibition of the second stage of the digestion process and digester failure. Temperature must be maintained within certain ranges - heating increases the activity of the anaerobic bacteria reducing the required digestion time. A pH of 7,0 to 7,5 is recommended to encourage the methane-producing stage. A correctly operating digester will have sufficient buffer capacity (alkalinity) introduced from the breakdown of organic matter.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Waste Treatments [http://waste-treatments.com]

The Final Product Of Biomass Energy

2010-11-19T19:34:00.000Z

Utilization of biomass as an alternative energy source has attracted people to promote its use. This is caused by a decline in fossil energy reserves. This is a dangerous point for energy security in the last decade.

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To avoid future energy crises, they began to increase use of renewable energy sources such as biomass. More than that, the use of fossil fuels increases the concentration of sulfur and greenhouse gases in nature.

Governments in various countries around the world have adopted policies favorable to the use of biomass as an energy alternative. So that industry players will get a subsidy from the government.

Biomass can be used as energy with a wide variation. Utilization of biomass produces electricity, heat for industrial facilities, home heating and fuels vehicle.

Conversion of biomass for energy is called bio-energy. This conversion can be achieved with some solutions that thermochemical and biochemical technologies. Thermochemical process is divided into three technology solutions are combustion, gasification and pyrolysis.

To understand the meaning of each Technology solution, we can learn from the final product On combustion, have the final product steam, process heat and electricity energy. Each has its own type of function. Steam can be used to drive steam engines, while the heat can be used for processing in the chemical industries.

The final products of electric can be used more flexibly. This product of gasification is the steam, the process of heat, electrical energy and methane gas fuel and hydrogen. Methane and hydrogen can be used as a fuel cell system. This system is increasingly popular as the technology of the future.

Pyrolysis technology solutions, has the final product is charcoal, coal and bio-gas fuel. Charcoal and bio-coal can be an analogy as coal but more environmentally friendly. This is because emissions from the production of bio-coal and charcoal lower than coal. Biochemical process produces anaerobic digestion the technology solution. This technology has the final product of ethanol, water for irrigation, compost and biogas.

Nugroho Agung Pambudi has been writing articles including papers for nearly 3 years now. His journal papers can be reached both international journal and conference. Come visit his latest website at http://www.geothermalheatingandcooling.us which help people find information about geothermal heating and cooling

The New Waste Technologies: Recycling and Creating Energy From Waste

2010-11-19T00:59:00.000Z

Many governments, towns and communities throughout the Western world are making new rules concerning the treatment of Municipal Solid waste (MSW). New concepts of waste management are needed in which the idea of recycling is of major importance.

Incineration will be used for the easily burnable fraction of what cannot be recycled, and for some kinds of hazardous wastes such as hospital waste, while the left over will be disposed of in sanitary MSW landfills.

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The recycling of products is best done at source by the public when they put their waste out for collection and this is called source separation. However, if the waste is mixed up when collected it can still be separated again by mechanical separation plants or by hand picking using human labour and a conveyor.

The plants in which the separation of mixed wastes is carried out are usually called Mechanical Biological Treatment Plants, or MBTs. These plants cost a lot to build, are expensive to run. They also use a lot of power which reduces the value of recycling by expending non-renewable energy in the process.

The last decade has seen source separation introduced in many countries, especially in Scandinavia, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and Canada. Now, more recently source separation is being implemented in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe now that European Waste Regulations require so much of the MSW produced not to be landfilled.

The most important reasons to separate waste at the source are:

- The difficulty to find sites for new landfills and the negative attitude of the public towards landfilling and incinerating.

- Source separation improves the quality of the products which will have to be recycled. The fact that the organic fraction is separated from the inorganic fraction means that the organic fraction will have a low concentration of heavy metals and will be free of metals, glass and stones, while the inorganic fraction will be drier and less dirty.

The degree of recycling which can be achieved depends of the system used for source separation but it is the highest if the separated waste is picked up at the houses in separate containers.

A high percentage of recycling can only be achieved though by recycling the organic fraction of MSW whereby anaerobic techniques such as the anaerobic digestion process are very promising since they not only produce a humus-like residue, comparable to the compost produced in aerobic conversion techniques, but also a form of energy, biogas, which can be easily upgraded to several forms of valuable energy.

So, by source separating your waste you can make a difference - especially if there is an Anaerobic digestor in your area.

Why not find out more about waste technologies, and encourage your friends to recycle. Your children and later generations will benefit - don't they deserve the same opportunities you had?

Steve Last is a regular contributor of waste management related articles. Visit http://www.waste-technology.co.uk, the Waste Technology Web Site to find out more.

He also maintains a dog breed and many others at The Dog Breeds Compendium Tibetan Terrier page.

Anaerobic digestion fuel may run vehicles - Horticulture Week

2010-10-29T19:00:00.000+01:00

Pearson revealed at the conference - held last month in Coventry - that the Cheshire-based company, which supplies tomatoes to big retailers like Tesco and Iceland, has already developed the fuel and bought its first vehicle, which it hopes will be up and running by next summer. He said: "We have made the fuel - we are just making sure that it is of a consistent quality."

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Pearson revealed that the family business, which has been growing tomatoes for 40 years, aimed to have its own eco-fuelling point for the vans, whose bio-methane-based fuel means that they will be able to avoid congestion charges.

Biomethane is one of many products of the anaerobic digestion plant that Pearson built at the growing site in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, a couple of years ago.

All of the waste material from the nursery is fed into the digester, helping the company to reduce its annual landfill volumes from 2,500 tonnes before its installation four years ago to 200 tonnes in 2009.

His confidence in the commercial potential of the anaerobic digestion plant has led him to set up another company, Anaerobic Digestion, of which he is managing director. He told growers: "The opportunities are huge but I have to be careful I do not rush out and get too excited about it."

He explained that the company manipulated the anaerobic digestion process to get as many products out of it as possible. It has managed, for example, to make its anaerobic digestion plant "close to unique" by enabling it to produce liquid digestate rather than the sludge-like digestate typically produced by most anaerobic digestion systems.

Pearson said: "There is not one like it in the world. We are exceptionally proud of it. Most anaerobic digestion plants have solid digestate but ours is liquid.

At the moment it's got a bit of a green tint, which I am not happy about, but nevertheless in the time since we started (this process) we have become the only system in the world with a liquid digestate.

"Lots of anaerobic digestion plants in the UK have gone bankrupt because they kept to the European model, which does not fit with the UK experience." He told Grower after the conference that the problem with sludge digestate is that there is "too much of it around - but now we have a tangible and useful product".

Pearson has made a deal with the Sports Turf Research Institute, which, from next year will enable its associations to use the whitish-green liquid as a fertiliser. He said: "It has enzymes in it that do not work on our crops but that work very well on grass."

The grower has worked with several universities, including the University of York and the University of Central Lancashire, to get to this stage. "We have done a lot of work on understanding what happens in the plant at different phases and times. I want to try and understand what happens," he said.

Scientists have helped develop a pre-treatment vessel to better break down the organic plant material.

Pearson explained: "Plants have a natural ability to heal themselves.

When you chop them up they try to heal and the whole lot goes solid. So we overcame that with a pre-treatment."

The plant matter is held in the pre-treatment vessel for 24 hours after being physically reduced by a flail. The vessel is heated and agitated to give the enzyme-breakdown process a boost. Pearson said: "It helps to accelerate the process by dealing with typically difficult-to-digest materials."

Scientists have also analysed the bacteria involved in the digestion process to "maximise the reduction time to help get the best output".

Pearson added: "We have now halved our reduction time from 14 days to seven." He told Grower that he was continuing to work with the scientist because he eventually hopes to produce a fertilizer that can be used on his crops - and find an energy-efficient way of extracting water from the plant so that it can be used to irrigate the tomatoes.

By next season Pearson also hopes to use the CO2 produced during the anaerobic digestion process on his crops. The company also continues to use the heat and power created from the biomethane to run and heat its glasshouses.

View the original article here

Government to encourage anaerobic digestion projects - Guttridge

2010-10-29T06:40:00.000+01:00

The government has pledged to encourage farmers to invest in anaerobic digestion projects, it has been revealed.

Junior DEFRA minister Lord Henley said he was in talks with the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to help improve Feed-in Tariff rates which are rewarded to those who set up renewable energy programmes.

Speaking at the Northern Farming Conference today (October 15th), he said: "We want to do what we can. That obviously will in due course with DECC mean looking at feed-in tariffs and a whole range of other things.

"We have given a commitment that we will encourage anaerobic digestion."

Lord Henley also claimed the technology can offer farmers a wide range of benefits other than energy production.

In addition to reducing the a

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Typical Guttridge equipment used in the anaerobic digestion industry includes; elevators – bucket elevators – valves

James Smith

View the original article here

New plant to boost rural-based businesses - Whitehaven News

2010-10-28T13:58:00.000+01:00

Published at 09:42, Tuesday, 19 October 2010

BUILDING work to create a £3million environmentally-friendly power plant in Cumbria is now on course to start by the end of the year, the company behind the pioneering scheme has revealed.

Farmgen, which is developing the Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plant, believes it could be fully operational and supplying electricity to the national grid by the autumn of 2011.

The company has been unable to carry out any building to date on site, at Dryholme Farm, near Silloth, because of the government environmental stewardship agreement, which existed for the farm under its previous ownership.

The agreement came to an end on September 30, which means construction of the plant can now get under way.

In the past few months, other detailed preparatory work has been carried out on the project. That followed the granting of planning permission for the plant, which will generate 1.2MW of electricity, by Allerdale planners earlier this year.

Farmgen says the plant – which will create enough continuous power for more than 1,000 homes – will provide a significant boost to the rural economy.

It believes other similar AD operations will soon be commonplace across the UK and has already earmarked a number of potential ‘energy farming’ sites across Cumbria.

Work on Dryholme's £3m sister plant in Warton, Lancashire is now well advanced. Building work is nearing completion to create the two large tanks, which will form the centre-piece of the pioneering scheme.

It is on target to start providing renewable energy to power more than 1,000 homes next year.

Farmgen chief operating officer, Ed Cattigan, said: “We are highly delighted with the progress being made at Warton but we have also been doing a lot of detailed work to ensure that we can move Dryholme Farm to the next stage of its development.

“The stewardship agreement that existed for that site has meant we have been unable to carry out building work at Silloth, but that has now run its course and we are ready to move forward. Following the site preparation, we are firmly on course for construction work to start by the end of the year.”

Farmgen has put together an impressive consortium of expert UK-based firms to deliver its first tranche of AD plants. The consortium includes a number of leading members of the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA).

The industry’s latest technology and know-how is being supplied to the project by leading UK process and technology business Monsal. It has been involved in more than 200 AD projects and has the largest team of ‘biogas-to-energy’ technology specialists in the country.

Other members include Kirk Environmental, a specialist company manufacturing AD tanks, and engineering specialist Agrilek, which operates from Barrow-in-Furness, and has been brought on board to connect the plant to the national grid.

Published by http://www.whitehaven-news.co.uk

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Turning waste food into power - Witney Gazette

2010-10-27T21:58:00.000+01:00

Where there’s muck there’s brass, they say, and many at Worton Farm, near Cassington, are now hoping the old adage is true. Certainly there is no shortage of muck there — in the pungent form of all that food waste most of us in Oxfordshire are now being told to consign to special bins.

No shortage of money, either, judging by the £9m invested in the county’s first anaerobic digester, officially opened by recycling minister Lord Henley yesterday.

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Formerly known as the Cassington Anaerobic Digestion (AD) Plant, it is run by Oxford Renewable Energy (ORE), a company owned 50-50 by organic recycling company Agrivert, of Radford, near Chipping Norton, and M&M Skips, based at Worton.

Agrivert commercial director Harry Waters said: “Oxfordshire has been at the forefront of pushing ahead and getting this scheme up and going.” He added: “The background to this initiative, nationally, is that the UK must meet targets set by the EU for reducing waste going to landfill. If it misses those targets it will be fined £150 for every tonne above the limit.”

Earlier this year Agrivert bid for and won the 20-year contract with the county council for processing all Oxfordshire’s organic waste, comprising what is technically called “controlled in-vessel compost” — including such nasties as chicken carcasses — and green waste. Already the none-too-fragrant pure food waste (sorted by the householder or commercial entity that produced it) has begun arriving at Worton Farm in lorries from the Vale of the White Horse, South Oxfordshire and Oxford City Councils.

From November 15, more deliveries are scheduled for the three- acre digester site — in the middle of the 120-acres between the A40 and the railway — as food-waste collections get under way in West Oxfordshire, too.

Cherwell’s waste goes to a different site in Ardley where pure food waste and green waste arrive without having been previously separated at source. The environmental case for building digesters such as this sounds convincing.

Mr Waters explained: “When running at full capacity, the digester will produce 4.5 million cubic metres of methane a year — which will be fed into a generator to produce 2.1 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 4,000 homes. The renewable electricity generated is fed into the National Grid and is already producing enough to power 2,100 homes.”

Mr Waters says the costs to Oxfordshire council tax payers are half that of dumping organic waste in landfill. Methane is 23 times as potent a greenhouse gas as carbon dioxide and that if the waste were to go to landfill the gas given off as the stuff decomposes, would, in terms of global warming, be the equivalent of 71,000 cars on the road, each driving the UK average mileage a year.

If all goes to plan, Agrivert will build a similar digester on the edge of Benson airfield, near Wallingford.

Under the scheme, local councils bring the waste to the site in their lorries and dump it into a bunker in a closed warehouse, which keeps the smell indoors and away from the nearest neighbours, who are anyway 600 metres distant.

In the bunker, the rubbish is separated from contamination such as the plastic bags in which householders have placed it, some of which are degradable and some not.

The waste is then homogenised and pasteurised (a requirement since the last outbreak of Foot and Mouth) and stored and stirred for 50 days as a sort of sterile soup in the first two of those five huge green tanks now visible to passengers on the Cotswold Line railway.

Then it moves on to the next two tanks for another 25 days for further maturing at different temperatures.

The fifth tank is used to store the end product — something called digestate, which is sold to local farmers as a chemical-free fertiliser.

It seems that every step of the process is potentially profitable. Significantly, when fully up and running, the plant will only employ a grand total of two people on site.

The electricity produced powers the generator on site too, which also produces renewable heat — some of which is used to heat the pasteurisers and the digesters. With the help of a grant from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), more of the heat generated will be used to dry woodchip, seen as a useful fuel of the future, for use, for instance, in boilers to heat schools.

Worton Farm, owned by green industries businessman Guy Pharaon, who is also a shareholder of M&M Skips, is seen is an ideal site: close to Oxford and yet isolated.

The Cassington Anaerobic Digestion Plant is the initiative of company managing director Alexander Maddan, who served in the army in Germany and saw how energy is produced from waste there.

He said: “I was originally interested in producing energy from sewage. Then I learned about energy from food waste.

“The Germans are far ahead of us in this area.”

He added that finding the millions of pounds needed to pay for Agrivert’s half share of the plant had not been easy, even though the venture received a £1.6m grant from the Government agency Wrap (Waste and Resources Action Programme) based in Banbury.

He said: “We were committed to the purchase when the credit crunch struck and our finance disappeared. However we were able to go ahead eventually. But it was challenging.”

Agrivert, a privately owned company, has negotiated contracts in Hertfordshire, Essex, Pembrokeshire and Newcastle as well as Oxfordshire.

It also owns three sites for composting garden waste in Oxfordshire at Chipping Norton, Benson, and Hinton Waldriss.

But the Cassington anaerobic digester is the first to be built on this scale in the UK. It puts Oxfordshire among the leaders in the recycling stakes, with South Oxfordshire now showing the second highest recycling rate for any district in England and Wales.

All the expensive equipment on site, including the two generators worth about £750,000 each, was built in Germany; much of it by the specialist firm Wacherbauer.

Mr Waters said: “It’s true that Britain is way behind Germany, but we have made huge strides in the right direction in the last few years.”

He added: “Our next challenge is to start take food waste from commercial properties such as Oxfordshire schools and hospitals.

“We reckon the waste from 40 schools equals the waste of 65,000 households.”

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Understanding Biogas As an Alternative Fuel Choice

2010-10-27T03:23:00.000+01:00

Biogas is a mix mainly of methane and carbon dioxide and is produced naturally when organic matter decomposes in the absence of oxygen. Biogas is produces from Land filling and through anaerobic digestion. Depending on place where it is produced, biogas can also be called swamp gas, marsh gas, and landfill gas or digester gas.

Anaerobic digestion is one of the methods through which biogas is produced. Biogas can be produced utilizing anaerobic digesters. Here, the plants can be fed with energy crops such as maize silage or biodegradable wastes including sewage sludge and food waste; whereas, the landfill gas is produced by organic waste decomposing under anaerobic conditions in a landfill. Gober Gas is the other form of biogas generated out of cow dung. This type of biogas is produced mainly in the households of India and Pakistan.

Biogas has many advantages over other alternative fuels. One of the main advantages of biogas is that the technology is cheaper and much simpler than those for other biofuels. Recovery of the methane is spontaneous as the gas automatically separates from the substrates. Dilute waste materials can be used as substrate. In the process of making biogas, organic pollutants are removed from the environment and used to generate useful biogas and this actually cleans the environment. Aseptic conditions are not needed for operation. Other advantage of biogas is that it will not produce any unpleasant odours. Electricity can be generated with biogas 24 hours a day. There is reduced risk of explosion as compared to pure methane and any biodegradable matter can be used as substrate for producing biogas.

As it has many advantages, biogas too has few disadvantages as well. One among them is that the product (biogas) value is rather low and this makes it an unattractive commercial activity. This process is not very attractive economically (as compared to other biofuels) on a large industrial scale. Biogas contains some gases as impurities, which are corrosive to the metal parts of internal combustion. Other major disadvantage of biogas is that its yields are lower due to the dilute nature of substrates.

Nevertheless, Biogas can become a great substitute for other conventional energy sources.

Clifton is a qualified mechanical engineer committed to finding alternative fuel sources that can be incorporated into everyday life. Alternative energy sources with reduced environmental effects will need to be discovered and used in order to generate the power requirements our lifestyle currently demands.

Biogas Methane is the Great Building Block For the New Sustainable World

2010-10-26T13:47:00.000+01:00

Biogas methane is the opposite of carbonaceous methane which is methane created from fossil fuels many thousands of years ago. So, in other words it is recently created, biologically produced methane made from renewable organic matter. It is also by definition man-made, made in a biogas plant, and it is the one great future raw material for building a sustainable world from which all others will come, which can still create and consume all the synthetic organic materials we find so essential to our lifestyles in the modern world.

The need to distinguish methane gas derived methane from fossil fuel which also known as natural gas, has brought the term into use, and I think you should know it as it will become more and more important to society as the years go. This will happen as oil, gas and coal extracted from mineral deposits begin to run out. By running out I mean that extracting the remaining fossil fuels will largely become too energy expensive to collect, due to all the easy reserves becoming depleted.

Natural gas comes from the world's mineral reserves, where it has been stored in the ground since its formation from prehistoric living plants and animals. Large quantities of natural gas/methane also seeps out from old oilfields, coal mines and coal measures which wastes a lot of natural gas which as soon as it enters the atmosphere is lost to man's use.

In fact methane which enters the atmosphere is thought to be a very potent cause of greenhouse warming. Methane is something like twenty times more active in absorbing the sun's heat, and causing global warming, than carbon dioxide.

But, believe it or not man can keep creating biogas methane forever as long as he keeps re-growing more crops to produce more biogas methane and uses it by burning it before it escapes, because those crops will suck the carbon dioxide produced by burning back out of the air, and the system remains stable.

Biogas methane is produced in biogas plants, although strictly these are properly called anaerobic digestion plants.

This renewable and sustainable methane is a basic simple organic molecule building block from which engineers and chemists will for thousands of years create all the wonderful organic material based substances we need in our modern lives. Not only can (and will) biogas methane be used to replace oil as the initial feedstock for all our energy needs, if made in big enough quantities it can be used to satisfy all plastic and carbon based materials needs, including for pharmaceutical and transport fuels.

Thinking more about building a digester to produce biogas methane? Steve Last is web master for the fact filled Anaerobic Digestion Community web site where much more biogas methane information is available.

Steve Last is also a regular contributor of dog breed related articles at The Dog Breed Compendium.

What is Biogas?

2010-10-25T17:55:00.000+01:00

It seems like everywhere you look there are more and more fossil fuel alternatives being investigated. From ethanol to air, literally everything has been considered. Biogas is another one of these possibilities. It might be a term that is not familiar to some but it is not all that new of a resource because it is completely natural. Biogas comes from the anaerobic digestion of organic matter. In simple terms, this means that organic waste is compressed in a certain way that creates biogas which can be used as fuel. In fact, it is so natural that it almost makes one wonder why we did not consider using it sooner.

Biogas is created in landfills. When organic matter such as compost or natural waste is buried without oxygen, it starts to create a gas. This is biogas and it can be contained and used to produce energy. A landfill that is properly designed will produce biogas for several years. This gas is released into the earth's atmosphere, so it just makes sense that harnessing it and making use of it would be a better solution. As far as natural resources go, this might be one of the best.

For the most part biogas is made up of carbon dioxide and methane. However, quite often there are also varying quantities of hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and various other natural gases. Special wells have to be drilled in order to properly get biogas out of a landfill. It is a much more efficient way of capturing all of the gas. At this time there is a train in Sweden that is currently powered by biogas. The use of sewage and cow waste is the primary fuel source for that train. It has been determined that biogas has virtually no trace of toxic emissions in comparison with fossil fuels.

There are several great benefits to using biogas as fuel. Not only does it produce much needed energy but it also eliminates all of the organic waste in landfills by giving it a purpose. This in turn also improves conditions in landfills regarding insects and the reduction of pathogens. Reducing the amount of methane in the earth's atmosphere is also a good idea which biogas helps with as well. Those that are interested in the benefits of biogas should do the necessary research in order to understand it better. As consumers and members of this earth, we all must do our part to make an educated choice.

There are a handful of disadvantages associated with biogas as well. The actual product value of biogas is incredibly low, which does not necessarily make it economically feasible. The process that is required to obtain biogas can also be quite expensive since special wells must be drilled. There is also reason to believe that some of the gases in biogas are corrosive to metal. This can be a problem because metal is a major component of automobile engines. Weighing the benefits and disadvantages is necessary in order to conclude if biogas will work for you.

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Home Made Biogas - The Next Big Thing in Energy Cost Saving

2010-10-24T20:58:00.000+01:00

With so many people who are keen to save money and are handy at DIY, home made biogas is the next most obvious way after insulation and solar panels:

Save money on cooking fuel

Follow a green and sustainable lifestyle

Do it all without sacrificing the convenience and comfort of modern living.

Making biogas at home entails the use of a long forgotten technology (in the west at least) known as anaerobic digestion, or AD. The secret of digesting organic waste materials in the absence of oxygen and simply piping the methane biogas produced to a cooking stove, has long been in use in India and China. Such plants have been run using community solid and liquid waste feed materials, and have been around for more than 200 years.

However, the DIY method catching on right now, is now much more advanced than those plants. Furthermore, its use by those that are developing these the most successful home biogas plants has allowed it to be refined into a highly efficient and modern two stage thermophilic biogas production technique, similar to those used in large scale commercial biogas digestor plants. This DIY system utilizes wastes such as food waste and other high calorific biomass wastes available to householders.

These new home biogas systems are much quicker to produce biogas and more efficient in the quantity they produce per kilogram of organic feedstock produced, when compared with the traditional systems of the east.

They are also cheap to build using mass-produced "off the shelf" plastic tanks. A two stage digester capable of being maintained at the required very warm (thermophilic) temperatures should cost no more than $200 for materials.

What is more, the remaining liquid and fibrous materials which are the material left over after digestion are wonderful as fertilizer and soil improvement media for gardeners and fruit and vegetable growers.

Once you have successfully trialed DIY home made biogas for cooking, there is also a natural progression available for you in the future to go further and introduce electricity production from this biogas source. Quite naturally the industry (given a chance to get on with management and administation duties) will develop more sophisticated and efficient uses for the renewable (some would say "alternative") energy produced by AD.

Those who start now and gain the necessary AD Plant operational skills, by building and operating home made biogas plants, will soon find themselves very much in demand to design and build more plants for their friends and acquaintances.

We would also point out that as governments move forward over the next twenty or so years anaerobic digestion will become commonplace at all levels, and a huge amount of organic waste (now completely unused) will be utilized every day, for home made biogas production.

Are you thinking more about building a digester to produce home biogas methane? Steve Last is web master for the fact filled Anaerobic Digestion Community web site where much more home made biogas production information is available.

Steve Last is also a regular contributor of dog breed related articles at The Dog Breed Compendium.

Low Cost Biogas Digesters Bring Big Advantages to Farmers

2010-10-24T06:45:00.000+01:00

Biogas digesters are often considered to be something new by those in the developed nations, however, they have been widely used for many years in developing countries, especially India and China, as firewood for cooking becomes scarce. Other countries from Honduran farmers to the tiny South Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, are able to harness the methane gas created naturally from decomposing manure and other organic materials. Besides producing the fuel gas, these biogas digesters (using the process of anaerobic digestion) have the added potential benefit of producing a high nutrient slurry fertilizer and providing better sanitation on farms.

The win-win process goes even further though because the emission of pollution from the digester is very much lower than without the digester, as well, so they can help to reduce river and groundwater pollution at the same time. A functional biogas digester system applies the science of microbiology and involves the development of renewable energy.

With biogas technology, the farm or community/human waste (called slurry) is stored in specially constructed containers while being digested. Biogas digester systems can accommodate manure handled as a liquid, slurry, or semisolid depending on the type of reactor design used. Biogas digesters take the biodegradable feedstock, and convert it into two useful products: gas and digestate (solid and liquid). Both of these are useful, and this is certain to be one of the main reasons why more and more farmers around the world are beginning to install a biogas digester.

Biogas digesters are usually built underground to protect them from temperature variations and also to prevent accidental damage. They not only perform the necessary actions required to keep the bacteria happy and creating the biogas, but designs suitable for farms and communities have been devised for the developing nations which are able to be replicated using items that are cheap, easy to source, and easy to assemble.

The typical developing nation biogas digester is constructed in a pit which is excavated by a trained labourer with assistance from one or more members of the household or community. A very common design for biogas digesters has a volume of 8m3, some are larger at 10-15m3, and provide enough gas for a two-ring stove and a light.

A biogas digester can function well on human and animal waste. We know of one Anaerobic Digester which is based upon pig farming, and is built below the pigsty. The pigsty is insulated, and the digester produces some heat as well, which helps to keep both the pigs and the biogas digester in the warm conditions both need during cold winter weather.

A biogas digester consists of one or more airtight reservoirs into which a suitable feedstock such as cow dung, human waste, or even abattoir waste, is placed, either in batches or by continuous feed. It is mixed and the solid and liquid digestate is removed on a regular basis. The methane bubbles to the surface, and in the simplest systems, it is stored as a big bubble above the liquid. In more sophisticated systems the methane is stored in separate tanks, for use when needed.

There is an enormous potential for benefit from the increased use of anaerobic digestion in Africa. An AGAMA Energy fact sheet estimates that in South Africa there are 400,000 households with two or more cows and no electricity that could make use of biogas digesters. An article dating back to30 November 2005, in the Rwandan newspaper The New Times states that the Institute for Scientific Research and Technology in Kigali plans to install some 1,500 biogas digesters by 2009 in the imidugudu settlements. These are villages where rural Rwandans were relocated after the genocidal wars of the mid-1990s.

Worldwide, about 16 million households use small-scale biogas digesters, according to Renewables 2005: Global Status Report, a study by the Worldwatch Institute.

It has been reported that in India a domestic biogas digester unit capable of producing energy for an entire family's cooking needs can be installed for between R5 000 and R8 000, that is less than 200 US Dollars. Facilities best suited for biogas digester systems typically have stable year-round manure production, and collect and feed the digester with manure daily.

Thinking more about building a digester? Steve Last is web master for the fact filled Anaerobic Digestion Community web site where much more biogas digester information is available.

Steve Last is also a regular contributor of dog breed related articles at The Dog Breeds Compendium.