UK Anaerobic Digestion Community Shocked by RO Subsidy Exclusions

The four excerpts we have included below, all from recent news releases from the UK AD and renewable energy industry opinion-formers, show the level of shock and disbelief at the government's announcement of forthcoming consultation on new Renewables Obligation (RO) subsidy bands.

Also, the latest UK Government RO announcements conflict with rising expectations on AD Plant subsidies after their announcement on their Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) plans, made just last week.

The proposal that ROCs subsidy will exclude all plants between 50kW and 5MW output level - which is in the range almost all AD Plants projects are planned for - amounts to a virtual scrapping of the RO subsidy for the vast majority of AD projects.

At a stroke the UK government has announced a body blow to the development of potentially thousands of on-farm and community food waste AD plant projects which were otherwise set to proceed with aid of the expected lower RO output limit.


The young, rapidly growing UK anaerobic digestion industry risks being nipped in the bud, and all those innovative new technological developments expected to flow from the scramble for business in the sector, will gather dust. And, all this at a time when the nation so badly needs to develop new energy sources, develop new jobs, and develop products at home to sell on the world market.

This week industry leaders as a whole have been asking for a cabinet reshuffle in order to get the government to focus more on the economy. Here, surely is another example of a lack of economic vision...

As stated already, we are not alone in our criticism. We have included below extracts from other news releases and articles from the AD industry, for your further reading:

AD dealt double blow

Materials Recycling Week

"The anaerobic digestion (AD) industry faces “disaster” after being “squeezed from both sides” by two Government announcements on renewable energy subsidies, the Renewable Energy Association (REA) has warned. REA head of biogas David Collins said ..."
http://www.mrw.co.uk/news/ad-dealt-double-blow/8633727.article

Renewables Obligation for Anaerobic Digestion should be maintained ...

(author unknown)

"energy and environmental management magazine, the definitive resource for news features and opinions in the energy, environmental management and renewable ...www.eaem.co.uk/.../renewables-obligation-anaerobic-digestio..."
http://www.eaem.co.uk/opinions/renewables-obligation-anaerobic-digestion-should-be-maintained

Plans to exclude generators from RO leave industry 'flummoxed'

Business Green

"Alongside new levels of support, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey also announced there will be a consultation later this year on excluding solar, wind, anaerobic digestion, and hydro-electric projects between 50kW and 5MW. This would leave ..."
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2194135/plans-to-exclude-generators-from-ro-leaves-industry-flummoxed

ROCs banding review 'a disaster' for AD industry

letsrecycle.com

"However, in a surprise move, DECC also proposed ending ROC support for anaerobic digestion plants under five megawatts from April 1 2013, subject to consultation. The review document states: “The government will shortly consult on proposals to exclude ..."
http://www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/energy/rocs-banding-review-2018a-disaster2019-for-ad-industry

To sum up. It really is strange as this move comes without any obvious purposeful policy change. Can the manner in which such matters are handled by government really be going to be done in such a disfunctional manner... Let's hope for some re-thinking in this area during consultation.
If you have a view on this news we would be very pleased to recieve your comments.

Best AD Anaerobic Dihestion Project Award for WELTEC Biogas in UK

WELTEC BIOPOWER's expertise has won their client Fernbrook Bio the 2012 UK AD & Biogas Associations (ADBA) industry award for "Best Biogas Project". Their anaerobic digestion facility which produces a 1.5 MW output impressed the judges with its efficient  in operation and innovations within its design. From this fact and the reputation of ADBA, we can reasonably assume that it is the top example of the best in waste utilisation AD plant technology currently available.

The plant is siutated near Kettering, Northamptonshire and it is supplying about 3,000 households with power. To do that it processes approximately 30,000 tonnes per annum of biowaste and food waste and converting it into electricity. For this purpose, WELTEC had equipped the biogas plant for the operator to include food unpacking, separation and pasteurisation systems.

Please vist the original webste (link below) for the full article:

"Fernbrook Bio" is very happy about the award. Following the award ceremony, Director Shaun Cherry commented: "We have been cooperating with WELTEC BIOPOWER for almost four years, and we are pleased with this partnership, which has now won due and deserved recognition in the form of the 'Best AD Project' award. WELTEC has truly deserved this award because it offers, not only top-edge premium plants, but also efficient service." ADBA's decision to award Fernbrook Bio with the title also included the operators' community work through visits to and from local schools and systematic publicity activities.

Another biogas plant of WELTEC BIOPOWER also made it onto the shortlist of nominations: the 1.3 MW "Lower Reule Bioenergy" installation in Gnossall, Staffordshire, which also processes food waste. This biogas plant's electricity is also supplied to approx 2,600 homes. The operator uses the heat generated from the plant to heat their farm buildings and to dry the digestate, which is spread out over agricultural areas as a fertiliser. Lower Reule Bioenergy was nominated in the "Best integration of AD into a farming business" and "Best AD Project" categories.

View the original article here

Small Scale Food Waste to Biogas AD Systems New Dawn for UK Biogas Production

Things are hotting up on tyhe UIK biogas scene. Hard on the governments announcement yesterday of final consultations with the industry on the enewable Heat Incentive for AD, which is a new form of additional subsidy for AD, Burdens have made this announcement, which if successful and their small commercial scale biogas plant system becomes popular, could change the industry forever from a miraid of small companies with bespoke AD plant designs to an almost mass-produced market for food waste AD Plants.

The company will offer a "fully funded option". This will remove a huge problem from the small businesses that can make use of this, and is expected to raise a lot of interest.

Bristol, UK based small scale anaerobic digestion systems supplier, has announced their own patented design. What is more. Burdens Environmental informs us that it has completed its trials of a demonstrator facility in Wales, which is now accepting waste from Carmarthenshire Council and HRH Prince Charles' estate in Wales The floowing is the excerpt from the article which took our interest. You are reminded that the full article contains much fuller information about this biodigester, and can be access via the link below the quoted text which follows:

The company claimed that the facility is the UK's first commercial small scale anaerobic digestion (AD) system for localised food waste treatment, and that it now plans to roll out compact food waste treatment plant.

According to Burdens the system has been designed to speed up the adoption of AD food waste treatment plants in the UK by making them commercially viable and thereby increasing recycling rates for municipal and commercial food waste across the country.

Each Burdens system will be capable of handling between 3000 and 5000 tonnes of food waste per year, and the company said that it is offering a fully funded solution for the modular waste treatment plants, as well as an option to buy outright.

The fully funded package will involve the company paying its customers to run the operations, with a full maintenance programme and rent for the land on which it will be located being covered by Burdens.

In return, the company said that it will benefit from the Feed in Tariff and Renewable Heat Incentive linked to the renewable energy outputs of the recycling process.

In addition, full turnkey plants will be available for between £850,000 and £2 million, which the company said would provide a rapid payback through significant operational savings, as well as revenues from energy generation and gate fees.

The company added that its system is the first digester of its size to be Animal By Products Regulations (ABPR) compliant, which means that it can recycle general food waste, including meat.

It also claimed that the system meets compost, soil and land use regulations (PAS 100, PAS110). The biofertiliser generated is used as a beneficial fertiliser on local farm land.

View the original article here

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UK Government Publishes More Information on Renewable Heat Incentive and Updates to the Fee-in-Tariff Rates

Non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive

The UK Government says it is providing certainty for investors in renewable heat and small-scale electricity, but there is still a way to go, with the first recording of metered heat-use more than a year away. 

However, the UK AD industry has been waiting a long while already, and will be relieved that this further announcement and the start of another round of consultation has at least gotten underway just in-time before the start of the summer holidays.

What has actually been done is that the government has unveiled proposals to improve the performance and manage the future budget of the non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). They are further fleshing out the mechanisms by which the RHI will work in a final round of consultations before the start of implementation in 2013, beginning with the large installations first.

An advance accreditation scheme, which is part of the package, will help with obtaining funding.

AD Feed-in Tariffs

The UK Government today also announced changes to the Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs), following the consultation which took place earlier this year. Those tariffs remain the same, except for the large scale rate which reduces slightly. 

This reduction is to be expected under the concept of degression. As the technology develops costs and investment risk will also fall and the subsidy level will reflect this. There is evidence at the large scale that processes are becoming more robust and reliable and it can be argued that such a reduction will not harm the industry take up of the AD process at this level.

However, the industry will be disappointed that more tariff support has not been given to the small scale plants in the UK, but as the industry has been pressing for more support for smaller biogas producers for some time, in order to bring the costs within the range of average sized farm operations throughout the UK.

That would have provided a potential explosion in biogas take-up and a very large number of plants built, which could rival those in Germany. It would contribute to government renewable energy targets more rapidly than wind can achieve and it seems disappointing that the government has not had the vision to go for growth in this way. After all the biogas industry is quite labour intensive and the boost to the UK economy would have been significant.


Home grown energy would keep the money in the UK and Europe rather than the alternative payments for fossil fuels which presumably end up largely in the hands of the major oil producing states.


For government the downside would have been the cost in terms of the additional burden on the energy companies, and the government will have been anxious to avoid the press and right-wing conservative MPs suggesting that the government is putting the economy at risk by burdening it with “green” payments. The government would see that as very damaging at such a time of cuts and recession.

It is pleasing that microCHP subsidies are being increased. Micro combined heat and power or micro-CHP is an extension of the now well established idea of cogeneration to the single/ multi family home or small office.

The new tariffs for AD will be:

≤250kW: The current rate of 14.7 p/kWh will remain unchanged
>250 - ≤500kW: The current rate of 13.6 p/kWh will remain unchanged
>500 - ≤5000kW: The current rate of 9.9 p/kWh will decrease to 8.96 p/kWh from December 2012

For more information on the changes to the Feed-in Tariffs and Renewable Heat Incentive please visit: www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn12_085/pn12_085.aspx

Siloxanes the Elephant in the Cupboard for MSW Biogas?

As more municipal waste biogas plants come on stream, which use mechanically separated "black bag" waste, there will be impurities persent, and there are concerns that one of those impurities "siloxane" will turn out to cost a lot of money to remove. Also, Anaerobic Digestion Plant operators will experience costly downtime for repairing badly damaged gas engines. We all know that unreliable power output costs in terms of the tarrif paid by the recieving electricity company, so this ends up as a double whammy. This could be an elephant lurking in the cupboard as the rapid uptake of municipal waste to energy fermentation just gets going.

That is why we were particularly interested to read the article excerpted below. We have included only part of this excellent and well-informed article below. So, we expect that many of you will follow the link below and visit the original web site for the full article. All comments giving your views on whether this danger is significant will be apperciated:

Siloxanes are a subgroup of silicones containing Si-O bonds with organic radicals. They are widely used for a variety of industrial processes. They are also commonly added to consumer products, including detergents, medical products and devices, shampoos, cosmetics, paper coatings, and textiles. Although most siloxanes disperse into the atmosphere where they are decomposed, some end up in wastewater (approximately 17,000 tons per year in the US).  Siloxanes do not decompose in the activated sludge process, but generally end up as a significant component in the sludge.

As sludge undergoes anaerobic digestion, it may be subjected to temperatures up to 60 C. At this point the siloxanes contained in the sludge will volatize and become an unwanted constituent of the resulting biogas.

List of Siloxane Removal Options

The author has provided the folloing list of methods for siloxane removal:

Currently, there are six primary technologies for removing siloxanes from biogas. These include the following:

–Activated carbon is widely used to remove organic substances from gases and liquids due to its superior adsorbent properties. An example of a product based on this technology is SAGPack from Applied Filter Technology.

–Activated alumina absorbs siloxanes from biogas. When the alumina becomes saturated, its absorption capability can be recovered by passing a regeneration gas through it.

–Refrigeration with condensation in combination can be used to selectively remove specific compounds by lowering the temperature or pressure of the gas, and then allowing the compound to precipitate out to a liquid, and then settle out.

–Synthetic resins remove VMS’s through adsorption. They can be specially formulated to remove specific classes of compounds.

–Liquid absorbents are used by a small number of landfill operators to treat biogas prior to use in combustion devices such as gas turbines. An example of a product based on this technology is Selexol from Dow Chemical.

–Membrane technology is a relatively recent development in siloxanes removal. At present, however, membranes are subject to acid deterioration from the acidic content usually found in raw biogas.

Of these technologies, activated carbon appears to be among the most dominant in the industry. This material can be purchased relatively cheaply, for less than $1 per pound when purchased in bulk form.

Although there are a number of options available for cleaning contaminants such as siloxanes from biogas, none has yet proven to be “ideal.” Therefore there is active interest in the development of new and better technologies for cleaning biogas.

It appears that siloxanes comprise a very significant problem for the production and use of biogas. End users are demanding efficacy, and they also require ease of use in terms of being able to drop the technology into existing biogas treatment processes without significant re-engineering. End users also demand adaptability to accommodate the varying nature of biogas streams and the various types and amounts of contaminants that need to be treated. And of course, as always users are looking for the most cost-effective options.

A technology that can satisfy these criteria appears well-positioned to be readily introduced and adopted into this market, and in turn could help biogas achieve its full potential as an important component of the worldwide energy mix.

View the original article here

Forget Solar: The Energy Breakthrough That Could Provide 10% of US Electricity

That headline is very much the essence of the big wake-up call issued by a US investment analyst this month. Yes. At last, the financial community is beginning to see the huge potential for energy from waste in the US, and because they are such big waste producers, it IS an enormous new investment area for investors to consider.

As they point out, there is "low hanging fruit" in the US as well, in the form of landfill gas extraction from existing and propose landfills.

The size of the opportunity for those wishing to invest in landfill gas can be seen, and is undisputable if their figure of only 1 in 5.7 landfills being equipped for LFG extraction and energy production is correct - and we have no reason to doubt it.

That opportunity has long since passed in Europe, but the US is wide open for new landfill gas projects. If the sites are remote from a big enough power line, then no longer is that a problem with the biogas upgrading equipment now available.

This means that the gas coan be cleaned up and used for vehicle use or injected into gas grid mains, and many can use it to run the refuse vehicles for a start, with plenty left over.

Please visit the original website via the link below, after you have read the excerpt below:

Today, I want to tell you about a true game changer in the energy industry. Up until a few years ago, this initiative would have seemed almost impossible. It would have been the subject of sci-fi movies. But don't worry, what I'm about to tell you is very real. In the past five years alone, some of the world's leading businesses have poured more than $18.2 billion into this unique idea.  I'm talking about turning trash into energy.

 Here's the story... According to Waste Management (NYSE: WM), the average person generates roughly four pounds of trash a day. That adds up to 227.5 million tons of "municipal solid waste" every year, enough to fill a line of trash trucks nearly 100,000 miles long, which would circle the Earth four times.

All of that trash has a pretty predictable profile. As the chart below shows, a good portion of it is recyclable: The glass, plastic and metal can all be reused.

But the majority of trash is organic material: Wood, food, yard waste and paper account for 62.5% of the trash Americans toss out. This adds up to 142.2 million tons of rotting material every year, just in the United States.

As much of that organic waste decomposes in the landfill, it emits gas... quite a lot of it too. Made up of about 60% methane, landfill gas is combustible. Enough so to create high-pressure steam that spins turbines to generate electric power in exactly the same way utilities burn natural gas.

Right now, there are more than 540 landfill gas-to-energy projects in the United States. Those projects are delivering 1,684 megawatts of electricity to corporate and government users, which is enough energy to power 1.7 million homes.

With only one landfill-gas site for every 5.7 active landfills, there is room for serious growth. Those untapped landfills are like having open wells bleeding gas into the air, where it vanishes, instead of into a pipeline, where it can be sold.

There are many companies out there that see that waste, yearn to harness that energy and might well make a fortune in the process. That's one reason market intelligence firm Pike Research expects this industry to at least double worldwide in the next decade.

The American Biogas Council estimates there are 12,000 undeveloped biogas sites in the wastewater (3,300), agriculture (8,200) and landfill (500) sectors. Using the energy created from these sites, biogas could replace up to 10% of the United States' electricity needs. We are, after all, already "making" all this gas. The opportunity lies in capturing and harnessing its power.

Right now, one of my favorite plays in this space is Tetra Technologies (Nasdaq: TTEK), a massive engineering firm that is always on the cusp of "the next big thing." That's one reason it has, in its history, delivered fully four times the Nasdaq's return.

As a member of the America Biogas Council, Tetra Tech is one of the few companies with the expertise and ability to build a commercial-scale turnkey biogas facility.

The company is also solidly profitable and well-run, as evidenced by its strong historical growth in equity. And, with a $1.73 billion market cap, it still has plenty of space to grow -- or the potential to be acquired at a substantial premium.

View the original article here

First Wiltshire Biodigester Opens for Business

Wiltshire’s first anaerobic digestion plant plant operated by Malaby Biogas, has opened for business. The first feed materials have fed into a new biodigester in Wiltshire, UK, after only 12 months of construction and commissioning trails.  The biodigester is Wiltshire’s first large scale biogas plant, which became viable when it's promoter it was able to get £5 million ($7.7 million) in loan funding from Clydesdale Bank and the UK government's own WRAP (Waste and Resource Action Programme), joined in with financial assistance as part of the government’s own £10 million loan fund for biogas and CHP projects.

We have provided a quotation from the full article below. At the end of the extract we have provided a link to the full article, and we suggest that you use that to visit the original web site:

The plant will look to process 17,000 tonnes of food waste a year and produce around 500KW of electricity for the national grid. It will receive bulk feedstock from both commercial and municipal sources, including local businesses like schools, pubs and restaurants.

Minter believes it will take up to six months to get the plant up to full speed based on biology growth and the completion of operational milestones: ‘It is important that we build a stable and robust process to ensure this is one of the best running plants around.’

View the original article here

Wisconsin State Program Subsidy for Biomass and Biogas Installations

I find this article somewhat confusing as the figures don't seem to tally. The item says in the headline that "Wisconsin State Program allocates $750,000 for biomass, biogas installations", which at under $1million isn't much money at all! I presume that a decimal point must have gone missig here somewhere. On that basis I would hail this as another step forward in the rising trend in the US, where individual states are picking up on environmentally beneficial, and hopefully also "economically viable" opportunities and providing them with encouragement. If anyone reading this can shed more light on the overall budget figures involved in this inititaive, we would be delighted to receive your comments. Please visit the original article via the link below the extract provided below:

Wisconsin residents and businesses that install biogas or biomass-based technology can receive up to $250,000 through a newly formed renewable energy utilities program. The program, Focus on Energy, is accepting applications until August 29, 2012. William Haas, program director for Focus on Energy, said the newly offered programs will better serve utility rate payers while adding to a mix of other incentive programs already offered in the state.

Through the Renewable Energy Competitive Incentive Program, Wisconsin businesses can apply through a request for proposal (RFP) process that details the stipulations for funding. For the biogas RFP, the applicant may not request more than $2 million. The funding may go towards energy generating equipment and materials, but previously acquired equipment or materials will not qualify for funding. All biogas systems must have an electronic method of measuring and tracking energy production, as well as a data exporting or uploading system. The RFP for biogas projects also encourages the use of biogas cleaning systems, and, methane meters are required.

For the biomass funding, all projects may not exceed $2 million. Like the biogas funding opportunity, only energy generation equipment or materials will be considered as part of the total project funding. Demolishing a wall to install a wood burner where a natural gas furnace could be installed, the RFP document explained, would not be considered eligible for funding. All systems must have energy monitoring methods in place, and, records detailing the fuel source inputs into the system. To learn more please about the program see the Focus on Energy website. 

View the original article here

Biogas to Power RCVs from Food Waste Plant in Sacramento

My goodness, another Anerobic Disgestion plant installation "first" is claimed by the Californians! Gold River, a California based organic waste to energy facility contractor is the claimant, and no doubt they are correct in what they say! Their new plant will be both a "dry" process AD Plant and the biogas will be upgraded for transport vehicle use, and the company achiving this is to be Clean World Partners (CWP) and waste and recycling company, Atlas Disposal of Sacramento.

The partnership of these two companies has recently broken ground on a $13 million food waste to waste biogas processing facility.anaerobic digestion facility in South Sacramento. We are told that a recent report in local newspaper, the Sacramento Been, has explained that CWP was formed in January 2009 to develop further opportunities arising from a new anaerobic digester technology. This technology has been developed by Ruihong Zhang of UC Davis. Zhang's research collaborator/partner. Just like many others they are reported to have focused on reducing the amount of time needed to convert waste material into valuable gas products. Read our quote from the artcile and visit the original website for the full store, using the link below: 

According to CWP it was awarded a $6 million grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to increase the capacity of its Organic Waste Recycling Center at the South Area South Area Transfer Station - making  it the largest commercial-scale, high solids anaerobic digestion (AD) system in the U.S.

The center initially will convert 25 tons of food waste per day collected by Atlas Disposal Industries from local food processing companies, restaurants and supermarkets into renewable natural gas. 

The CEC grant will support expansion of the facility to handle 100 tons of waste per day by early 2013, which will make it the nation's largest such system.

"This grant will help us quickly expand our newest facility and keep more waste out of landfills while we produce renewable natural gas for clean transportation fuel and clean power," explained Wong.

CWP claimed that once complete the expanded facility will replace 1 million gallons (3.8 million lites) of diesel per year with biogas and produce 2 million kWh of electricity per year - enough to power 200 homes.

CWP and Atlas have also broken ground on California's first AD-based Renewable Natural Gas Fueling Station - the South Area Transfer Station - which is claimed to be the nation's first digestion based Renewable Natural Gas Fueling Station.

The companies said that the Atlas Disposal Industries facility will use natural gas produced by Clean World's digestion system to fuel the company's clean fuel fleet, as well as vehicles from area jurisdictions and agencies.

The two facilities are expected to create 16 long-term jobs in Sacramento and generate more than $1.1 million in annual combined tax revenue for the City of Sacramento, Sacramento County and the state.

Clean World's Organic Waste Recycling Center is based on AD technology developed at UC Davis to convert food waste, agricultural residue and other organic waste into renewable energy, fertilizer and soil enhancements.

View the original article here

AD Landmarks Spherical Gas Storage Tanks Multiply in Hungary

The sight of the characteristic signature structure of many AD plants, the spherical gas storage tank is, we are told by Weltec Biopower, Inwatech grouping, in Hungary. If the general public have not yet beocme curious about those strange circular objects they see on the skyline, they soon will be as the number of anaerobic-digestion facilitites rises. Very few if any have pointed out that such tanks are visually very impressive and will as time goes on help to stamp Anaerobic Digestion as a valuable process, and the biogas produced by it, as a forward thinking and very positive part of their local communities. We have include a substantial quote below from the original article. Please also click the link at the bottom of the page and spend some time on the originator's web site:

Hungary makes increasing use of spherical gas storage tanks. In the future, the storage of energy in the form of biogas will play an increasingly important role around the globe. WELTEC BIOPOWER has implemented a trend-setting, innovative solution with the Hungarian partner INWATECH. Where an investment for a biogas processing system with biogas feed-in station is not feasible, the intermediate storage of raw biogas is a smart alternative. The example of the 1-MW plant of WELTEC BIOPOWER, which has been running in Szeged, southern Hungary, since December 2011, demonstrates the benefits of intermediate storage and its positive effect on the plant's overall efficiency.

What role will external gas storage tanks play for biogas plant operators in the future, and what shape will be preferred? Answers to these questions are currently available in Hungary. There, the extensive natural gas grid could also be used for biomethane storage. Prior to the feed-in, however, the raw gas would have to be processed, and this effort would not pay for all plant types. Therefore, this EU country increasingly makes use of spherical gas storage tanks, which, in combination with the digesters, provide a high storage capacity.

In Hungary, the daytime power feed-in tariff is twice as high. Therefore, biogas is collected in gas storage tanks at night in order to have the two 600-kW CHP modules running under full load at daytime. At the bottom line, large storage capacities mean a higher feed-in tariff.

Not only the external storage tank, but also the WELTEC digesters offer additional storage space: Apart from the spherical gas storage tank with its 660 cubic metres, each of the two 3,000-cubic metres stainless-steel digesters provides a gas buffer capacity of 1,016 cubic metres, thanks to the special design of the double-membrane roof.

In the two digesters, co-operator INWATECH produces together with Z?ldforr?s Energia, a subsidiary of the power supplier D?M?SZ, 440 cubic metres of raw gas an hour. Assuming an operating time of 7,000 CHP hours a year, the power plant's planned output will be more than 4 million kW/year. Going by past experience, the yield will be even higher in real-life use.

The generated heat will be used for the air-conditioning of the on-site office buildings. Additionally, the exhaust heat will serve the complete drying of lucernes and pellets and the heating of pigsties (300 kW): Heat will be supplied for about 20 h/day for nine months a year. The heat utilization will boost the plant's efficiency to more than 80 percent, and the thermal energy utilization will amount to about 9 million kWh/year. As the digesters consume about 1.2 million kWh of process heat, the surplus will be about 7.7 million kWh/year.

The operator could also have opted for other storage tank shapes for the plant. Besides the fact that the additional costs for the spherical gas storage in Szeged are covered by a higher feed-in tariff, the safety of the storage tank was a key criterion for the selection. As it had already used this storage tank type in other projects with excellent results, Hungarian partner INWATECH considered the spherical gas storage tank to be the solution of choice.

In Germany, the demand for external storage tanks is limited despite the great interest. Should this change as a result of the discussions concerning the energy transition of the federal govern- ment, WELTEC will be able to draw on it's successfully implemented best-practice solution in Hungary.

Thus, WELTEC BIOPOWER will continue to promote this model in Hungary. In fact, further orders for biogas plants with spherical gas storage tanks have already been received. Hajo Schierhold, Head of sales, says: "Following our proven approach, the plants will be planned and realized together with the cooperation partner INWATECH." Brought to you by www.anaerobic-digestion.com .

View the original article here

Anaerobic Digestion Promotes Positive Image for Oil Palm Industry

The palm oil industry has been seen as less than perfect in a number of areas recently, one aspect of concern has been the worry that palm oil plantations are big fossil fuel energy consumers. In more than one nation as we can see from the video below, a biogas project gives a positive image for oil palm industry. Once again Anaerobic Digestion is being brought forward as a force for good, and the AD process is adopted yet again. Please visit the original article website after reading our excerpt:

TAWAU:

Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman is confident that the biogas project being explored by the plantation sector in the state, can create a positive image for the oil palm industry.

He said it would be seen as an environment friendly industry which gave serious consideration to the protection of the environment.

He said the technology for biogas production from oil palm waste was not just environment friendly but also helped in the electricity generation for the plants and in the process, reduce the dependency on fossil fuel which is a source of air pollution.

“Previously, the disposal of waste from oil palm and the oil palm mills, posed a lot of problems for us. Now, it has become a source of electricity,” he added.

Musa said this in his speech while officiating the opening of the Biogas Plant at the Sawit Apas Balung mill owned by Kumpulan Sawit Kinabalu here yesterday.

The biogas plant project is the first for Kumpulan Sawit Kinabalu, a state government agency, and in line with its aim to create sustainable wealth while taking into consideration the protection of the environment in economic operations.

Musa, who is also the Finance Minister, said the state government was committed to development without sidelining environmental protection.

“We hope this commitment will receive strong support from oil palm plantation companies in Sabah,” he added.

He also hoped that more companies would explore the production of environmental friendly energy and at the same time, contribute to the renewable energy sector in the state.

“We need to be more creative and innovative to continue the quest for new ways to drive the search for energy from sources which were previously considered useless,” he added. — Bernama

View the original article here

Zorg Biogas Helps Largest Tobacco Producer in Italy Go Green

This is the first time we have heard of the tobacco inductry using anaerobic-digestion to provide heat and power plus digestate fertilizer usiing their orgnaic waste as the "fuel". We have included the Press Release issued by the Biogas EPC company involved, below:

An international biogas plants construction company will supply a 999 kW el. co-generation heat power unit for “Virginia Trade,” one of the largest manufacturers of tobacco products in Italy.

Maintaining high level of vertical integration, “Virginia Trade” owns an agricultural company growing tobacco for its merchandise. Merchandise Biogas for the co-generation unit will be produced from corn silage supplied by the subsidiary.

With four earlier orders from Italian companies for technical design of biogas plants, current contract is the first to move to equipment supply stage for Zorg Biogas AG.

About ZORG:

ZORG executes full range of engineering services within biogas industry. The company designs and builds biogas plants under German state-of-art technology and know-how license.

ZORG works on a global scale: company’s projects have been successfully implemented in 12 countries, such as Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Latvia, Turkey, Russia, Moldavia and Indonesia.

Zorg Biogas AG
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South African biogas digester wins award - ESI Africa

This biogas plant design seems to neatly bridge a gap between the full sized farm systems and a small domestic AD system in a large drum. All credit to the designer for getting this far and challenging those that must have told him it would never take-off for him. Take a read of this article, from which we have included an excerpt below: 

25 June 2012 - Two South African developed biogas digesters earned their inventor second place in the SA Cleantech Competition. AGAMA Biogas was recognised for the innovation and the quality of its BiogasPro and SmartTop prefabricated biogas digesters. The first small digester to achieve certification from the South African Pipeline Gas Association, the BiogasPro is a patented system that is engineered, designed and manufactured in South Africa.

The unit has a total capacity of 6,000 litres and can produce a nominal amount of 1.9 m3 of biogas every day, which is equivalent to four hours burning time on a single gas plate, 0.8 kg liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), or 3.5 kWh continuous electrical output.

The biogas is captured and stored within the upper part of the digester itself, which has a gas storage capacity of 0.95 m3, and relies on hydraulic pressure to produce gas pressure at 7.0 kPa when fully primed.

AGAMA Biogas’s Greg Austin says the use of biogas in the rural environment is increasingly becoming acknowledged by municipal officials as a viable and useful option. The company has installed a number of systems in rural and urban areas with municipal planning approval, including numerous brick dome digesters. It has been designing and implementing biogas systems for even longer, with the first digester in rural KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) still operating perfectly after five years, without any maintenance needs or problems.

He says the benefits of the BiogasPro range are many. “These biogas digesters are prefabricated from linear, low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) using a roto-moulding manufacturing technique which makes them ideal for a wide range of applications and situations. They are exceptionally robust, quick to install and convenient to use. Being pre-engineered, they also circumvent the complex brickwork required to build a digester from scratch.  

“Installations can be performed by certified drainage and gas technicians, who are accredited by AGAMA Biogas. Alternatively there is a DIY option where customers install the digesters themselves from comprehensive manuals supplied with the digesters.

“To produce the maximum possible amount of biogas, the BiogasPro should be fed with up to 40 kg of mixed organic raw material daily. It therefore presents a cost effective solution to many waste management problems, and it has a range of applications, from sewage waste water treatment to co-digestion of different substrates including food waste, manures, grasses and garden wastes.

The BiogasPro also garnered the attention of The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design's Green Good Design Award 2011 and was selected as an award winner for making a positive contribution in the area of more sustainable design and environment.

The award-winning SmartTop was developed partly as a job creation initiative. A smaller unit than the BiogasPro, it comprises just the working parts and the gas storage tank. Functionality is unimpeded.

As the base has to be built, this creates an additional task, and another job. It can also accommodate people who have more waste than the BiogasPro can handle, as the base can be built up to double the size to double the amount of waste and water that can be put into the system. However, the gas storage capacity remains the same, so gas needs to be constantly tapped off to reap the benefits of the greater capacity.

Being smaller, the Smart Top is also cheaper to ship overseas or to isolated areas where truck access may be limited.

“We anticipate that with an increasing number of reference projects our biogas systems will become more mainstream,” Austin concludes.

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UK AD & Biogas 2012 Birmingham UK Exhibition and Conference Today and Tomorrow

We will be attending this conference which must be the most heavily promoted Anaerobic Digestion event ever to be held in the UK. Here is the latest new release for the show:

The Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association's (ADBA) third annual trade show and conference this year focuses specifically on demonstrating how anaerobic digestion can be of great benefit to Local Authorities, and the food and farming industries. This event is of particular interest to farmers who can find out all they need to know about starting or furthering an on-farm AD project.

The show will feature live kit including a biogas tractor, free farmers’ consultancy clinics where you can find out if AD is a viable option for your farm and free legal and finance clinics where you can learn about funding and contractual issues surrounding AD. With 200 exhibitors showcasing the latest on-farm AD equipment and services (including a biogas tractor), a full day conference dedicated to ‘The Business Case for On-Farm AD’ and 22 free seminars, this unique event is a must for any farmer interested in integrating AD into their farming business. Are you a farmer? If so, then you can now receive free entry to the expo, reduced conference rates (from £100 ex VAT) and free membership with ADBA until 30 September 2012 when buying a reduced farmer conference ticket (from £100 ex VAT).

Please contact matthew.ireland@adbiogas.co.uk before registering, to receive your unique discount code.

To find out more and register, please visit www.adbiogas.co.uk

Location : The NEC Birmingham,  B40 1NT E-mail : enquiries@adbiogas.co.uk Telephone : +44 (0)203 176 0503

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