Anaerobic Digestion Plant Operation 8 Years-On Landia GasMix

Anaerobic Digestion Plant Operation - Ireland’s GreenGas Biogas Facility 8 Years-On

Based on Landia Press Release; Ireland’s first farm-scale Anaerobic Digestion plant might be approaching its eighth year of operation, but the 24/7 attention to detail has never been more focused.

Although they worked closely with a German engineering firm, they chose to work directly with equipment suppliers, and these included Landia.

Kirk supplied our first digester, with Gary Little recommending Landia for its mixing systems, introducing us to Hugh Vaughan.

Lifetime cost was a very big selling point for us, as were companies who were proud of their work, and prepared to roll up their sleeves.

At first, Landia’s GasMix didn’t appear to be achieving the results that had been forecast, but this put right by a site visit from Hugh, who back-flushed the pipework to remove a blockage caused by a build-up of sulphur.

Digestate was reversed to clear the pipe.

After a short break for lunch, the digester was being mixed fully.

Since then, as part of its preventative maintenance schedule, the back-flushing has become a regular part of GreenGas’s maintenance program.

GasMix, having all moving parts on the outside is a big plus.

You don’t have to take a hit on gas yield.

A service agreement was put in place with Landia and an extended warranty, but because of the reliability of the pumps, the latter was never needed.

For the business, it is understood that the lifetime cost of the plant has always been a big selling point.

Another criteria is the efficiency of the mixing systems.

In addition to the GasMix system, GreenGas also invested in Landia’s side-entry mixers for its digesters to add some extra impetus.

Such is the efficiency of the mixing systems that GasMix (combining a Landia chopper pump and a series of venturi nozzles) only runs for about 15 minutes every two and a half hours.

The side-entry mixers run for only about 5 minutes every hour,so  energy use is very low.

Senan Meade, who has been with GreenGas since 2013, takes up the story: Even though our dry solids are usually a max of 5%, we feel the side-entry mixers give us a guarantee, he said.

Since 2010, GreenGas grown, to its current status as a 1 Megawatt plant, adding a new digester (from Wolf-Austrian) in 2015.

"We’ve come a long way as there was no real A D industry here when we started and certainly very few financial incentives, and we still lack the same catalyst as Northern Ireland, or many other states.

See the full Press Release at: https://.anaerobic-digestion.com/greengas

The following is based upon a Press Release by Landia UK.