Tuesday, October 29, 2019

UK General Election December 2019 - Do This or Fail to Match 2017 Government Green Pledges A Challenge to the New Government

The news is just breaking that parliament is set to agree a UK General Election on 12 December 2019. The new government must act as below, or fail to match the green pledges already made by the 2017 Conservative Government.

So, Labour, Conservative, or Liberal politicians you must match these green pledges or better them on sustainable renewable energy and the environment! That's our challenge to the New Government. And, in view of the climate change imperative to act now, this is much more important than ever before!

ABDA issued the following PR on 23 October before parliament voted to suspend the Fixed Term Parliament Act today (30 October 2019).

"ADBA’s vision is to see the full potential of the UK AD industry realised so it can help the UK achieve its emissions targets and other policy goals, creating a truly circular economy."
Press Release:

Anaerobic digestion trade association submits proposals to Government ahead of the Budget

Letter to Chancellor highlights the industry's potential towards achieving the Government's Net Zero emissions target and the impact of uncertainty on the sector.

Priorities set out by ADBA include better cross-departmental working to ensure coordinated policy and support towards the implementation of separate food waste collections, a new funding system and dedicated Research & Innovation infrastructure for the industry.
Charlotte Morton of ADBA
UK AD industry has potential to reduce UK greenhouse gases emissions by 5%.

With the UK needing to show leadership on ultra low carbon technologies as President of the 2020 UN Framework Convention for Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP26), the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA) has written to Chancellor Sajid Javid ahead of the next Budget announcement, setting out the industry's views on the policies needed to stimulate growth of the anaerobic digestion (AD) sector and fulfil its potential to reduce some of the hardest-to-decarbonise emissions.  

Currently, AD is predominantly recognised for its role in generating green energy.



But AD also prevents methane emissions from organic wastes left to break down in landfill – and there is a huge untapped potential for methane capture, use and conversion with millions of tonnes of organic wastes from farming, food and sewage currently not being treated through AD.
In addition, AD treatment of organics recovers nutrients to fertilise depleted soils and improve their ability to sequester carbon.

The Treasury has been tasked with coordinating government efforts to achieve Net Zero emissions by 2050.  The AD has the potential to cut UK emissions by 5% across multiple sectors and therefore needs policy incentives applied across multiple Government departments (namely BEIS, Treasury, DEFRA, and Transport) to operate effectively.   Good cross-departmental policy coordination is therefore essential to enable the industry to grow and achieve widespread emission abatement.  This is a key ask from ADBA, which also lists the following priorities:


The Government must provide clear financial parameters to Local Authorities (LAs) to implement the mandatory separate food waste collections by 2023 stated in the Resources & Waste Strategy – which features a clear preference for inedible food waste to be recycled through AD.

It is vital that LAs are fully supported with set up costs that include funding the development of infrastructure to enable LAs to do so. Government must clarify its financial support as a matter of urgency, especially as around 70 LAs will be signing new waste contracts in the time period leading to the separate food waste collections implementation deadline.

The Budget must commit to an interim pot of funding for biomethane plant deployment similar to the Renewable Heat Incentive, which is due to come to an end in March 2021, while a future funding mechanism is developed (the Feed- In-Tariff has already closed, the lack of a floor price makes the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation an unstable alternative to support biomethane plant deployment, Contracts-for-Difference support the larger AD plants whilst many in the sector are small, and the Smart Export Guarantee does not provide price certainty, or consider the wider, non-energy benefits of AD).

It is critical that the Budget commits additional support for AD for 2021 and beyond.



The Government must support AD innovation to make it financially autonomous. Enclosed in ADBA's letter to the Chancellor was the trade association's proposal for a virtual Centre for Anaerobic Biotechnology and Bioresources Research (CABB) to develop new waste management technologies, that would not only boost British exports, but also transform the sector’s performance and eliminate the need for subsidies in the future.  CABB's objective is to transform AD into a low-cost, multifunctional biotechnology and a key ingredient in developing integrated processes to deliver future energy and resources provision.

ADBA's Chief Executive Charlotte Morton said:
"As a result of enjoying consistent policy and funding support, the wind and solar industries have become extremely cost-effective and are now established as part of the renewable energy mix. AD should be given the same fair treatment, to put the sector on the ‘glide path’ to no subsidy, as costs come down and innovation drives cost savings across the industry.
The UK AD sector has grown by over 350% over the last ten years and established itself as a world leader with UK companies exporting biogas-related expertise and equipment. However, the current timeline for the Greening the Gas Grid consultation is unlikely to provide the urgent continuity necessary to stimulate further industry growth. 
The sector's progress has already effectively stalled due to the lack of policy certainty, and there is a real risk of losing expertise if there is an ongoing gap in policy provision. Meanwhile, with CABB, we could supercharge our industry and put it at the cutting edge of agricultural science.
We await the Budget next month with interest and are continuing our discussions with the Treasury and BEIS on our proposals in advance of its publication."
http://adbioresources.org/

- ENDS -

Monday, October 21, 2019

Advantages of Biofuel: The New Sustainable Oil-Fields Of Tomorrow


Biofuels play a major part in the renewable energy strategy of Denmark.

Denmark is using biofuel to achieve its target of using 100% renewable energy for all energy uses by 2050. In this, biofuels provide a large share of he future energy sources in Denmark. Especially when considering all sectors of energy demand in conjunction with Denmark's highly developed renewable energy resources.

The main sources of biofuels in Denmark include:
  • wood and wood products
  • energy from waste straw
  • biogas biodiesel and bioethanol.

Biofuels have the potential to provide environmental and economic benefits, but they must be carefully managed to ensure that they are truly sustainable resources.

There is the potential for economic and environmental damage if biofuels are not used responsibly. Biofuel use in Europe must be certified by the EU Commission before biofuels can be recorded as sustainable resources, and used for national renewable energy targets.

The oil shocks of the 1970s severely impacted Denmark as about 90% of its energy use then came from oil. The majority of that oil was imported. So, the government was thus compelled to rethink its energy portfolio.

It shifted the focus of its energy plans as a result biomass for bioenergy started being incentivized. Even way back then, it was promoted as a renewable energy source, and an alternative to fossil fuels. Denmark's aim was to reduce the oil dependency and to secure energy supplies.

That's an objective that has remained relevant in the progression of the country's energy policy to this day.

The prospect of the creation of new jobs in the utilization of waste products also factored into Denmark's decision to start using biomass, consequently the use of biomass in the Danish energy system has continuously grown.

In the last decade bio energy consumption in Denmark has nearly doubled, increasing by more than a factor of 12 between 1970 and present day.

Over this period biomass has been predominantly used in the form of waste straw and wood.

Image shows one advantage of biofuel as an energy source for transport.
Currently Denmark is striving to create an energy system by 2050 that is free of all fossil energy. so, bioenergy will likely play a key role in order to achieve this goal.

In addition, Denmark has since 1993 been increasing its development of large-scale combined heat and power plants.

CHP plants combust biomass and do it in a way that has achieved continuous technological improvements. Many improvements have been achieved over the past 20 years.

The Danish strategy to reduce emissions has also included retrofitting older coal-fired plants to make them biomass-fired.

They are investing heavily into research development and demonstration (RD&D) for converting agricultural residues into second generation 2g bio ethanol.

Bio ethanol which is then blended with gasoline for the transportation sector.

RD&D activities are also in place for biodiesel for shipping and Road Transport in agreement with the European Environment Agency, scientific committee.

Denmark considers environmental sustainability as a key component of its strategy to incorporate a greater share of biofuels into its energy portfolio. As such, it does not consider biomass produced from existent forests as carbon neutral. But, it counts waste.

Biomass has doubled in output towards its renewable energy target, thus favoring biomass grown on marginal land or sourced from residues. This way the country is able to ensure that it benefits from incorporating a larger share of biomass into its energy system.

Biomass sourced from plantations that have been converted from natural forest land then generates a net carbon benefit over fossil fuels.

Denmark's guidelines for utilising biomass for energy and transportation strive to ensure both environmental sustainability and efficiency aspects as a member state of the European Union (EU). Denmark is working under commitments from its directives which set targets for the amount of renewable energy within the national profiles including biofuels.

It is following the EU legislation. For example its renewable energy use should reach 100% by 2020.

However, Denmark has been highly proactive and ambitious in the targets it has set for its renewable energy in greenhouse gas emissions reduction. Such as aiming for 100% renewable energy by 2050.

Source: Wikipedia article.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Biogas Plants Must Comply with these 4 UK Regulations - PPC Compliance for Anaerobi...

________________________
This presentation contains images that were used under a Creative Commons License. Click here to see the full list of images and attributions: https://link.attribute.to/cc/456301
________________________

4 Essential UK Regulations All Biogas Plant Operators Must Observe

All anaerobic digestion plant operators in the UK must comply with the regulations concerning environmental protection, animal by-products, duty of care, health and safety and waste handling!

Keep reading! Please give us a little bit of your valuable time, and in 5 to 10 short minutes we will explain our list of 4 essential UK regulations all biogas plants must comply with.

Regulation 1. Environmental Permitting

Environmental Permitting (EP) is a scheme in England and Wales, for regulating business activities that could have an impact on the environment and human health. AD plant operators must obtain a permit, or an exemption to operate and to spread digestate, and show that you are competent to operate the plant.

There are three levels of permitting, a number of activities that entitle operators to an exemption.:

Exemptions are available for small scale biogas digesters which are classified as non-waste facilities, but you are still required to register with the Environment Agency and provide some technical information, although no charges apply.

If your activity is not exempt, the next step in rising permit complexity is the need for a Standard Permit.

These are simplified permits used for plants which fit within a number of pre-defined standard rules, including throughput, output and nature of material being digested and for this fixed charges apply.

If a biogas plant's method of operation doesn't fall within the rules they don't allow the adoption of a Standard Permit.

The next step-up in complexity, and charges, is a "Bespoke Permit", (in this instance variable charges apply).

This process is more costly and time consuming, but provides greater coverage and flexibility in plant operations. Permits may also be required for Spreading Digestate.

Designing an AD Plant which is shown to comply with the PAS 110 Quality Protocol can become important to reduce the degree of regulatory involvement.

Material that has been processed to PAS 110 and Quality Protocol standards is no longer regarded as a waste.

However, to spread waste material (prior to achieving PAS 110 accreditation) to agricultural and non-agricultural land to confer benefit or ecological improvement, you will still have to apply for a permit or register for an exemption.

If you do not fit the criteria for an exemption there is a Standard Rule Permit, for spreading waste material to land, and a fee will be charged.

Seeding new AD Plants may also require a permit or exemption, during plant start-up.

Regulation 2. Animal By-Products Regulations

Animal by-products (ABPs) are animal carcasses, parts of carcasses or products of animal origin that are not intended for human consumption. The Animal By-Products Regulations (ABPR) permit the treatment in approved composting and biogas premises of low-risk (category 3) ABPs and catering waste which contains meat or which comes from a premises handling meat.

High risk (Category 2) ABPs such as manure and digestive tract content, cannot be used as feedstock in biogas plants, except, after the output has been treated to special pressure-rendering standards.

Further information is available from the Animal and Plant Health Agency (A.P.H.A.).

Regulation 3. Duty of Care

The duty of care is a law which says you must take all reasonable steps to keep waste safe. You have a legal responsibility to ensure that you produce, store, transport and dispose of waste without harming the environment. Duty of care law is available at the UK Government Defra and Environment Agency websites.

Regulation 4. Health and Safety at Work Regulations

Anaerobic digestion can be regarded as a chemical process with all the associated risks: flammable atmospheres, fire and explosion, toxic gases, confined spaces, asphyxiation, pressure systems, COSHH, etc.

In addition, it also incorporates gas handling and gas storage.

Therefore, it is essential that thorough hazard and risk assessments are carried out at each stage of any biogas plant project from design to installation to commissioning to implementation and operation.

Thanks for reading this and we hope you found this article useful.

At IPPTS associates consultants; we offer our services to help you comply with all of these regulations, provided that you have a budget for our work: https://ipptsassociates.co.uk/services/




Sunday, October 13, 2019

Tipos de planta de biogás - Qué sucede en una planta de biogás

Tipos de planta de biogás - Qué sucede en una planta de biogás Explicación de la digestión anaerobia.

5 tipos de plantas de biogás: los diseños de plantas DA más comunes en los Estados Unidos.

Siga buscando nuestros 5 mejores tipos de diseño de plantas de digestión anaeróbica en los Estados Unidos., Enumerados en orden de popularidad.

Tipo 1. Laguna anaeróbica cubierta

En un diseño de laguna anaeróbica cubierta, el metano se recupera y se canaliza al dispositivo de combustión desde una laguna después de que se recoge debajo de una cubierta flexible.

Aquí hay un diagrama de una laguna anaerobia cubierta que muestra 2 células.

La primera celda retiene el influente del digestor y atrapa el biogás y la segunda celda recoge el efluente del digestor.

Algunos sistemas usan una sola celda, como se muestra aquí, para la digestión y el almacenamiento combinados, y otros tienen múltiples celdas.

Aquí hay otra fotografía de este tipo de diseño de planta DA.

Tipo 2. Digestor de flujo de enchufe


Los digestores de flujo de tapón se utilizan principalmente en operaciones de lácteos que recolectan estiércol mediante raspado.

Los sistemas de flujo de tapón se han utilizado en una amplia variedad de operaciones, ya que pueden tolerar una gama más amplia de concentraciones de sólidos.

Aquí hay un diagrama de un digestor de flujo de tapón que muestra el influente del digestor entrando y fluyendo a través del digestor, con el biogás siendo capturado y almacenado debajo de una cubierta.

Este ejemplo muestra otro digestor de flujo de tapón con una cubierta de membrana de plástico flexible.

Este ejemplo muestra un digestor de flujo de tapón con una cubierta rígida.

Tipo 3. Mezcla completa de plantas de biogás


También se denominan CSR o reactores de agitación continua.

Los digestores completamente mezclados están diseñados con un tanque cerrado y calentado con un sistema mecánico, hidráulico o de mezcla de gases.

Tipos de planta de biogás
Los digestores de mezcla completa funcionan mejor cuando hay una cierta dilución del estiércol excretado con agua (por ejemplo, aguas residuales del centro de ordeño).

Aquí hay un diagrama de un digestor mixto completo, que ilustra el proceso de agregar estiércol al digestor; mezclar, calentar y almacenar el biogás dentro del digestor; y extraer el efluente resultante.

Aquí hay una foto de dos tanques de digestor de mezcla completa con un agitador montado en la pared.

Aquí hay una foto de un mezclador montado externamente, en una estructura de soporte.

¡Ya estamos a la mitad de este video! ¡Sigue mirando! ¡Es posible que no haya oído hablar de estos tipos de plantas de biogás antes!

Tipo 4. Digestores por lotes.

Un digestor por lotes es la forma más simple de digestión, donde el estiércol se agrega al reactor al comienzo del proceso como un lote. El reactor se llena y el reactor permanece cerrado durante la duración del proceso.

Tipo 5. Reactores combinados inducidos.

Estos también se conocen como UASBR (Reactores de flujo de lodo anaeróbico ascendente). Estos son digestores en los que se desarrolla una capa de lodo y retiene las bacterias anaerobias, proporcionando un ambiente rico en bacterias a través del cual debe pasar la materia prima.

Fuente: sitio web de US Agstar.

https://www.epa.gov/agstar/how-does-anaerobic-digestion-work#coproducts

Attributions:

This presentation contains images that were used under a Creative Commons License. Click here to see the full list of images and attributions: https://link.attribute.to/cc/445159

-------------------------------------------

Watch this video on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/-L-xIftYJiU

-------------------------------------------

CONNECT WITH US:

https://twitter.com/anaerobicnews
https://www.facebook.com/anaerobicdigestion/
https://uk.pinterest.com/radiman/renewables-anaerobic-digestion/
------------------------------------------
Don't forget to check out our YouTube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/user/AnaerobicDigestion

and click the link below to subscribe to our channel and get informed when we add new content:

https://www.youtube.com/user/AnaerobicDigestion?sub_confirmation=1

--------------------------------------------