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

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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/