Biogas Success - Weltec Biopower To Build Piddlehinton AD Plant 1.1 MW Extension

Weltec Biopower Awarded 1.1 MW Piddlehinton AD Plant Extension

A highly successful food waste biogas plant constructed by Weltec, after only 2 years of operation is being enlarged. Now there's confidence in the profitability of food waste anaerobic digestion!

Watch our video on this project below:

Press release · Communiqué de presse

Vechta, September 2014: 

WELTEC BIOPOWER receives order for 1.1 MW extension in Dorset

Award-Winning AD plant processes food waste to energy

Weltec Biopower (UK) Ltd, based in Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, UK, has been granted the contract to extend the award-winning food waste AD plant in Piddlehinton, Dorset. Plant owners Eco Sustainable Solutions Ltd. are expanding with a further 1.1MW of food waste processing capacity. 

This follows on from the Weltec successes of commissioning two other plants in early 2014. The original Eco-Dorset AD plant was also built by WELTEC and was commissioned in 2012. After two years of successful operation, the operator assigned WELTEC with the extension. The extension will be completed in autumn 2014. 

Another advantage core to WELTEC’s continued success in industrial and agricultural applications is the fact that the digesters and digestate storage tanks are constructed from stainless steel. Aside from being a higher-quality product, stainless steel and is corrosion resistant to aggressive materials and offers a faster construction time, which is increasingly important to all developers with the FIT framework deadlines providing tight construction windows. 

Watch our new video "How Does a Biogas plant Work?"

After two years of successful operation, the operator assigned WELTEC with the extension. The extension will be completed in autumn 2014. The plant is fed by local authority food waste as well as out of date food products which prior to digestion are unpackaged, sorted and pasteurised at the site. After the extension, approximately 37,000 tpa of food waste will generate an electrical output of 1.6 MW. 

The Eco-Dorset approach is an excellent example of the benefits of intelligent design, co-location and mutually beneficial plant integration. Electricity generated at the plant as well as excess gas is fed to an adjacent feed mill. When the mill is not operational, the power is fed to the National Grid. The digestate produced by the plant, which is in the process of gaining PAS 110 accreditation, is collected and used by local farmers. 

Despite the latent renewable energy in commercial and municipal food wastes, much of this valuable resource still ends in landfill. Much of it also ends in composting plants, which use expensive imported energy to bio-stabilise (or destroy) what, when processed in an AD plant, is a valuable renewable energy resource. After all, one tonne of organic waste processed through AD, could be converted into 600 to 800 kilowatt hours of energy – enough to power five refrigerators for one year. 

The equivalent tonne of waste through a composting plant costs energy and money to process. As energy demand and prices continue to rise and security of supply concerns worsen, more and more Local Authorities and private waste companies look set to follow the excellent example set by Eco Sustainable Solutions Ltd. and capitalize on the excellent income generation opportunity that organic waste presents. 

WELTEC understands the needs of every client and tailors the most cost-effective solution on a case by case basis. The partnership between the plant manufacturer and his clients also maintain after the design and build phase. “We recognize that an AD plant is a 20 year partnership and that maintaining solid trust-based working relationships with our clients is crucial to our ongoing success. 

Therefore we now have a dedicated UK-based Service and Maintenance capability with locally available spare parts”, sales manager Kevin Monson explains. 

Company Portrait

In 2014, WELTEC BIOPOWER GmbH, one of the first manufacturers of biogas plants, celebrated its 13th anniversary. WELTEC is one of the pioneers of the constructors of biogas plants. 

Based on the modern approach of experienced engineers, the company from Vechta, Germany with its expertise of a staff of close to 80, offers complete biogas plants from one source and has developed to a leading constructor of biogas plants in the world. As the hydrogen sulphide and ammonia compounds contained in biogas corrode unprotected parts, WELTEC builds the digesters from stainless steel. This ensures a long useful life of the plant. The manufacturing depth also guarantees a consistently high standard regardless of the location and ensures an export rate that is far above the industry average. 

The plants have a modular structure. WELTEC uses only proven system components and develops most of the technologies along the entire value chain internally: digester technology, mixing technology, control technology, hygienisation systems, and digestate processing solutions originate from the company. 

By means of its comprehensive services, WELTEC ensures the technical and economic stability of the biogas plants. The CHP service guarantees stable output, the biological supervision ensures continuous monitoring of the relevant parameters, and systematic repowering makes sure that the biogas plant is always up to date. 

Operators can choose from a range of service packages of different types and scope. One of the main strengths of WELTEC is the ability to deliver individual and flexible solutions worldwide – from compact plants to large computer-controlled plants in the megawatt range, waste recycling plants, and biogas parks with gas processing technology.

Ann Börries

Marketing

Phone: +49 4441/99978-220

Email: presse@weltec-biopower.de

Anaerobic Digestion Gets PR Bonus from UK Meat Scandal Plus Permits Streamlined

You may well be amused to hear that the Anaerobic Digestion process, which has rightly been getting an increasingly favourable press recently worldwide, is now also picking up a PR publicity bonus from the UK meat scandal. Read the details in our first link below from the UK's Guardian Newspaper.

However, the anaerobic digestion industry is much more quietly taking on another role, which in the long-term will be much more important, which arises from the ability of AD Plants with suitable pasteurizing equipment, and suitably permitted to accept potentially infectious wastes is likely to increasingly take on the role of disposal route as the disposal method of choice for the carcasses of fallen animals.

Horsemeat scandal: discarded burgers to be converted into fuel

The Guardian

""The products withdrawn from stores will be sent to anaerobic digestion plants," the spokeswoman said. "This is the most efficient method of generating energy from waste, and part of our broader 'zero food waste to landfill' strategy. We are the UK's ...The Guardian"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/17/horsemeat-scandal-burgers-converted-fuel

In many ways, the quiet adoption of the AD process for fallen stock disposal on-farm rather than incineration or another dispoal method, after haulage to a suitable facility, would most likely have larger long-term benefits, as described in the following article:

Anaerobic digestion could be solution for fallen stock | Features ...

(author unknown)

"RESEARCHERS at Harper Adams University have been awarded more than £150,000 to investigate how anaerobic digestion (AD) can be used as an on-farm ...www.farmersguardian.com/home/...could.../52777.article"
http://www.farmersguardian.com/home/renewables/anaerobic-digestion-could-be-solution-for-fallen-stock/52777.article

And, if that was not enough good news for biogas in the UK, the EA seems to be about to make the often criticized anaerobic digestion plant permitting system just a little bit easier to comply with:

Permit for Anaerobic Digestion Plants Published

(author unknown)

"UK - New streamlined environmental permitting regulations for anaerobic digestion plants could be 'timely boost' for industry, says NNFCC.www.thebioenergysite.com/.../permit-for-anaerobic-digestion-..."
http://www.thebioenergysite.com/news/12254/permit-for-anaerobic-digestion-plants-published

So, this must surely be a good month for the AD industry in the UK.

Tell us whether you think this help with permitting will really assist you.

Harper Adams Anaerobic Digester – Leading the Way in Sustainable Energy

Image: Harper Adams College

Harper Adams University College in Shropshire is leading the way in creating and utilising sustainable energy through a £3 million plus renewable power system.

The rural focused college which has been five times winner of the Sunday Times University Guide 'University College of the Year' was one of three higher education institutions in England that are sharing a £10 million fund set aside for 'transformational projects under the Higher Education Funding Council for England's Revolving Green Fund.

The institution has put this towards an Anaerobic Digester plant which was constructed in 2011 and began generating power and heat towards the end of April the same year.

Recycling landfill bound waste

The plant uses 12,000 tonnes of food waste which would otherwise end up at landfill sites and 11,000 tonnes of dairy and pig slurry from farms. When opened it was anticipated that the digester would offset campus carbon emissions more than three times over. The digester produces renewable electricity and provides the campus with a highly effective waste management system.

The system also reduces the University College's reliance on manufactured fertilisers as the waste that is digested in it is recycled into liquid fertiliser and compost which can then be used for the farm and grounds operations.

Award winning

The Harper Adams has won accolades for this system at the Times Higher Education Awards where they won the Outstanding Contribution to Sustainable Development Award at the end of 2011. The prestigious event at London's Grosvenor Hotel was compered by Rob Brydon and the award was in recognition of all the hard work that went into making the anaerobic digester a success.

One of the judges Patrick Finch who is bursar and director of estates at the University of Bristol said of the system: “Harper Adams has produced a ground breaking project. While this has been trialled before, the judges felt that the work on developing a system that would produce a step change in carbon management at the college had the potential for wider application in the higher education community and in the farming sector. Energy and carbon savings, reduction in waste to landfill and release of farmland for growing food crops together present a compelling case.”

First year success

Twelve months on since the system first started producing renewable energy the college is now engaging with local schools to make further developments. Leftover food from school dinners from four county schools will be recycled at the plant and turned into power and energy at the college. This venture is part of a pilot scheme which if successful then waste from all schools in the Shropshire area could be sent to the plant.

The schools in the pilot are using specialist waste contractor Cartwrights. The local contractor has also benefited from external funding in the form of the Waste & Resources Action Programme to help them convert an existing bin lorry into one that would be suitable to carry food waste safely.

James Wood who is the college's energy plant manager said: “The anaerobic digester has now been operational for a year, and we are all delighted to be gaining interest and support from the local community. We really hope that the schools partnership is a success and can be rolled out across the county.”

Community spirit

The Harper Adams project is a fabulous example of the community all pulling together to produce a system that benefits the county. The college also uses an eco vehicle around the plant which carries the slogan “A cleaner solution without the pollution”. The slogan was chosen after the college ran a staff competition to come up with a catchy slogan for the vehicle which is to be used around campus collecting recycling and other jobs.

The college saw the competition of really getting the staff behind the plant project and getting them interested and involved in the sustainability of it. The campus uses electric vehicles around campus as another way of the college being eco friendly.

The winner of the competition was rewarded with an energy monitor worth £40 and the honour of having their slogan added to the eco vehicle and therefore being part of campus history.

In order to find out about the fantastic ways in which Harper Adams University College are helping the environment through all their sustainable activities visit www.harper-adams.ac.uk/sustainability.

Izzy Harrington is a freelance writer from England who writes technology articles covering everything from Tempur-Pedic comparison to future technologies.