Anaerobic Digestion Plant Opens at Langage Farm, Devon, UK

Posted on July 2, 2011 by David

Devon dairy launches anaerobic digestion facility to fuel clotted cream production

Lord Henley and Gary Jones from Langage Farm

A Devonshire dairy has officially opened a £3.4m anaerobic digestion (AD) facility that will turn food waste from around the county into the energy that will help produce its clotted cream, ice cream crème fraiche and yoghurt.

The facility at Langage Farm, Plymouth, received £1.2m of funding from the Anaerobic Digestion Demonstration Programme and was opened by Lord Henley, Minister for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on Friday 1 July.

By the end of its first year of operation, the AD facility will process 12,000 tonnes of food waste collected from households across the county by local authorities. The facility will also process on-farm dairy wastes, converting these fuels into renewable heat and electricity.

The renewable energy will not only power the dairy products production, but also export surplus energy to the National Grid. In its first five years, the Langage AD facility expects to produce 20,000 MW of energy saving the equivalent of 2,000  tonnes of CO2 per annum on energy bills.

Lord Henley, Gary Jones, Gary Streeter MP, Marcus Gover and James Harvey

Lord Henley said: “The facility at Langage Farm is an excellent working example of how a localised closed loop economy can be created. Food waste that otherwise would have gone to landfill will instead be used to produce the energy that will power much of the production process here on the farm, helping to produce award winning clotted cream, ice cream and yoghurt.”

Marcus Gover, Director of Organics and Energy from Waste at WRAP, believes the market, including investors, developers and end users, should be confident of AD as a reliable, safe and profitable resource efficiency process.

“AD is a growing part of the resource efficiency solution, capable of diverting biodegradable waste from landfill, creating renewable energy, stimulating the green economy and improving the sustainability of commercial agriculture. We really see it as a huge opportunity for the UK.”

A spokesperson for Langage Farm said: “We are proud to be a part of the solution to local waste problems and hope to see an increase in the uptake of this technology in the future, it really makes sense to use waste as a resource in this way.”

Much Needed Quality Protocol for Anaerobic Digestate Published

Anaerobic digestion technology is expected to become more attractive to UK investors following the publication of a long-awaited Quality Protocol aimed at cutting red tape governing solid residues from the process, known as digestate.

The revised Quality Protocol is available now on the Environment Agency website

WRAP, Defra and the Environment Agency have published a document which, subject to approval from the European Commission, will enable digestate which meets set criteria to be classified as a product rather than a waste. Such a move would mean the material would no longer be subject to waste management controls.

Anaerobic digestion is the process through which biodegradable waste is broken down by micro-organisms in the absence of oxygen. This process produces biogas, which can be used to generate energy, waste water and digestate.

The protocol is particularly significant because, despite government support for anaerobic digestion technology and its carbon benefits, there has been limited uptake of the technology in the UK to date - with marketing digestate one of the main sticking points.

Nick Bethel, policy advisor at the Environment Agency, told letsrecycle.com that the protocol had been designed to "bring value into the resource" and one of its purposes was to create a "climate for investment". Mr Bethel added the EA was "expecting to see further investment and more AD facilities being built" thanks to the re-classification of digestate from a waste to a product.

Requirements

The Quality Protocol, which has been revised since an original consultation in April (see letsrecycle.com story) lays out a number of requirements for AD operators who want to produce "quality digestate" from biodegradable waste.

Digestate must be produced using source-segregated materials listed in the Protocol, such as municipal food waste which has been collected separately and specified food and animal wastes.

Significantly, the Protocol designates end market for the digestate. Those markets are:

• Agriculture
• Forestry
• Soil and field grown horticulture
• Land restoration
• Soil manufacture and blending operations
• Land reclamation

In all cases the digestate must be used in a way that does not "pose a risk to the environment" and does "not compromise the future sustainable use of the soil to which they are applied".

Waste operators must also keep strict records showing showing that digestate meets the approved standards and the Quality Protocol. AD operators must also obtain certification from an approved body such as the Association for Organics Recycling.

Before publication as a final document in England and Wales, the draft Quality Protocol must be notified before the European Commission's Technical Standards committee, which may take up to six months.

During this period, the Environment Agency will continue to regulate the production and use of quality outputs from anaerobic digestion of source-segregated biodegradable waste in accordance with the interim regulatory position statement available on the Environment Agency website.

A spokesman for Defra commented: "The Government recognises the potential of food waste to generate energy in an environmentally friendly way. For example, we are investing £10 million over the next three years into new anaerobic digestion demonstration plants to encourage a number of industries including energy providers to take up this important new technology.

Important UK Defra Meeting with Anaerobic Digestion Interests Announced

Defra to hold second meeting on AD

11-12-2008

The minister for waste, Jane Kennedy, is set to meet with the organics recycling industry next week to discuss the best way forward for anaerobic digestion and look at developing a "vision" and strategy to help implement the technology in the UK.

Anaerobic digestion (AD) operators, trade bodies and Defra are to convene on December 18 to talk about the best way to proceed with implementing AD on a wider scale to treat municipal food waste and also encourage more farmers to use the technology.

Jane Kennedy is expected to meet with key figures in the organics recycling industry next week

Jane Kennedy is expected to meet with key figures in the organics recycling industry next week.

Michael Chesshire, a director of the Shropshire-based GreenfinchBiogen, which runs the UK's largest AD plant built to treat food waste, told letsrecycle.com that attendees would be discussing a proposed "vision and implementation strategy for AD".

The aim of the strategy is to increase the use of AD to treat municipal household waste and also to encourage smaller scale operations to be set up in the agricultural sector. The "vision" is set to be implemented between now and 2020, he explained.

The December 18 discussion will be the second high-level ministerial meeting to be held on AD this year. The first set of talks was held in July.
Energy

A spokesman for the Environmental Services Association (ESA), who attended the first meeting, said that the latest summit was being held to "update" the sector about the Government position on AD and to discuss the technology's role in energy generation.

He explained that the July event had addressed the opportunities and challenges in developing an infrastructure for AD in the UK. He said: "While the future for AD appears to be bright, a number of policy uncertainties are seen to be holding back the early adoption of AD around the country."

Currently organic recyclers are waiting to find out how digestate produced by AD will be classified, which affects how it can be used. The Quality Protocol and publicly available specification (PAS110) for digestate, which could reclassify the digestate from 'waste' to 'product', are yet to be released and are not expected to be ready until the New Year.

The ESA spokesman commented: "The willingness of key partners to accept the practice of returning digestate to agricultural land would be essential to the success of AD as a technology."

Mr Chesshire praised WRAP and Defra for their work on the Protocol and PAS110 standard and said he "appreciated what they are doing".

He said both would help AD to progress and added: "It will be a big boost to the industry and will hopefully bring supermarkets into the market and encourage them to buy products from farmers who are using digestate."

Mr Chesshire said he also hoped to discuss a way of incentivising farmers to begin operating AD facilities to treat farm-waste, such as animal slurry.

"Farmers need to be influenced to use the technology" he said, explaining that farmers did not have to worry about paying Landfill Tax in the same way local authorities do and therefore do not have the same impetus to look at different ways to treat their waste.

Feed-in tariffs

The July meeting also found that there was uncertainty among operators about the nature and effect of the feed-in tariffs proposed within the Climate Change Act.

Feed-in tariffs are contracts which smaller energy producers, like AD facilities, can make with energy providers in place of the more complex Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) system, which is intended for use by larger organisations.

The Government only wants small energy producers (5MW or less), to be eligible to use feed-in tariffs and is in the process of setting an energy production cap system. Mr Chesshire said he expected AD operators who produce between 50KW and 5MW of power to be eligible for the simpler feed-in tariffs.

He welcomed the new contract arrangements and said they would be much simpler to use for smaller producers and would be a "boost to the sector".

Mr Chesshire pointed out that Defra has been very supportive of the AD sector so far and said they had done a lot of good work to help the technology progress. He said: "I hope the December meeting helps to move the industry even further along than it is now."

Municipal

Currently there are few anaerobic digesters built to treat municipal food waste in the UK, although the technology has been used more widely on a small-scale in agriculture to treat wastes like animal slurry.

However, the Government is keen to increase the amount of municipal food waste digesters in the UK and has repeatedly signalled its support for the technology because of its potential to create energy in a sustainable manner.

Defra outlined its support for the technology in the Waste Strategy for England 2007 and said "it has significant environmental benefits over other options to treat food waste". It also stated that the Government wishes to encourage "more consideration of the use of AD both by local authorities and businesses. It has also awarded "double ROCs" to AD facilities.

See full LetsRecycle article.

Anaerobic Digestion Quality Protocol nears Completion

AnDigestion Ltd, which currently requires 60-70 separate consents for digestate from its AD plant in Devon, has welcomed the Protocol.

A major regulatory barrier to the development of anaerobic digestion (AD) plants in the UK is close to being overcome, with work to develop a "quality protocol" for the process now nearing completion, writes James Cartledge.

The Protocol will allow companies generating energy through the AD process to deal with the residues from the process more easily - opening the door to potentially hundreds or even thousands of new schemes in the UK.

Anaerobic digestion generates energy from organic waste materials including household or commercial food waste, as well as agricultural wastes and slurry. The technology involves huge tanks in which the organic material is broken down by bacteria, which generate energy-rich "biogas", which is mainly methane.

But while the solid residues from the process is a useful nitrogen-rich fertiliser, farmers seeking to use it on their fields are currently hindered by its legal classification as a "waste".

The new Quality Protocol will mean that if the digestate material is produced to a certain standard - known as PAS 110 and also nearing completion - the fertiliser will not be classed as a waste in the eyes of the law.

Yesterday saw the developers of the Protocol, the government's Waste and Resources Action Programme, granting the UCAS-accredited scheme independence by formally handing over its operation to the Renewable Energy Association.

At the REA's Bioenergy 2008 event in Birmingham, the Association announced formation of a new oversight panel for the AD Quality Protocol, chaired by Defra policy advisor Roger Unwin. The REA is now inviting representatives of different industry sectors interested in anaerobic digestion to come forward to become members of the Protocol oversight panel.

Mr Unwin said yesterday: "I have been asked to announce that there will be an REA biogas certification scheme, it will be working with this Quality Protocol to a PAS 110 standard, which should shortly be available."

The final form of the Protocol is awaiting only the sign-off from the Environment Agency, which polices waste regulations including governing the spreading of organic waste-derived fertilisers on land. More...

Further Boost for Anaerobic Digestion from DEFRA Demonstrators

Defra unveils fresh boost for AD
17-07-2008

Defra has announced the next stage of its £10 million anaerobic digestion demonstrator project with bids invited for between three and six new schemes which will be built to showcase the benefits of treating waste using the technology.

Ministers Joan Ruddock, Phil Woolas and Jeff Rooker met with industry and non-governmental organisation (NGO) executives yesterday (July 16) to discuss the future of the anaerobic digestion (AD) demonstrator projects. The scheme was originally announced by Secretary of State for the Environment, Hilary Benn, in February 2008.

"Our £10 million demonstration programme will provide a focus for joint action to make sure that the future development of anaerobic digestion in England is as cost-effective and environmentally beneficial as possible."

Phil Woolas, Energy Minister.

Defra met with the executives to discuss practical ways to achieve a major increase in the use of anaerobic digestion.

Energy minister Phil Woolas said: "Anaerobic digestion is still an emerging technology outside the water treatment industry in this country, and it's clear we are not yet making full use of its potential.

"It has a number of real environmental benefits which we want to maximise, but to do this we need to overcome certain barriers, like the chicken and egg stand-off which can discourage investment in unfamiliar technology, and the lack of understanding of its benefits or the value of its outputs.

He added "Our £10 million demonstration programme will provide a focus for joint action to make sure that the future development of anaerobic digestion in England is as cost-effective and environmentally beneficial as possible. We will be inviting bids for the projects in the autumn."

Barriers
The industry and Defra agreed at the meeting to work together to overcome barriers to greater use of AD and to take action to increase its capacity in the UK. Delegates at the event heard that AD has the potential to produce enough energy to power up to two million homes.

The AD demonstrator programme will be delivered through a capital grant competition run by the Waste and Resources Action Programme with assistance from the Carbon Trust.

Each of the three to six projects chosen will demonstrate how ‘state of the art' use of AD technology can make a significant contribution to achieving one or more of the following aims:

• maximising the cost effective production of biogas;
• maximising the environmental benefits from the use of anaerobic digestion and its products;
• maximising the potential of anaerobic digestion to reduce the carbon footprint of the food supply chain;
• maximising the opportunity for the injection of biomethane into the gas grid; and
• maximising the potential of anaerobic digestion to reduce the carbon footprint of water treatment infrastructure.

See the full article at LetsRecycle here.