Watch this blog for Anaerobic Digestion News and information. This blog is unique. It is independent and carries News from all AD sources. We are not allied to any particular manufacturer or product, so you will see all the Anaerobic Digestion News here first.
Things are hotting up on tyhe UIK biogas scene. Hard on the governments announcement yesterday of final consultations with the industry on the enewable Heat Incentive for AD, which is a new form of additional subsidy for AD, Burdens have made this announcement, which if successful and their small commercial scale biogas plant system becomes popular, could change the industry forever from a miraid of small companies with bespoke AD plant designs to an almost mass-produced market for food waste AD Plants.
The company will offer a "fully funded option". This will remove a huge problem from the small businesses that can make use of this, and is expected to raise a lot of interest.
Bristol, UK based small scale anaerobic digestion systems supplier, has announced their own patented design. What is more. Burdens Environmental informs us that it has completed its trials of a demonstrator facility in Wales, which is now accepting waste from Carmarthenshire Council and HRH Prince Charles' estate in Wales The floowing is the excerpt from the article which took our interest. You are reminded that the full article contains much fuller information about this biodigester, and can be access via the link below the quoted text which follows:
The company claimed that the facility is the UK's first commercial small scale anaerobic digestion (AD) system for localised food waste treatment, and that it now plans to roll out compact food waste treatment plant.
According to Burdens the system has been designed to speed up the adoption of AD food waste treatment plants in the UK by making them commercially viable and thereby increasing recycling rates for municipal and commercial food waste across the country.
Each Burdens system will be capable of handling between 3000 and 5000 tonnes of food waste per year, and the company said that it is offering a fully funded solution for the modular waste treatment plants, as well as an option to buy outright.
The fully funded package will involve the company paying its customers to run the operations, with a full maintenance programme and rent for the land on which it will be located being covered by Burdens.
In return, the company said that it will benefit from the Feed in Tariff and Renewable Heat Incentive linked to the renewable energy outputs of the recycling process.
In addition, full turnkey plants will be available for between £850,000 and £2 million, which the company said would provide a rapid payback through significant operational savings, as well as revenues from energy generation and gate fees.
The company added that its system is the first digester of its size to be Animal By Products Regulations (ABPR) compliant, which means that it can recycle general food waste, including meat.
It also claimed that the system meets compost, soil and land use regulations (PAS 100, PAS110). The biofertiliser generated is used as a beneficial fertiliser on local farm land.
My goodness, another Anerobic Disgestion plant installation "first" is claimed by the Californians! Gold River, a California based organic waste to energy facility contractor is the claimant, and no doubt they are correct in what they say! Their new plant will be both a "dry" process AD Plant and the biogas will be upgraded for transport vehicle use, and the company achiving this is to be Clean World Partners (CWP) and waste and recycling company, Atlas Disposal of Sacramento.
The partnership of these two companies has recently broken ground on a $13 million food waste to waste biogas processing facility.anaerobic digestion facility in South Sacramento. We are told that a recent report in local newspaper, the Sacramento Been, has explained that CWP was formed in January 2009 to develop further opportunities arising from a new anaerobic digester technology. This technology has been developed by Ruihong Zhang of UC Davis. Zhang's research collaborator/partner. Just like many others they are reported to have focused on reducing the amount of time needed to convert waste material into valuable gas products. Read our quote from the artcile and visit the original website for the full store, using the link below:
According to CWP it was awarded a $6 million grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to increase the capacity of its Organic Waste Recycling Center at the South Area South Area Transfer Station - making it the largest commercial-scale, high solids anaerobic digestion (AD) system in the U.S.
The center initially will convert 25 tons of food waste per day collected by Atlas Disposal Industries from local food processing companies, restaurants and supermarkets into renewable natural gas.
The CEC grant will support expansion of the facility to handle 100 tons of waste per day by early 2013, which will make it the nation's largest such system.
"This grant will help us quickly expand our newest facility and keep more waste out of landfills while we produce renewable natural gas for clean transportation fuel and clean power," explained Wong.
CWP claimed that once complete the expanded facility will replace 1 million gallons (3.8 million lites) of diesel per year with biogas and produce 2 million kWh of electricity per year - enough to power 200 homes.
CWP and Atlas have also broken ground on California's first AD-based Renewable Natural Gas Fueling Station - the South Area Transfer Station - which is claimed to be the nation's first digestion based Renewable Natural Gas Fueling Station.
The companies said that the Atlas Disposal Industries facility will use natural gas produced by Clean World's digestion system to fuel the company's clean fuel fleet, as well as vehicles from area jurisdictions and agencies.
The two facilities are expected to create 16 long-term jobs in Sacramento and generate more than $1.1 million in annual combined tax revenue for the City of Sacramento, Sacramento County and the state.
Clean World's Organic Waste Recycling Center is based on AD technology developed at UC Davis to convert food waste, agricultural residue and other organic waste into renewable energy, fertilizer and soil enhancements.
The use of Anaerobic Digestion by large IT corporations is becoming a rising trend. Earlier this year there was a stir at Apple's New Datacentre when the ground was cleared for a mystery construction project which tunred out to be a large Anerobic Digestion Plant. Here again we learn of another "dot com" company which as a substantial user of electricity and seeking to show its "green" credentials is investing in biogas technology.
How much these developments are driven by economic factors and how much by the need to be able to report their corporate responsibility when it comes to using power, can be questioned of course, but these corporations are hard headed enough when it comes to the bottom line to be sre that they won't lose money from these AD Plants.
Read more about it in our excerpt below, and please do visit the oirginal web site for the full article:
San Jose, California based eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) has set out the next phase of its plans to power its flagship data center using biogas from organic wastes and fuel cell technology to help make renewable energy its primary power source.
The internet auction giant is partnering with Sunnvale, California based fuel cell specialist, Bloom Energy to build what is claimed to be the largest non-utility fuel cell installation in the U.S.
According to Bloom Energy, renewable energy typically supplements the electric grid, but eBay is designing renewable energy into the core of its global commerce platform, incorporating 30 Bloom Energy servers into the new data center's energy architecture.
The company added that the electric utility grid will be used only as backup.
The new 6 MW Bloom installation is being designed and engineered into eBay's expanded data center facility in Utah, and is expected to be fully functional by mid-2013.
Each of the 30 Bloom Energy servers will generate 1.75 million kWh of electricity annually, and will be installed a few hundred feet from the center itself, which Bloom said would virtually eliminating traditional utility grid losses.
eBay will use the Bloom fuel cells - which the company said can generate on-site power 24 hours a day, 365 days a year - to replace the large and expensive backup generators and UPS components that are historically utilised less than 1% of the year.
Bloom added that eBay's fuel cells will be powered by powered by biogas derived from renewable organic waste.
The Bloom servers will power millions of transactions by eBay's 102 million active plus users, who generate more than $69 billion in merchandise volume annually.
The data center also will power activity across eBay's other global commerce platforms, including PayPal and StubHub, which Bloom said would enable merchants, retail partners, buyers and sellers to do greener commerce.
The project will be eBay's fifth and largest renewable energy installation. It currently operates a 650 kW solar array and a 500 kW Bloom fuel cell installation at its San Jose headquarters, as well as a 100 kW solar array at its Denver data center.
In April of this year, the company also installed a 665 kW solar array spanning 72,000 square feet atop its existing, LEED certified Utah data center.
"We are embracing disruptive energy technology and designing it into our core data center energy architecture," said John Donahoe, president and CEO of eBay.
"Running our data centers primarily on reliable, renewable energy, we intend to shape a future for commerce that is more environmentally sustainable at its core," he added.
Read More
Apple to Build 5 MW Biogas Fuel Cell at Apple (NSADAQ: AAPL) has filed its plans to build the 5 MW fuel cell project in Maiden, North Carolina, that will utilise biogas to offset its natural gas use and qualify as a renewable facility.
Although this excerpt is rather long it is a great an in-depth look at biogas from alage. Tom Freyberg takes a deep look at the European funded All-Gas project that aims to treat wastewater solids with a combination of anaerobic digestion and algae to produce liquid biofuels in addition to biogas. In fact, this is only an excerpt so when yo get interested you will need to follow the link at the bottom of the artilcle to read the oiginal version. When you have read this do you thin that you could please give us your views on this suject. Yes. Please give us your comments!
First generation biofuels from crops never really bloomed into a fruitful harvest. Opponents criticized using up valuable land to grow crops and fuel the cars of the rich, instead of filling the stomachs of the poor. Second generation biofuels ? made from biomass - have proved harder to extract the required fuel and fully crack.
And then along came algae. Unlike first generation biofuels, algae can be grown using land and water not suitable for plant and food production. Consuming solar energy and reproducing itself, algae generates a type of oil that has a similar molecular structure to petroleum products produced today. As if this wasn't enough ? algae growth also consumes carbon dioxide, a known major greenhouse gas (GHG).
As a result of the apparent benefits the race is on to commercialize second generation biofuels from algae. Continents and companies are putting money where their mouths are to find out how what we thought was simply a green weed growing in the sea could be the answer to inevitable fossil fuel shortages.
Earlier this year U.S. President Barack Obama announced that the Department of Energy would make $14 million of finance available to support research and development into biofuels from algae. The DoE has suggested that up to 17% of the oil imported for transport could be replaced with biofuels derived from algae.
Meanwhile Europe is going even further and mandating the gradual replacement of fossil fuels with biofuels. An EU Directive stipulates that by 2020 a total of 20% of energy needs should be produced by renewable fuels.
Even UK government backed agency The Carbon Trust has forecast that globally, by 2030 algae-based biofuels could replace more than 70 billion litres of fossil fuels every year - equivalent to 12% of annual global jet fuel, or 6% of road transport diesel.
So far, so good then. Yet while algae derived biofuels sound like an answer to inevitable fossil fuel shortages, two challenges remain: space and nutrients.
Phosphorous and ammonia are required alongside sun light and carbon dioxide to "feed" the algae. It is in response to this particular challenge where the wastewater sector could play its part, with untreated effluent being a known source of phosphorous and other nutrients. An EU funded project aims to bring together the challenge and solution and link the water and biofuel industries together.
The ?12 million, five-year project is starting at water company aqualia's wastewater treatment plant in Chiclana, Southern Spain and is backed by the European Union as part of its FP7 program ? supporting energy-related projects - with six partners.
Called All-Gas, which translates into algae in Spanish, the project will see "algal culture ponds" being used to grow micro-algae using nutrients contained in wastewater, such as phosphorous. A 10-hectare site will eventually be needed for the project.
Taking advantage of a warm climate, the algae grows using natural sunlight, before being processed for the extraction of oils and other valuable by products.
Frank Rogalla, head of R&D at aqualia, says that at existing algae farms, up to 30% of operation costs are normally the expense of buying and adding in nutrients to help with the algae growth. These nutrients are abundant in wastewater, he adds, so it makes sense to incorporate the two industries.
Traditionally aeration processes at wastewater treatment plants are heavy energy users, accounting for up to 30% of a facility's operating costs. In the U.S., according to the Environmental Protection Agency, drinking water and wastewater systems account for between 3% and 4% of national energy consumption alone.
He said: "We have converted our treatment to anaeraobic pre-treatment, meaning we will generate biogas from the start instead of destroying organic matter, so no aeration will be needed. From the 0.5 kWh [kilowatt-hour] per m3 which you generally spend for aeration, that will be completely gone. We will have a net output of energy from algae conversion either to oils or to gas. So that's why you get this positive output of 0.4 kWh per m3 of wastewater treated."
So the question has to be asked of how, technically, can the proposed treatment eliminate the need for wastewater aeration? The answer, as Rogalla later tells WMW, is through the initial conversion to biogas.
Compared to nitrification and dentrification to eliminate nutrients in conventional wastewater treatment, a process Rogalla says consumers about 5kwh/kg Nitrogen during aeration, All-Gas will use an alternative conversion. Firstly anaerobic pre-treatment will convert most organic matter into biogas (CH4 and CH2). Algae will then take up the nitrogen and phosphorous.
As the algae will transform most nutrients into biomass, they will also produce O2 in the process, as CO2 is taken up and oxygen released in their metabolic process. As a result, Rogalla says no aeration is necessary. Most organic carbon is transformed into energy (via biogas), nutrients are incorporated into algae, which produce oxygen for any polishing action necessary.
"It only seems logical to use the wastewater nutrients to grow algae biomass; on the one hand saving the aeration energy, on the other hand the algae fertilizer and cleaning wastewater without the occurrence of useless sludge, but producing biofuels and added value instead," Rogalla adds. Space challenges
Addressing the second challenge of space requirements to harness algae ponds, for a commercial scale operation it's estimated that a 10 hectare site is required (roughly 10 football pitches). But when compared to the oil yields of other crops, algae still proves favourable.
Data from U.S. based National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) show that the oil yields in litres/hectare/year for soybeans are 400, which compares to 6000 for palm oil and a minimum of 60,000 for microalgae.
As predictions go, the production of 60,000 litres of biofuel from only one hectare of algae is optimistic in comparison to aqualia's aims for the Europe project. If a target set by the EU for the algae demo projects is reached, then each hectare should produce 20,000 litres of biodiesel. This, the firm says, compares to 5000 litres of biofuel per hectare per year for biofuels such as alcohol from sugar cane or biodiesel from palm oil. The Spanish project also hopes to use produced biogas from the anaerobic pre-treatment and raw wastewater organic matter.
One further benefit that has made algae growth attractive compared to other fuels is its consumption of Greenhouse Gases (GHG), namely CO2 in order to grow. It has the potential to reduce GHG emissions by consuming CO2 before it leaves the exhaust stacks from sources as power and cement plants. While the captured carbon will be released later when used in cars, it could still be a step in the right direction in reducing the impact of a world still firmly grasping CO2 emitting fuel sources.
The pivotal outcome of the project will be cost. This was proved in the well documented closure of the U.S. Department of Energy's algae research programme in 1996 after nearly 20 years of work. At the time it was estimated that the $40-60/bbl cost of producing algal oil just couldn't compete with petroleum at $20/bbl for the foreseeable future.
All-Gas has the chance to spearhead Europe into proving that algae biofuel, through the help of wastewater, could be more competitive on a per barrel price with traditional oil
Tom Freyberg is chief editor of Waste Management World. email: tomf@pennwell.com
Generally, all waste-water treatment works, irrespective of their size, have to comply with strict governmental safety and regulations acts. It is the responsibility of the owner or local authority to be fully acquainted with all aspects of the safety guidelines for waste-water treatment operations. The potential danger of an explosion of biogas and air mixtures cannot be over- emphasised, therefore units such as the waste gas burner should preferably be situated at least 15 m away from the gas holder, digester(s) or any buildings, together with due consideration to the prevailing wind.
The health hazards associated with the treatment of waste-water and specifically sludge handling should not be under-estimated. It is the responsibility of the supervisor and the operating staff to acquaint themselves of the dangers and to take the necessary steps to avoid them.
A wide variety of disease-causing organisms are present in both the liquid phase and the sludge stage. Amongst these are salmonella, shigella and vibro that cause diarrhoea and other intestinal tract problems. Viruses are also usually present in waste-water sludges. Amongst these are viruses causing infectious hepatitis, poliomyelitis, sore throats, gastroenteritis and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which can cause AIDS. Protozoa such as entamoeba and giardia that cause intestinal distress are also common in waste-water treatment works. Helminths, such as ascaris (roundworm), taenia (tapeworm) and trichuris (whipworm) are also part of the bio-breakdown process but the ova of these can pass through the body and are fairly resistant to normal treatment processes including anaerobic digestion. Very high counts are usually found in sludge. The ova can survive in sol for several years.
Basic health hygiene rules apply when working in waste-water treatment plants; always wash up properly after working or handling any part of the waste-water treatment system or products. Try to avoid touching your face without washing your hands. Refrain from smoking whilst on the works, it is very easy to ingest disease-causing organisms. Protective clothing is an absolutely essential while working in a waste-water treatment plant especially while working with liquid sludges. Most of the guidelines associated with waste-water treatment are common sense. If one is not sure, every plant should have a code of health and hygiene that can be checked upon to see every health aspect associated with the waste plant.
All waste-water treatment works are classified as factories and must have first aid kit available in-case of accidents. The location of these first aid kits should be prominently displayed as well as the name of the first aid officer assigned to a specific section. It is recommended that all senior operating staff must have completed a basic first aid course. All open wounds should be treated by a doctor and it is important to receive a tetanus injection occasionally due to the types of bacteria workers are exposed to. As a general rule no scratch or cut is too minor to receive proper treatment.
Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Waste Treatments [http://waste-treatments.com]
Although not the most palatable topic, septic or sewer systems are absolutely crucial to a healthy, happy, and sanitary life. There have been many, many scientific and technological developments in the past century or 2, not the least of which is the way we dispose of our waste. We've probably heard of the nothing short of tragic methods many countries around the world used in the previous centuries, but it gives us something to be thankful for if nothing else!
In truth, many epidemics and plagues throughout the 1800's and prior to that as well, have been due to inefficient or sometimes just plain revolting sewage systems. Diseases such as cholera, typhoid, yellow fever, and even malaria are but a few examples of what can happen when waste isn't properly disposed of. Mosquitos are not only responsible for many of these diseases, but interestingly, thrive big-time in sewage-contaminated bodies of water as opposed to purer sources.
Research has proven that mosquitos that are bred in polluted water grow bigger, fly faster, and have an overall lower mortality rate than their more inferior counterparts bred in cleaner water. The "nutrient-enriched" water containing large amounts of ammonia phosphates and other minerals abundant in sewage serve to feed the bacteria and microorganisms that mosquito larvae eat, beefing up their diet, making them healthier and more robust. Another dandy reason to add to the million to keep your waste where it belongs.
The search for ideal waste disposal methods is something man has been up against since the beginning of time. We have certainly come a long way since our ancestors dug holes as their solution, but there is still much we can learn from how things used to be done. Hey, when it comes down to it, a hole in the ground is still the first thing most of us would think of if there wasn't a toilet available! Ok, let's talk about options, assuming modern take-it-for-granted city pipes isn't one of them:
- A hole in the ground right outside your kitchen window.
- A hole in the ground about 30 meters into the woods behind your cabin.
- A pipe leading from your in-house toilet right out to your front street. (History people!)
- A septic system.
Given the choices above, a septic system is probably the system of choice if city sewers weren't available. - Providing you have some kind of environmental conscience that wouldn't allow you to just funnel your sewage down to the closest river. A septic system consists of several key components which together, break your sewage down for safe deposit back into the groundwater. Designing and maintaining a proper septic system is crucial not only for our health, but for our environment as well.
The system starts with piping that leads from your toilet to an underground septic tank. This tank is the the first stage of decomposition where the heavier solids settle to the bottom and the lighter "scum" floats to the top. Tanks often have 2 compartments with a dividing wall between them. The liquid component of the waste will then flow into the second chamber where further settling will take place. This process is then followed by what is called a leach field.
A leach field is a section of land that is used to filter the effluent as it makes its way down through the layers of soil, and eventually into the groundwater. A potential leach field must meet certain "percolation requirements" before being deemed suitable. If the soil is too porous - too much sand and gravel - it won't effectively "hold" and deactivate the harmful pathogens, and conversely, if the soil isn't porous enough - such as too much clay - it won't allow the percolation of waste water at the needed rate.
Tests that are done on the soil for this purpose are called "percolation tests". The size of a given leach field is proportional to the amount of incoming waste water and inversely proportional to the porosity of its soil. Imagine a leach field as a system of perforated pipes stretched out over a wide area of land. These pipes are usually buried under a layer of soil and gravel to prevent animals from accessing. In a well-made leach field, gravity will more or less evenly distribute the effluent load through its piping.
Back in the septic tank, the heavier solids are being decomposed via anaerobic digestion. What the heck is that? Well, it's kinda what makes this whole system even remotely effective. An anaerobic environment is what naturally takes place inside a septic tank when waste is introduced. It's the bacteria that immediately begins eating away at pretty much anything that enters the tank.
One thing to keep in mind though, is that a septic system cannot run on auto-pilot forever. It needs to be regularly maintained for it to continue to run efficiently. There are certain "irreducible" solids that will remain in the tank, and that will gradually accumulate, causing an overflow of the same into the leach field. An overflow of these solids will clog your drain field and cost a right arm to repair.
Other precautions regarding septic systems involve what you can safely flush down your toilet or drains - if other sinks etc are also connected.
- Non-biodegradable substances such as cigarette butts, hygiene products, non-biodegradable toilet paper, etc, cannot be decomposed bacterially, and will only build-up, leading to clogging, overflow, and premature failure of the septic system.
- Oils and greases are more difficult to decompose and can cause clogging and excessive stinking if larger amounts are disposed of.
- Disinfectants, bleaches, and chemicals of any kind have the potential to destroy the anaerobic environment. Do not flush these into your tank!
As a rule, only dump what's absolutely necessary and nothing more. Keep the septic system for your sewage and use other methods such as composting etc for other organic waste instead of using garbage disposers. Perform periodic maintenance on your septic system and have your tank emptied on a regular basis - intervals depend on the size of your tank, the number of users, and your faithfulness - or lack of it - in keeping the guidelines. This is absolutely essential and cannot be ignored.
If you liked my article please visit my websites at Free and Handy and Your Japanese Garden for more, thanks!
23 November 2010 - UK based environmental consultancy, SLR Consulting is to carry out work for Fife Council on a planning application for a proposed Anaerobic Digestion (AD) facility.
The facility, at Lochhead Landfill Site near Dunfermline, is projected to generate up to 1.4 MW of renewable electricity and a similar quantity of heat from the processing of around 43,000 tonnes of co-mingled food and green waste.
SLR says that following two or three years of feasibility studies, it has been commissioned to undertake site investigation works, planning, permitting and procurement support for development of the facility which is projected to be operational by 2013.
Chris Ewing, environmental sstainability manager for Fife Council Environmental Services said: "The scheme represents a real opportunity for us to realise the true value from our expanding programme for source segregation of food and green wastes.
"The site already produces around 1.5MW of electricity through the combustion of landfill gas. The proposed development would nearly double the output of the site in addition to allowing for the expansion of the existing district heating scheme which utilises the excess heat from the CHP units."
SLR principal and project manager for the development Duncan Thomas, who is based in SLR's Edinburgh Office, said: "It is great to be assisting this long standing client in delivery of this ground-breaking project.
"We have been providing technical consultancy support to Fife Council for over seven years and continue to provide support on landfill engineering and development, permitting, planning, landscape and site investigation works."
According to the EPA, the Unites States generate over 30 million tons (27.2 million tonnes) of food waste every year, and recycles less than 3%.
As anaerobic bacteria digest our trash, they release carbon dioxide and methane gas, both of which seep out of the soil and into the air. As a result, landfills are one of the largest producers of methane, which has been proven to be a leading cause of global warming.
It takes an average of 30 years for organic waste to break down into stable compounds in your average landfill, in comparison, a well run composter will complete the job in as little as three weeks.
Brian Dick, CEO of Quest Recycling Services LLC and Matt Hedrick, EVP of Quest Recycling Services LLC were keynote speakers at Biocycle Tenth Annual Renewable Energy From Organics Recycling Conference in Des Moines, IA this month.
Dick and Hedrick encouraged conference participants to jump on the waste to energy revolution and build additional outlets to process organics into high value end products such as energy and compost.
"The time is right" said Dick. "There are less than 200 operating anaerobic digesters in the United States currently and only a select few of those have the ability to process food waste. In contrast, Europe has thousands that have been successful for many years producing green power from food waste. The time to invest in this technology is now."
"We are excited to be in the fore front of this exciting emerging business that can reduce the amount of food waste in our landfills and provide a much need green power source", said Matt Hedrick.
ADBA claims food waste should be prioritised for AD over incineration and composting The government must prioritise food waste for anaerobic digestion due to the benefit of energy generation, a renewables trade body has claimed.
In response to the coalition's Waste Review, which closed yesterday (October 7), the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA) has called for food waste to go to AD over composting and incineration.
And, it has stressed the need for a massive increase in household food waste collection and is advocating separate collections, where households have a bin reserved for food waste, so that the "valuable" resource can be more easily used for AD.
ADBA notes that the coalition is committed to a ‘huge increase in energy from waste through anaerobic digestion', but claims that the government will fail to achieve this unless the waste is made available for digestion. This will require changes to waste collection, and priority for treatment through AD, it says.
With cuts imminent in this month's Spending Review, ADBA highlights that many local authorities may be considering shelving schemes to segregate food. However, the association claims that while there are short term savings available now, they will lead to much higher costs to the whole community in the medium term, "especially if we do not build an infrastructure to deal with organic waste away from landfill".
According to ADBA, processing waste through AD offers a sustainable solution for landfill waste, with the added benefit of preserving crucial finite nutrients, such as nitrates and phosphorus.
Commenting on the need to secure food waste for AD, ADBA chairman, Lord Redesdale, said:
"The government knows it must act now to meet the UK's responsibilities on climate change. Committing to AD technology was a good first step, but it must be followed up by the right decisions about how we deal with waste if the industry is to flourish."
"We need to collect food waste and prioritise it for AD, so that it can make the maximum possible contribution to targets for renewable energy, climate change, landfill mitigation and preserving resources such as phosphorus. This review needs to do more than move towards a "zero-waste" economy, it must also ensure we maximise the use of waste as a valuable resource."
The association added that if supported appropriately, AD could meet up to 40% of the UK's target for renewable heat production by 2020.
Launching a new report, Going to waste: Making the case for energy from waste, the leading business group highlighted the important role that energy from waste could play in a broad-based energy mix, which improves energy security.
Technologies include using anaerobic digestion, where biological processes produce bio-gas from waste, and incineration. These provide consistent and reliable power supplies, unaffected by the weather, and are not imported.
With strong leadership from the Government on planning, financing and procurement, the UK could quadruple the proportion of energy it generates from waste from 1.5% to 6% by 2015.
And the CBI warned that unless urgent steps are taken to cut landfill use, the UK will face fines from the European Union of around £182.5m a year.
Neil Bentley, CBI Director of Business Environment, said:
“We cannot continue dumping rubbish in landfill sites. Waste that can’t be recycled could be used to heat homes and produce electricity, as well as improving our energy security.
“Across Europe, generating energy from waste is common and compatible with high levels of recycling.
“The Government needs to encourage the development of more anaerobic digestion and incineration plants, and tackle delays in the planning system.”
The report focuses on the family of energy from waste technologies, which can be broadly divided into biological and thermal types. Anaerobic digestion can be used on-site to produce heat and electricity, or injected into the National Grid after being purified.
Thermal treatments include technologies, such as gasification and pyrolysis, which involve heating waste to produce gas, as well as incineration. The CBI argues that non-recyclable waste should be incinerated, and emphasises that it is cleaner, more efficient, and environmentally sounder than burning fossil fuels or relying on landfill.
Among the CBI’s recommendations for the Government are:
Recognising the important role that energy from waste could play in reducing the UK’s landfill, securing energy supplies and increasing the proportion of renewable sources;Avoiding picking winners from the various energy from waste technologies and allowing the market to decide the most cost effective option;Reassuring the public that delivering more energy from waste is compatible with high levels of recycling and that new plants are clean and safe.
Echoing her support for the report, Gaynor Hartnell, Chief Executive of the UK Renewable Energy Association (REA) said,
“The Government has already said it wants to encourage Energy from Waste, and it would do well to heed the CBI’s recommendations. Most of the energy content of our household waste is renewable, yet often projects are dogged by overly complex and unnecessary regulation, which prevents them from getting the rewards they are entitled to for generating green energy. A healthy dose of pragmatism would be in everyone’s interests and would enable one of the cheapest forms of green energy to play its part in meeting the UK’s renewables target.”
