A Round-Up of the New Anaerobic Digestion Plants in the News - Spring to Summer 2010 UK/Europe

Converting organic waste materials into renewable energy is an essential component of the EU countries both to meet national commitments to renewables EU targets, and indirectly to achieve zero food and packaging to landfill. So, how is the construction and commissioning of new AD plants proceeding, which will contribute to this?

Here is a summary of a few projects recently reported.

Cambi has announced that it will be supplying the technology for a new sludge treatment anaerobic-digestion plant in Drammen, Norway using their thermal hydrolysis process to optimize conversion. This will use feed stock sludge and waste and the contract is worth about 12M USD.

Vertal appears to be using Anaerobic Digestion as a component of its process mix, which includes composting and pasteurisation of food waste. This award winning company accomplishes this, we are informed, entirely through self heating, harnessing the energy released during digestion to carry out the pasteurisation.

A WRAP (Waste Resources Action Programme), part UK Government Funded, 3M GBP anaerobic digestion plant has opened on a Staffordshire (UK) Farm. This plant will supply 1.3MW of renewable energy to the national grid, with most of the energy being derived from source segregated food waste. It will process 15,000 tonnes of waste annually. Full operational output is planned for Autumn 2010.

Xergi's AD plant in Ayrshire, Scotland is moving ahead, and is expected to be operating by early 2011.  The purchaser's Chief Executive has plans to extend the pant to include connection to the gas distribution network. The Ayrshire plant will become Xergi's second UK plant, with their first UK plant located near Boston, Lincolnshire, UK.

AD plants succeed or fail on the ability to mix feedstock and then again within the reactor. System Mix is reported to be providing mixing expertise to Welsh Water, and other clients for their digesters. One of the mixing systems in use will be a drop-in lance type system.

Jenbach (Austria) also announced in July that the troducer of Baby Nutrition Products would soon be saving CO2 based on the special “Green Tariff” available to anaerobic digestion plant generated electricity available at the plant's location.

In this project cow manure is being converted to energy at the first biogas co-generation plant in the Ukraine. The facility, which is powered by 4,000 cows and a GE (NYSE: GE) Jenbacher gas engine, has recently completed nine months of successful operation at the Ukrainian Milk Company Ltd., located near Kiev.

The excess power produced at the plant is being sold to the grid. The Ukrainian Milk Company, which produces milk for baby nutrition products, received the license for selling power to the grid based on the “green” tariff, which is being approved by Ukraine authorities. According to the law, the “green” tariff is “a special tariff for electricity generated at the power plants with use of alternative energy sources.”

The new combined heat and power (CHP) plant is powered by a GE JMC 312 containerized co-generation model gas engine and is able to substitute the equivalent of 1.2 million cubic meters of natural gas annually and, therefore, is projected to reduce the equivalent of 18,000 metric tons of CO2. Once converted into biogas, the manure from the cows produces 625 kW of electricity and 686 kW of thermal output.

This is GE’s first order from the biogas plant construction company ZORG. The unit was sold to ZORG through GE’s distributor and service provider in the Ukraine, SINAPSE. We hope that you found this round-up of the new Anaerobic Digestion Plants in the News from spring to summer 2010 interesting.

More about the Ukraine Plant at Ukraine Milk Company Powered by 4,000 Cows and GE Biogas Engine.

Danish Company to Build Anaerobic Digestion Plant in N Ayrshire Scotland

Denmark’s market leading supplier of AD technology is to build a large AD plant in Scotland. The agreement which amounts to approximately 8.0 million Euros has been entered into with one of the largest energy companies in the UK, Scottish and Southern Energy.

The Scottish AD plant will be built at Barkip, North Ayrshire. It is expected to be operational for energy production in early 2011 and will contribute to achieving Scottish targets for CO2 reduction. The plant will be capable of processing 80,000 tons of organic waste annually, producing 2MW of renewable electricity. The plant will be the first for both Xergi and SSE in Scotland.

The entire plant will be delivered by Xergi and will convert the organic waste into renewable energy in the form of methane gas and nitrogenous organic fertiliser.

The plant consists of reception facilities, a fully automatic feeding system capable of handling many different types of organic waste, anaerobic digesters with a unique stirring system for the production of methane, a CHP (combined heat and power) unit producing power and heat, and storage tanks for the fertiliser.

SSE Chief Executive Ian Marchant said:

“Biogas has the potential to be one of the most important new generation renewable and sustainable energy solutions available to us, capturing the energy contained in waste. SSE is excited about entering the biogas market which we believe offers opportunities beyond on-site electricity generation to include connections to the gas distribution network in the future. This new project will enable SSE to gain experience in owning and operating this technology so we are well placed to bring that knowledge to future projects in Scotland.”

For more information visit the Xergi web site.