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Zoo in Germany partially powered by electricity produced from animal dungAnimal waste fermented for 30 days generates "biogas"
Energy produced enough to heat 25 homes and power 100
(The video is not related to the article.)
Munich, Germany (CNN) -- At Munich Zoo you can watch the courtship rituals of the banded mongoose, hear the morning song of the scarlet ibis or visit the Indian elephants, who help keep the lights on with electricity generated from their dung.
They can do this because Munich Zoo has harnessed "poo power," energy stored in animal waste, which can be converted into a fuel known as "biogas."
It works like this: The zoo has built three large containers, each capable of holding about 100 cubic meters of animal waste -- that's around a week's worth of dung collected from all the vegetarian animals in the zoo.
Once inside the containers, it's mixed with warm water and the bacteria in the dung is left to decompose in an oxygen-free environment for 30 days.
The resulting biogas, mainly comprised of methane and carbon dioxide, rises naturally through vents in the ceiling to a corrugated hut on the roof where it's collected in a "big balloon," says park supervisor Dominik Forster.
The biogas is then fed into a gas-powered engine that's used to generate electricity. Forster says that the balloon -- which more closely resembles a small Zeppelin -- can store enough biogas to meet 5% of the zoo's energy needs.
By the time the food has been digested by the animal, a lot of the energy in it has been used up or burped out Dr Geraint Evans, National Centre for Biorenewable Energy "When you turn the biogas into electricity, it creates heat which we also store," says Forster. This is then used to warm the gorilla enclosure, "but could be used to heat about 25 homes," he adds.
Once the fermentation process that creates the methane is finished, the remaining solid matter, or "digestate" is used as an organic fertilizer for crops that will later be used as feedstock for the animals.
"We don't waste anything," said Forster, who claims that his is the only zoo in Germany to generate electricity in this way.
A mature elephant can eat about 100 kilograms of fruit, vegetables and pretzels a day, producing a mountain of dung and Forster says that all the zoo animals together create roughly 2,000 tons of the stuff every year.
This is enough to power about 100 Munich households -- a drop in the ocean when you consider Munich's population, which is 1.3 million, according to CIA World Factbook.
The problem is that dung alone does not produce all that much energy relative to its size, says Geraint Evans, head of biofuels at the UK's National Centre for Biorenewable Energy, Fuels and Materials.
"By the time the food has been digested by the animal, a lot of the energy in it has been used up or burped out," he said. "It's more efficient to just put the feed directly into the biogas generator." [See also http://anaerobic-digestion.com ]
Even if the returns are small at this stage, Evans says this project and others similar are still worth it.
"It's really important that we change our mindset from dependence on one source of energy to many different complementary sources," Evans said. "Animal waste can create electricity, heat, fertilizer ... even clean water can be extracted from the solids to spray on crops ... So, it's emblematic of this very holistic approach."
In this spirit, Forster says there are now plans to install photo-voltaic solar panels on top of the animal enclosures over the coming year.
A three-wheeled motorbike that runs on the rider's feces? It sounded much too unsanitary to be true. Sure enough, the Toilet Bike Neo isn't powered by waste generated by its rider?! No, sorry to disappoint you, but it isn't!
It is an operational bike, though, and it's being powered by biogas fuel as it makes its way across Japan.
The creator is high-end toilet manufacturer Toto, which devised this conceptual model to publicize the company's environmental initiatives. The seat is one of Toto's advanced toilet models, the Neorest AH3, but the toilet isn't operational.
The engine runs on biogas fuel, which is made from a substance that comes from human and animal waste products. The biogas is contained in two compressed gas cylinders, which are mounted on the bike and hold enough for the bike to run about 300 km without refilling, Toto says.
More than a few publications reported the bike runs on waste generated by the rider. WTOP said Toilet Bike Neo "converts the poop -- which can come straight from the driver sitting on a toilet-style seat -- into a biogas that propels the vehicle." Huffington Post repeated that disgusting claim, saying that human waste is stored in the driver's seat and citing WTOP.
The Daily Mail was confused, too: "Bizarrely the rider is even encouraged to use the portaloo as much as possible on every journey as the waste is turned into biofuel which powers the machine."
Ubergizmo's take? "Yes sir, yesterday's processed lunch and dinner will get you places, thanks to the biogas converted from feces that is harvested straight from the rider."
Nope. Not true.
Amidst all the inaccurate reports, Toto published this explanation on its web site:
"TOILET BIKE NEO does not have the mechanism to run on the rider's waste. It runs biogas fuel (fertilized, purified and compressed livestock waste and household wastewater) provided by Shika-oi Town in Hokkaido and Kobe city. Therefore, the NEO REST seat does not function as a toilet, and has been created for promoting TOTO's environmental efforts. TOTO is not involved with any motorbike or biogas production business."
Music and secret messages are part of Toilet Bike Neo's allure, however. Six car horns can perform the "Toto Benki No Uta," or the Song of Toto Toilet. A vertical string of LED lights displays a message that can only be seen at night.
While Bio-butanol can be generated by using spin-offs of the pulp and paper industry and food industry to substitute petrol, methane realized from biogas, as revealed in the life-cycle assessment is seen as a top prospective to substitute fossil fuel.
(The video is not related to the article.)
Professor Ulla Lassi, a researcher from the University of Oulu, has tried the manufacture of butanol through a chemical synthesis process, which deploys a new catalyst material to change compounds such as ethanol, methanol or glycerol into alcohol, pentanol and butanol blends, which can be directly utilized as liquid fuels. He found that usage of glycerol, a by-product of biodiesel will be more cost- efficient. According to Lassi, the current discoveries in butanol fermentation methods have solved the experienced problems partly and he explained that new catalyst development and new chemical sysnthesis methods alone will enable the manufacture of new type of liquid fuels.
Another research, a joint Finnish-Chilean endeavor under the SusEn research program, tried the use of biogas as a transport fuel. The research tried methods to upgrade the landfill gas into fuel. According to the principal researcher of the project, Professor Jukka Rintala, in recent years a good amount of interest has been shown in the use of biogas sourced from energy crops and biodegradable waste. Such biogas is either utilized to run the vehicles or fed into the grid as natural gas for usage and the waste material known as digestate is used as a soil conditioner or fertilizer.
Rintala carried out the project at Jyväskylä located Mustankorkea Waste Treatment Facility, which focused on removing trace compounds of biogas. The method attempted to raise the methane content in biogas to facilitate its usage as biofuel. It utilized the water absorption method, which enabled the yield of methane content up to 80 to 90 % and the rest was found to be nitrogen and carbon dioxide. While nitrogen content reduced the energy subjects of biogas, its carbon dioxide brought down the energy value of biogas. The research suggests preventing the access of nitrogen in the landfill located gas collection system to lower its content in the collected methane.
Biomethane and its applications is a crucial topic for biogas’s future development across Europe. As such it has been accorded a half-day segment at an upcoming Biogaz Europe conference, to be held on October 25-26 in Nantes, France. The afternoon session with start off with an overview of the status of biomethane today in Europe from Andy Bull, Project Co-Ordinator of the IEE project, BioMethane Regions. The French biomethane context for direct injection and for transport will be given by GRDF and the French Natural Gas Vehicle Association (AFGNV).
(Video is not connected with the conference.)
Additionally, four innovative case studies will exemplify the benefits of biomethane for transport (from Sweden, UK, Austria and France).
Valtra Tractors (SE) : The Valtra N101 dual-fuel tractor has 110 horsepower and is intended as an all-purpose tractor for farms, municipalities and contractors that have the possibility of refuelling with biomethane while working. Without making any changes to the original diesel engine, 70 to 80 percent of power is generated by biomethane. The dual-fuel engine functions like a diesel engine and performs the same whether operating on dual-fuel or just diesel. The gas is injected with the intake air, and combustion occurs when a small amount of diesel fuel is injected into the cylinder. If biomethane is not available, the engine can run completely on diesel fuel.
Adnams Brewery (UK) : Adnams Bio Energy Limited has constructed and is now commissioning a groundbreaking anaerobic digestion (AD) plant, which will be the first in the UK to use brewery and local food waste to produce biomethane for direct injection into the national gas grid (in partnership with British Gas and the National Grid) as well as providing gas for use as a vehicle fuel. In the future the facility will produce enough renewable gas to power the Adnams brewery and run its fleet of lorries, while still leaving up to 60 per cent of the output for injection into the National Grid.
Fuchsn’hof, Austria (AT) : Austria’s first biogas feeding-plant has been operating in Upper Austria since June 2005. This pilot project supplies the existing natural gas grid with biogas up-graded to natural gas quality. Fuchsn’Hof, an existing biogas plant that used biogas for generation of electricity, now serves as a gas production plant. The substrate consists of a mixture of manure from 10,500 hens and 50 breeding pigs.
BioEnergie de la Brie (FR) : BioEnergie de la Brie is a project under development which anticipates to utilise a blend of cattle slurry, vegetable, cheese production wastes and cereal residues to produce and upgrade biogas to biomethane quality for direct injection to the gas grid.
Conference details here. View the original article here
TELUK INTAN: United Plantations Bhd (UP) plans to add more biogas plants in one or two years at its palm oil mills in Malaysia and Indonesia to save energy cost.
Vice-chairman/executive director (corporate affairs) Datuk Carl Bek-Nielsen said the company reduced 25% of fossil fuel usage yearly at its Perak plantation by relying on electricity generated from its biogas plant in Teluk Intan.
Lim says in view of the fuel-price volatility, plants will enjoy significant cost-savings as the energy generated will reduce the dependency on fossil fuel.
“Currently, we have three biogas plants in the country and they help a lot in terms of cost-savings. Though it is costly to set up a biogas plant, the impact that we receive is really worth it,” he told reporters during a media visit to UP's plant here.
He said the cost of building a biogas plant was about RM7mil and the group had invested RM20mil for its existing three plants.
Meanwhile, Dr Lim Weng Soon, director of Malaysian Palm Oil Board's engineering and processing research division, urged more palm oil mill operators to build biogas plants to boost revenue.
“Mills can use steam or/and electricity generated from the biogas plant for their own use. In view of the fuel-price volatility, plants will enjoy significant cost-savings as the energy generated will reduce the dependency on fossil fuel,” he said.
Under the Palm Oil National Key Economic Area of the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), the country is targeting 500 biogas plants by 2020.
Lim said Malaysia was on track to achieve the target. “There are currently 46 in operation, 22 under construction and another 46 in planning stage.”
Lim said the three states with the highest number of plants are Sabah (10), Johor (nine) and Perak (eight). Of the commissioned plants, 18 are generating electricity for their own use. [Also see http://anaerobic-digestion.com ]
Independent mill: One of United Plantations Bhd?s three biogas plants.
The biogas plant under the ETP are expected to generate about RM2.9bil in gross national income and create 2,000 jobs by 2020.
In assisting independent millers to fund the development of their biogas plants, an existing Green Technology Fund of RM1.5bil is being set up by the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry. View the original article here
Helsinki -- Within the Academy of Finland?s research programme Sustainable Energy, researchers looked at the use of biogas as a transport fuel. As a joint Finnish-Chilean effort, the researchers studied the upgrading of landfill gas into fuel. ?In recent years, interest in using biogas technology in the utilisation of industrial by-products for energy purposes has increased considerably. Some countries have already introduced this technology on a large scale, says Professor Jukka Rintala, the principal investigator of the project.
Our video for this post is on the subject of Finnish Biogas. There is no association between the video and the article.
Biogas can be produced from many different materials ranging from biodegradable waste to energy crops. The biogas produced in this process is a versatile source of energy. It can be used for heat and electricity, be processed into vehicle fuel or fed into the natural gas grid. In addition, the residual material, the so-called digestate, from the process can be used as fertilizer or soil conditioner,? Rintala explains. Methane derived from biogas has been shown to be one of the most suitable candidates for use as biofuel, thanks to its sustainable production chain. Methane also meets the EU?s criteria for sustainable biofuels, which will take effect in a few years? time. Rintala: ?Biogas can be used as a biofuel once its methane content is raised above 95 per cent. In our research, we used water absorption, which yielded a methane content of 80?90 per cent. The rest is carbon dioxide and nitrogen.?
Nitrogen does not cause any damage to car engines, but it does lower the energy content of biogas. To reach a higher methane content through this process, we should prevent the access of nitrogen in the gas collection system in the landfill. Carbon dioxide does not damage engines either, but it lowers the energy value of biogas, says Rintala.
Rintala would like to see more research on the effects of process parameters on the costs of biogas upgrading and the effects of pressurisation on compound removal. As a rule, the only criterion for biomass is that it can be broken down by microbes under oxygen-free conditions. Of course, the composition of feedstocks does affect the composition of the biogas produced and also the chosen method of purification. Landfill gases are generally thought of as being the most difficult ones to upgrade into fuel.? Quelle: Academy of Finland View the original article here
A biogas facility in Somerset, south west England, has been given approval to double its current capacity to power 4,000 homes.
(The follwing video stays on the "Somerset" subject matter of this post, but shows an un-associated AEROBIC composting facility. While this is excellent bio-management, aerobic systems, although cheaper to build and operates, aerobic processing does not produce any biogas or any energy at all, and in fact require substantial energy inputs to operate.)
Currently the Cannington Enterprises plant uses an anaerobic digester to produce power from residue crops such as maize silage, grass, whole crop and big bale silage but it will now be allowed to treat up to 75,000 tonnes of other waste such as rotting food.
A number of residents objected to the original application, made in March, because they believed it would create excess traffic on narrow roads and that the smell would impact tourism in surrounding areas.
The company needs to prepare an odour management plan, a noise management plan and landscape plan before commencing the build. http://anaerobic-digestion.com
As part of the extension, the company plans to extend a tanker loading to an existing building, build a separator facility for the ‘spent digestate accompanied by a solid digestate bay and liquid digestate tank’, and construct a maintenance building and gas holder.
SHAH ALAM: QL Resources Bhd is looking at selling biogas-generated electricity from its palm oil mill in Tawau, Sabah, under the feed-in tariff system for Malaysia's renewable energy sector, which is due to be implemented in December.
The system will allow domestically produced electricity from renewable energy resources to be sold to power utilities at a fixed premium price for a specific duration.
QL's core divisions are marine products manufacturing, integrated livestock farming and palm oil activities.
Managing director Chia Song Kun said the biogas energy facility at one of the group's two palm oil mills in Sabah would be commissioned this week. The biogas comes from the effluent resulting from the milling process.
“A 50-tonne-per-hour mill can generate two megawatts of electricity.
“Every palm oil mill can sell electricity if they do this (biogas energy). If this project is successful, we may look at selling green power to the Sabah government,” Chia said after the group's EGM yesterday.
He added that the excess bioga-genrated electricity could be used to power other utilities at each mill as well as for the the production of palm pellet biofuel, which is produced from palm oil mill by-products such as empty fruit bunches.
On the murky economic outlook, Chia said QL's performance in the near future might be affected slightly by potentially lower demand for its premium surimi (processed fish paste) products.
“We think there will be weaker demand for higher grade surimi,” he said.
About 30% of QL's marine product sales are from exports to countries such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, China, Taiwan and Vietnam.
“We are still aiming for double-digit growth this year although the economic environment is not favourable,” Chia said.
For its first quarter ended June 30, the group posted a 3.7% year-on-year jump in net profit to RM27.8mil while revenue grew 18.2% to RM454.57mil.
QL attributed the growth in turnover to improved crude palm oil prices, better volume of palm oil fruits processed and higher unit value of feed raw materials.
One for the road -- Toto's Toilet Bike Neo is turning heads as it crosses Japan on the power of animal dung.
Of all the PR-friendly ways there are to spread a message, corporate or otherwise, sending some poor sap out to ride across an entire country on a motorized toilet surely ranks high on the list of “Uh, what?” schemes we've seen.
Allow us to introduce the poop-powered Toilet Bike Neo. It's a three-wheeled chopper-style motorcycle from Toto, one of Japan’s largest toilet suppliers.
Contrary to what you might think (and who can blame any mind for wandering in that direction), the retro steed runs not on human “output” from the unfortunate rider, but on biogas brewed from animal dung and household wastewater.
Um, and it also comes fitted with a tiny talking latrine on the handlebars, a nightclub-style “air-writer” LED device for leaving bon mots trailing in its wake and a high-end sound system.
The Toilet Bike Neo Project is part of the Toto Green Challenge initiative to promote the firm’s goal aim of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions in its customers’ bathrooms (again, say what?) in half by 2017.
Throughout October, the portable pooper will travel 1,000 kilometers across Japan from a Toto factory in Kyushu to its final resting point in Tokyo.
It’s stopping along the way to spread the word about the energy conservation methods that Toto promotes, such as the company's high-efficiency toilets.
Any kids undergoing toilet training should stay away from the front of the Toilet Bike Neo, as the talking commode on the handlebars is more than a little scary, yapping out fortunes, stock quotes and other snippets no one wants to hear right now.
Still, the message is a sound one and the mobile latrine’s photo blog is one of the more unusual Japan travel diaries we’ve seen -- perhaps it’ll one day inspire a new generation of eco-warriors to rise up and festoon the nation in two-ply.
Jane Leung is a Hong Kong-born Canadian who has dabbled in the mixed media bag of film and television production, the professional sports industry and magazine publishing.
The First Aannual Waste Technology Summit took place at the Regents Park Marriott hotel in London on the 4th – 5th October 2011. It included a site visit to the Lakeside Energy from Waste plant, and a range of speakers covering key novel and proven technology types for waste management applications. These applications ranged from waste treatment for energy recovery, materials recovery, fuel preparation and techniques to derive chemical feedstocks.
The summit included speakers covering the following technology types:-
* Energy from waste (Sita)
* Gas Plasma (Advanced Plasma Power)
* Anaerobic Digestion (Hot Rot Solutions)
* Mechanical Heat Treatment (EVRS)
* Pyrolysis (Enval)
* Gasification (Waste2tricity)
* Incinerator Bottom Ash treatment and recovery (Rock Solid BV)
* Processes for Deriving Chemicals from Waste (Solvert), and
* Processes for Recycling Plastics Waste Into Food Grade Bottles (Nextek Ltd)
The diversity of technical solutions to waste management challenges appear broad, and one aspect that was made clear from the presentations is substantial innovation and ambition in evidence to both help meet our waste management challenges and provide resources back into the UK economy.
It is also clear however that there remain major challenges to delivery of waste technology ranging from the planning risks of Energy from Waste plant through to bankability risks and blockages for various new technology solutions. In some regards it was ever thus, but at present there are more recent (and ongoing) nuances, notably relating to the uncertainty of the Localism agenda and the risk aversion of banks.
It is a far more complex picture than this however, and some of the key messages from day 1 of the conference are included here.
Sita
Stuart Hayward Highman explained the openness with which they were exploring and partnering for the development of new technologies, in addition to their existing Energy from Waste (EfW) infrastructure. This was tempered by a caution over risk and finance, however Sita are actively involved in expanding the use of landfill gas in vehicles (including deals with Tesco and Sainsbury’s for their vehicle fleets) for which a limiting factor is the effectiveness of the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) subsidy, which delivers less income than the equivalent Government support mechanism for electricity generation, the Renewables Obligation.
Furthermore, it involves greater effort to deliver a fuel that meets the RTFO than convert energy to electricity and meet the RO through waste treatment technologies. In this context, and it was a message reiterated during his talk, the UK Government incentives for renewable energy do not adequately promote the ‘most sustainable’ option, but rather seem to bias towards electricity generation (which often yields a lower efficiency environmental return). This was a concern for Sita, which sees new technologies as offering a better environmental solution when waste is used as a feedstock for liquid and gaseous fuels rather than burned for electricity generation.
In this context, Mr Hayward Highman explained their new developments with end of life plastics at Avonmouth, which converts the waste stream through an advanced thermal treatment process into diesel, and recent developments in Anaerobic Digestion at Sita.
He also outlined future planned developments including the hope of testing a static hydrogen fuel cell technology. Where technology risk is a factor in financing Sita has used its balance sheet to facilitate investment in new technologies where appropriate, and sees a range of technical solutions available in the market for managing waste.
Advanced Plasma Power (APP)
Rolf Stein delivered a presentation on the activities of APP, utilising their plasma gasification process. This technology initially prepares the waste through mechanical separation of non-combustibles from the input waste stream and gasifies the resultant (prepared) fuel feedstock using a conventional gasification process. The output syngas and ash is then passed to a second chamber containing the plasma process. The high temperature / UV light cracks the syngas to generate a cleaner gas suitable (after acid gas scrubbing) for combustion in a gas engine (without he informa us, the inherent fouling problems associated with conventional gasification). Furthermore, the ash is vitrified into a glassy residue with the trade name ‘Plasmarok’, which may have value as an inert ‘product’. Mr Stein also cited the potential innovation of spinning the vitrified residue into ‘Rockwool’ type insulation applications.
APP are also processing the excavations from a Belgian landfill (containing auto-shredder residues and Commercial / Industrial wastes) through the Plasma Gasification process. A typical scale proposed for an APP Plasma Power plant for mixed wastes would be ~150ktpa input for mechanical sorting and preparation, in order to deliver ~90ktpa of fuel for the thermal process. This scale of plant would cover a footprint of ~10,000m2.
EVRS (Mechanical Heat Treatment)
Martin Osment explained the EVRS process for utilising mechanical heat treatment technology to derive usable materials from a mixed waste stream. This process mechanically sorts out the glass / aggregate, metals and plastics fractions from the waste stream leaving a predominantly cellulose based feedstock for the autoclave vessel.
The technology has been demonstrated at lab scale and at a small demonstration plant and it was stated that the process had no emissions to land, air or water. It is a scalable technology with commercial sized facilities beginning at ~6ktpa upwards, with standard vessels of 50ktpa, allowing multiples to be placed on one site in order to deliver larger scale facilities.
Nextek (Waste Polymer Sorting)
Ed Kosior delivered a fascinating talk around the issues with sorting / reprocessing the more ‘difficult’ plastic polymers. He focussed particularly on the black plastics (e.g. some food trays), seeking to attain food grade polypropylene and the recycling of plastic films.
As regards black plastics it was evident that optical sorters used in materials recycling facilities (MRFs) or plastics sorting facilities, could not differentiate the plastic polymers of these materials because the carbon black within the plastic absorbed the near infra red (NIR) light that is used to bounce off of plastics to determine their composition. In tests, Nextek changed the dye within the black plastic to an organic black dye, which did not absorb the light rays. After a re-program of the optical sorting software, the equipment was able to both see and sort the black plastic, enabling effective separation for recycling.
Delivering food grade polypropylene (PP) was considered a major challenge for the industry. One reason for this is the tendency for PP bottles to be used for bleach, detergents, shampoos and other non foodstuff with potentially toxic contents. However, using a dedicated hand-picking / sorting line, it was possible to deliver a food grade PP recyclate stream with around 50% of the mixed PP considered appropriate for this application. This approach has yet to reach commercialisation.
Mr Kosior also explained that laboratory tests have shown that it is possible to deliver 100% recycled plastic film, although in the current market much lower levels of recycled content are usually used because of issues with organics contaminating the recyclate stream. This is another area that is progressing in terms of commercialisation.
In questions and answers, Mr Kosior discussed how many times PET and HDPE bottles could be recycled ‘though the loop’ before degrading. For PET bottles the main issue, he stated, is discolouration after one recycling stage. It is possible to add brighteners to the plastic, in which case they could potentially be recycled ~5 times.
For HDPE bottles, the limiting factor was the amount of antioxidant within the plastic, again around 5 times recycling was possible if more antioxidant was available. He speculated that if more antioxidant were added to the material at the start of its life then the ‘recycling life’ could be extended.
Conclusion
The 1st EyeforEnergy Waste Technology Summit was notable for the high quality of the speakers from Waste Technology Companies, and it was your reviewer's view that this conference was unique in attracting industry speakers not seen at other recent events, each of which came with with new and promising marketable technologies which commissioning clients in the public and commercial sectors will be very interested in.
Find out more about Frith Resource Management at www.frithrm.com.
Readers of this blog who are interested in how the expansion in the UK waste management industry which has included the push toward the use of Anaerobic Digestion as biogas/ renewable energy source, can read about these recent developments and the drivers behind them in the article which can be seen by ckicking the link below:
11 September 2011 Last updated at 09:32 The plant will turn food waste into biogas to produce electricity and also fertiliser for farms Plans have been drawn up for a plant in the Swansea Valley capable of turning food waste from over 350,000 homes into electricity and fertiliser.
(Video and article are not related.)
A formal planning application is expected in October for the anaerobic digestion facility at Pwllfawatkin, north of Pontardawe.
It would run on food waste collected in Bridgend, Carmarthenshire, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire and Swansea.
The company behind it, Waste Recycling Group Ltd, plans a public exhibition.
It has been talks with Neath Port Talbot Council, which will assess the planning bid at the former Abernant Colliery, for several months.
Mike Bullard, project director from Waste Recycling Group, said the plant would use micro-organisms to break down biodegradable food waste in order to produce fertiliser and biogas which will be used to generate electricity.
Continue reading the main story
The proposed facility has the potential to contribute significantly towards meeting the challenges and targets set out by the Welsh Government in relation to climate change, energy security, waste reduction and resource management”
End Quote Mike Bullard Waste Recycling Group The 2.3 MW facility would have the potential to generate enough electricity to meet the demands of approximately 5,000 homes.
It would have the capacity to process around 52,000 tonnes of food waste each year.
Most of that would come from weekly food waste collections by the five county councils.
Mr Bullard said: "The proposed facility has the potential to contribute significantly towards meeting the challenges and targets set out by the Welsh Government in relation to climate change, energy security, waste reduction and resource management.
"It would generate electricity and heat from the processing of food waste from households, as well as food waste from businesses, and has the potential to meet the energy needs of approximately 5,000 homes.
"A nutrient rich liquid fertiliser will also be produced, which will then be available for use by farmers to help cultivate agricultural land."
He said the company would hold a public exhibition at a date yet to be fixed so people living nearby could find out more before the planning application was submitted next month.
Mike Roberts, head of street care services at Neath Port Talbot, said the council was working with its four counterparts to secure a regional anaerobic digestion facility to treat household food waste from south west Wales.
"The procurement process is ongoing and a number of bids and associated site locations are currently under consideration. The final short list is yet to be agreed," he said.
A much smaller plant capable of dealing with 15,000 tonnes of food waste has been given the go ahead near Clynnog in Gwynedd.
Flintshire, Conwy and Denbighshire councils aim to open one at a former abattoir in St Asaph by 2013.
Police are investigating the sudden death of a man whose body was discovered in a river on the Carmarthenshire-Pembrokeshire border.
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ZAGREB (Croatia), September 15 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Thursday it is providing a 5.0 million euro ($6.9 million) loan to Croatian concern Agrokor to support the construction of a combined heat and power generation plant that will use biogas as primary fuel.
The proceeds of the EBRD loan will be used to purchase and install the biogas power plant, and sterilisation and water purification equipment, the EBRD said in a press release.
The project is expected to be completed by September 2012 and will be in full compliance with EU environmental regulations.
Located in Gradec, 40 kilometres outside the capital Zagreb, the plant will be fuelled by organic waste, by-products of Agrokor's food production process. It will have a generation capacity of 1.0 megawatts (MW) of electricity, which will be supplied to Croatia's power grid, and also a 1.0 MW of heat capacity.
The construction of the biogas facility in Gradec is the first step in Agrokor's strategic plans to develop similar projects, with a total generation capacity of up to 30 MW, the statement said.
The EBRD has a long-standing cooperation with the privately-held Agrokor, having previously supported a variety of the company's investments in Croatia and neighbouring countries. The biogas facility in Gradec is financed under the bank's Agribusiness Sustainable Investment Facility.
Since the beginning of its operations in Croatia, the bank has committed over 2.5 billion euro to the country's economy. The EBRD funds mobilised additional investment of 4.0 billion euro in various sectors of the Croatian economy.
Residents and businesses looking to install wind power, fuel cells or other alternative electricity generators - but not solar power - will get lower subsidies after a decision made this week by the California Public Utilities Commission.
The new rules apply to the Self-Generation Incentive Program, which provides subsidies to businesses and residents who install power generators on their own property. The new rules require new generation projects to reduce to the net production of global warming-causing gases such as carbon dioxide in order to be eligible for the subsidy. They also reduce the subsidies by as much as half, depending on the technology in question.
"Today's decision represents a team effort between the California Air Resources Board and the CPUC as we strive to reach goals of achieving 33 percent renewable energy by 2020 and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020," said commission president Michael Peevey in a written statement issued Thursday.
A 2006 state law established a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
Under the rules for the program, applicants must show that proposed generation reduces the amount of net greenhouse gases produced compared with the amount of greenhouse gases produced from normal electricity generation. The exact amount of reduction was left open for a future decision after the commissioners disagreed with staff's method of calculation.
The commission also ruled that some technologies had become popular enough that subsidies could be reduced. Wind turbines will now be eligible for $1.25 per watt, down from $1.50 per watt; fuel cells, which produce electricity from natural gas without burning it, will be eligible for $1.25 per watt, half the previous subsidy; and biogas generators, which are fueled by methane from sewage and landfills, will see no reduction in a $2 per watt subsidy, but companies must buy it on a 10-year contract, twice as long as before.
The new rules require businesses applying to undergo an energy audit, which will highlight areas where the applicants could make better use of their electricity, before they receive a subsidy.
Call staff writer Eric Wolff at 760-303-1927 or follow him on Twitter at NCTRealEstate.
BEIJING—General Electric Co. Wednesday opened a $100 million contest in China to fund innovative gas-energy projects, similar to the company's previous innovation programs in the U.S.
GE is launching its "Ecomagination Challenge" in China along with seven venture-capital partners, together providing $100 million to back innovations in gas power, including natural gas, biogas, shale gas and coal-bed methane gas.
Speaking at a news briefing, Chairman and Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt said GE expects revenue from its energy business in China to grow ...
BEIJING—General Electric Co. Wednesday opened a $100 million contest in China to fund innovative gas-energy projects, similar to the company's previous innovation programs in the U.S.
GE is launching its "Ecomagination Challenge" in China along with seven venture-capital partners, together providing $100 million to back innovations in gas power, including natural gas, biogas, shale gas and coal-bed methane gas.
Speaking at a news briefing, Chairman and Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt said GE expects revenue from its energy business in China to grow ...
Virent Energy Systems' biogasoline has passed a major road test.
A trial conducted by Royal Dutch Shell, one of Virent's collaborators, tested five identical pairs of late-model European cars. Each car was driven more than 6,000 miles during 2010. One set ran on regular Shell gasoline; the other set was fueled with Shell gas blended with Virent's biogas.
(Video and bog are not related.)
When the engines were dismantled and inspected after the trial, all 10 cars were in the same condition. That means Virent's biogas, made from plant sugars instead of crude oil, caused no harm.
"The Shell road trial results are encouraging and an important step forward in the commercialization of (Virent's) process," said Virent chief executive Lee Edwards, in a news release Tuesday.
Nestlé: green waste treatment plans given go-ahead Post a commentBy Lynda Searby, 24-Aug-2011
Nestlé’s plans to build an anaerobic digestion plant for treating waste at its Fawdon site in Newcastle, UK, have been given the green light by planners.
The facility will receive all of the solid food waste and waste water generated by the factory, which makes much of the Rowntree range, including fruit gums and pastilles, as well as a number of other confectionery lines such as Caramac, Rolo, Munchies, After Eight Bitesize, Matchmakers, Drifter, Blue Riband and Breakaway.
The plant will treat 80,000 cubic metres of factory waste water annually to generate biogas that can be used to heat/power the factory and facilitate the recycling of ‘grey’ water back into factory processes. It will also recover energy from the 1,200 tonnes of waste food that arises from the confectionery production operation, of which 500 tonnes is currently sent to landfill and 700 tonnes ends up as animal feed.
The process will leave a residue of about 200 tonnes a year, which is rich in nutrients and can be used as an agricultural fertiliser.
The planners at Newcastle City Council who approved the scheme, said: “The proposals will result in less waste being required to be transferred to landfill sites and will equally decrease the amount of energy that is used by the factory from non-renewable sources... the proposals will benefit the business by using energy and water more efficiently, culminating in lower costs, reduced emissions and improved environmental performance and compliance.”
A Nestlé spokesperson told ConfectioneryNews.com: “We are delighted that Newcastle City Council has supported Nestlé Fawdon by approving the application for this facility. This project supports Nestlé’s commitment to sustainable manufacturing in the UK with Fawdon taking lead. In addition, the factory has recently planted a wild flower meadow within the factory grounds, creating a mini wildlife sanctuary with the aim of attracting many species of butterfly back to the area.”
Anaerobic digestion is a process in which micro-organisms break down degradable material in the absence of oxygen. The process is widely used to treat industrial waste water and is now seen as a renewable energy source. An efficient anaerobic process produces biogas (methane, hydrogen and carbon dioxide). This biogas can be used to generate heat and/or electricity. The process also negates the need for waste to be transferred to landfill.
DUBLIN -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/4a2cea/biogas_power_in_it) has announced the addition of GlobalData's new report "Biogas Power in Italy, Market Outlook to 2020, 2011 Update - Capacity, Generation, Power Plants, Regulations, and Company Profiles" to their offering.
"Biogas Power in Italy, Market Outlook to 2020, 2011 Update - Capacity, Generation, Power Plants, Regulations, and Company Profiles" is the latest report from GlobalData, the industry analysis specialists that offer comprehensive information on the biogas power market. The report provides in depth analysis on global renewable power market and global biogas power market with forecasts up to 2020.
The report analyzes the power market outlook in country (includes thermal conventional, hydro and renewables) and provides forecasts up to 2020. The research details renewable power market outlook in Italy (includes wind, biopower and solar PV) and provides forecasts up to 2020. The report highlights installed capacity and power generation trends from 2001 to 2020 in Italy biogas power market. The research also showcases top active and upcoming plants in the country. A detailed coverage on renewable energy policy framework governing the market along with policies specific to biogas power development in Italy are provided in the report.
The research analyzes investment trends in the biogas power market in Italy and some of the major deals pertaining to the market are dealt in detail. The report also provides elaborate company profiles of some of the major market participants. The report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, secondary research and in-house analysis by a team of industry experts.
Scope
The scope of the report includes:
Brief introduction and overview on global carbon emissions and global energy consumption. Historical data provided from 2001 to 2010 and forecasts until 2020. Overview on the overall renewable power market in the world, highlighting the fuel types - wind, solar PV, solar thermal, anaerobic-digestion and biomass. Detailed overview on the global global biogas power power market with capacity and generation forecasts to 2020. Power market scenario in Italy with capacity and generation forecasts to 2020, highlighting fuel types such as thermal conventional, hydro and renewables.
Companies Mentioned:
EnviTec Biogas AG Elettrostudio SpA MT-ENERGIE Italia Srl agriKomp GmbH
GE Gas Engine Technology Powers Hungary's Largest Biogas Plant
Fuel-Flexible Gas Engines as European Nations Seek to Comply with Environmental and Energy Efficiency Mandates
(GE please put up a video!!!)
JENBACH, AUSTRIA. September 14, 2011. Energy industry officials yesterday gathered near a large poultry processing plant in the city of Szarvas for the formal opening of Hungary's largest biogas power plant. Powered by three of GE's (NYSE: GE) ecomagination-qualified, JenbacherJ416 biogas engines, the combined cooling, heat and power (CCHP) plant generates 4.2 megawatts of renewable electricity and an equal amount of thermal energy to support the plant?s onsite operations as well as the local grid. Szarvas is located 170 kilometers (105 miles) southeast of Budapest.
The new CCHP plant was built by the German company r.e Bioenergie GmbH, a subsidiary of BayWa r.e GmbH. The energy developer is running the plant in close cooperation with the poultry processing plant operator Gallicoop Pulykafeldolgoz Zrt. Gallicoop provides a large amount of the raw biomass that is converted into the biogas that powers the Jenbacher engines. The biogas is created through the anaerobic digestion of an annual total of 22,500 tons of turkey and cow manure, 31,000 tons of pig slurry, 47,480 tons of mixed waste (slaughterhouse waste, whey and wastewater sludge) and 18,000 tons of sweet sorghum.
The anaerobic digestion facility is located approximately four kilometers (km) east of the poultry processing plant. To optimize the efficiency of the thermal energy, a special pipeline delivers the biogas from the digester facility to the Jenbacher engines at the processing plant. The CCHP system's thermal power is then used to supply on-site heating and cooling. Any excess electricity is fed into the local grid. Our new biogas power plant illustrates the increasingly important role that biogas will play as Hungary seeks to expand its production of alternative energy in order to comply with the European Union's 20/20/20 initiative to generate 20 percent of the continent's energy from renewable sources by 2020, said r.e Bioenergie GmbH Managing Director Ludwig Dinkloh, who oversees international business for the company. However, only projects that maximize efficiency with a sophisticated heat concept, such as our Szarvas biogas project, provide a sustainable business model.
Agricultural waste is a key industrial source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. However, by digesting the biomass and using the resulting biogas in the Jenbacher units, less of the gas is free to escape into the atmosphere. Also, the valuable, nutrient-rich digester residue is used as a high-quality fertilizer, replacing the use of artificial fertilizers on several thousand hectares of farmland. GE has seen an increased demand for its fuel-flexible gas engines to help customers throughout Europe generate their own onsite power and heat to meet their increasingly stringent environmental and energy efficiency goals.
Our Jenbacher gas engines use the biogas generated from organic waste as a valuable source of energy, allowing us to offer our customers a powerful, cost-effective way of producing energy, said Rafael Santana, president and CEO?Gas Engines for GE Energy. These engines also allow us to make a considerable contribution to the country's larger initiative by reducing the equivalent of more than 10,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year at the largest biogas project in Hungary. GE operates a regional Jenbacher gas engines sales and services center that is co-located with GE's heavy gas turbine manufacturing plant in the city of Veresegyh'z, 30 kilometers northeast of Budapest. The center is ideally positioned to help municipal and private customers in Hungary and other central European countries comply with European Union directives to boost regional energy efficiency levels by modernizing local district heating systems and expanding alternative energy production.
Since 1989, GE has been one of the most significant multinationals operating in Hungary. Today, all five GE core businesses are active in the country. GE is the largest U.S. investor and employer in Hungary with more than 13,000 people and also is one of the country?s biggest exporters. About GE's ecomagination GE is driving a global energy transformation with a focus on innovation and R&D investment to accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy technology. Since its inception in 2005, 115 ecomagination-qualified products have been brought to market with revenues reaching $18 billion in 2009. With $5 billion invested in R&D its first five years, GE committed to doubling its ecomagination investment and collaborate with partners to accelerate a new era of energy innovation.
The company will invest $10 billion in R&D over five years and double operational energy efficiency while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption. As part of the initiative, GE launched GE ecomagination Challenge: Powering the Grid, a $200 million financial commitment challenging innovators to join in developing clean energy technologies. It is extending this Challenge with the GE ecomagination Challenge: Powering Your Home, to develop technologies that help households manage their energy usage. For more information, visit the ecomagination website at http://ge.ecomagination.com/index.html.
About GE GE (NYSE: GE) is an advanced technology, services and finance company taking on the world?s toughest challenges. Dedicated to innovation in energy, health, transportation and infrastructure, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.ge.com. GE also serves the energy sector by providing technology and service solutions that are based on a commitment to quality and innovation.
The company continues to invest in new technology solutions and grow through strategic acquisitions to strengthen its local presence and better serve customers around the world. The businesses that comprise GE Energy GE Power & Water, GE Energy Services and GE Oil & Gas?work together with more than 90,000 global employees and 2010 revenues of $38 billion, to provide integrated product and service solutions in all areas of the energy industry including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy; renewable resources such as water, wind, solar and biogas; as well as other alternative fuels andnew grid modernization technologies to meet 21st century energy needs.
(SeeNews Renewables) - Sep 16, 2011 - German green energy solutions developer Weltec Biopower has finished its fifth biogas power plant in the Czech Republic, after four months of construction and approval by the responsible authorities.
The foundation was laid in March, followed by the installation of the 2,500 cu m stainless steel fermenter, the cogenerator and the 35 cu m vertical batcher. The biogas processing equipment came in May and the test operations started in June, when the plant also received regulatory approval.
The plant's 366 kW gas engine feeds electricity into the grid. The facility runs on agricultural substrates and manure from the nearby farms. The investors received financial support from the EU fund for both environmental issues and rural and agricultural development.
The Czech government sets top priority on green energy production and by 2015 biomass should provide the bigger share of it. This moves players from the country and abroad to invest in the sector. [ http://anaerobic-digestion.com ]
Copyright 2011 SeeNews. All Rights Reserved. www.seenews.com | www.world.seenews.com; e-mail: editor@seenews.com.
The waste from 9,000 pigs will be used to produce electricity and cut CO2 emissions
In North Carolina, US, Duke University and electric and gas service provider Duke Energy, have developed a renewable energy project with the help of search engine Google. The project creates electricity from pig excrement.
The biogas plant has been set up at the Yadkinville-based Loyd Ray Farms, which is home to 9,000 pigs.
Duke Energy and the university have invested $1.2 million (€880,000 million) in the project to date, however Google's investment has not been divulged.
Originally proposed almost three years ago, the project also received grants from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources Lagoon Conversion Program.
The plant will slash CO2 emissions by 5,000 tonnes a year – the same as removing 900 cars from the road.
Both Duke Energy and Duke University will cover the costs of operating and maintaining the plant for the first 10 years that it is online. Google will cover a percentage of the university's costs in return for some of the carbon offsets for a five-year period.
Saturday, 13 August 2011 02:01 - Katie May - LETHBRIDGE HERALD
Construction has begun on a new plant that will turn manure into electricity.
Crews broke ground on Friday to build southern Alberta's first biogas plant at Lethbridge's northside Rave Industrial Park, where nearly 160,000 tonnes of liquid organic waste is expected to generate heat and 2.85 megawatts of electricity each year - enough to power 2,500 homes.
The $30-million project has been in the works for the past 10 years at ECB Enviro North America Inc. The company has partnered with St. Catharines, Ont.-based PlanEt Biogas Solutions Inc., which has built five biogas plants across Canada, to form Lethbridge Biogas LP. ECB President Thane Hurlburt said the plant, when it starts production in January 2013, will use an Alberta-developed thermal hydrolysis technology that's "never been done anywhere in the world," to get rid of any infectious diseases present in the animal waste so the final product can be safely used for fertilizer. The plant will collect animal and vegetable waste from farmers, industrial food plants and restaurants throughout Lethbridge County and in Pincher Creek and Crowsnest Pass to convert into fertilizer pellets, liquid fertilizer and electricity. In doing so, the plant will save a projected 45,000 tonnes of harmful carbon dioxide emissions per year and the power it generates will be sold back to the provincial grid. "We have more than enough hog and dairy manure (locally) to feed the whole plant," Hurlburt said. "If you could gather every last ounce of manure and do nothing but put it through plants like this that generate electricity, we could generate 400 megawatts just within this county." That would be enough to power 400,000 homes. The company plans to hire about 10 people to work at the plant, directly affecting the local economy. Cheryl Dick, the City of Lethbridge's economic development officer, said apart from those financial gains, the plant could make Lethbridge a leader in the field of renewable energy. We believe eventually this is going to become the kind of demonstration site that can help these types of electrical power generators expand right across western Canada," she said. Alberta has one other biogas plant, based in Vegreville, but the relative novelty of the industry in the province put up some roadblocks for the company in working toward plant construction over the past decade. Hurlburt said all levels of government have been "unbelievably supportive of this whole process" and provided some funding, but they faced challenges in permitting the project because some elements of planned operations are similar to natural gas plants and other parts are more like those of waste treatment plants. "But they can't open a book and say, 'oh, here's how we do a biogas plant,' because they don't have that in the book," Hurlburt said. "That's what took the time, from their perspective, to figure out how they'd put this all together." The county is glad the project is finally going ahead, according to County of Lethbridge Reeve Lorne Hickey. "The biggest thing to us at the county is it's a new source of power and it's a green source of power. We're trying to reduce emissions, so that's just a great thing to occur," he said. Hickey predicted the plant's operations will make a big difference to local farmers, who could do more with less land once they have a place to dispose of their waste. "You're really getting the best of both worlds here," he said. "You're going to be able to get rid of (waste) that you would require more land base to spread over and you're also going to be able to get fertilizer back. It's definitely a win-win situation for everybody involved."Please login first to manage your favorite pages.
Hungary’s largest biogas power plant was officially opened on 13 September in the city of Szarvas, where it will provide 4.2 MW of electricity and an equal amount of heat, supporting onsite operations and feeding the local grid.
(It is not clear whether this video is for the same power plant as in the article.)
German company r.e Bioenergie built the combined cooling, heat and power (CCHP) plant, which features three Jenbacher J416 engines supplied by GE.
The plant is being run in close co-operation with the poultry processing plant operator Gallicoop Pulykafeldolgozó, which provides much of the raw biomass that is converted into biogas to power the Jenbacher engines.
The anaerobic digestion facility is about 4 km east of the poultry processing plant. To optimize the efficiency of the thermal energy, a special pipeline delivers the biogas from the digester facility to the Jenbacher engines at the processing plant.
The CCHP system’s thermal power is then used to supply on-site heating and cooling. Any excess electricity is fed into the local grid.
Steve Zylius / University of California-Irvine - National Fuel Cell Research Center associate director Jack Brouwer at the new "sewage-to-hydrogen" fuel pump. By John Roach, contributing writer at msnbc.com.
An experimental fuel cell at a wastewater treatment plant in California is turning poop flushed down the drain into hydrogen fuel for cars.
More gas
The new system at the Orange County Sanitation District'sFountain Valley sewage treatment plant is fed more biogas than it needs for electricity generation. The excess hydrogen produced when mixed with the hot steam is siphoned off for refueling cars.
"We discovered that by doing that we actually substantially increased the efficiency of the fuel cell so that it produces more energy per unit of fuel going in and it allows that hydrogen to be generated for refueling at almost no energy cost," Samuelson said.
The current system uses a 300-kilowatt fuel cell, though the same type of fuel cell is deployed elsewhere at 1.2, 2.4 and 5.6 megawatts, he noted. So, the process is scalable.
In fact, the so-called tri-generation technology (heat, electricity and hydrogen) should work just as well at landfills as wastewater treatment plants. If so, the collective piles of human waste could "power more than 30 percent of the automobile population" in Southern California, Samuelson noted.
Hydrogen clusters
The novel technology at the Orange County Sanitation District seems fitting for the once-lauded hydrogen highway of the future that has evolved into a series of clusters.
Already, several hundred hydrogen cars are on the road and by 2015 big name automakers such as Mercedes, Honda and Chevrolet plan to have some 50,000 hydrogen-powered deployed in southern California.
Instead of putting hydrogen fueling stations up and down and between the coasts, the government-subsidized industry is putting filling stations where people will buy and drive the cars, explained Chris White, a spokeswoman for the California Fuel Cell Partnership.
"You probably go to the same two or three stations most of the time. We look at the same thing for these fuel cell vehicles," she told me today. "Where do people live, work and play?"
That's where they put what are now called the clusters and one of these clusters is in Orange County, where the new station will officially open on August 16.
"The fact that it's also making hydrogen from sewage is an awesome, awesome, bonus," White added. "We talk about running out of fuel one day, I can tell you we are never going to run out of fuel that's made from [sewage]." [The equipment and methods used are known as anaerobic digesters.]
More on hydrogen cars:
Funding for this $8 million to $9 million project was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, the California Air Resources Boardand the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The station was designed by the University of California, Irvine, FuelCell Energy Inc., and Air Products and Chemicals Inc.
John Roachis a contributing writer for msnbc.com.
August 31, 2011 07:53 AM Eastern Daylight Time DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/c98ac0/biogas_power_in_sp) has announced the addition of GlobalData's new report "Biogas Power in Spain, Market Outlook to 2020, 2011 Update - Capacity, Generation, Power Plants, Regulations, and Company Profiles" to their offering.
“Biogas Power in Spain, Market Outlook to 2020, 2011 Update - Capacity, Generation, Power Plants, Regulations, and Company Profiles is the latest report from GlobalData, the industry analysis specialists that offer comprehensive information on the biogas power market.”
"Biogas Power in Spain, Market Outlook to 2020, 2011 Update - Capacity, Generation, Power Plants, Regulations, and Company Profiles is the latest report from GlobalData, the industry analysis specialists that offer comprehensive information on the biogas power market.
The report provides in depth analysis on global renewable power market and global biogas power market with forecasts up to 2020. The report analyzes the power market outlook in country (includes thermal conventional, hydro and renewables) and provides forecasts up to 2020. The research details renewable power market outlook in Spain (includes wind, biopower and solar PV) and provides forecasts up to 2020.
The report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, secondary research and in-house analysis by a team of industry experts.
The Scope of the Report Includes:
Brief introduction and overview on global carbon emissions and global energy consumption. Historical data provided from 2001 to 2010 and forecasts until 2020. Overview on the overall renewable power market in the world, highlighting the fuel types - wind, solar PV, solar thermal, biogas and biomass. Detailed overview on the global biogas power market with capacity and generation forecasts to 2020. Power market scenario in Spain with capacity and generation forecasts to 2020, highlighting fuel types such as thermal conventional, hydro and renewables. Renewable power market scenario in Spain with capacity and generation forecasts to 2020, highlighting fuel types such as wind, biomass and solar PV. Spain biogas power installed capacity and generation trends to 2020 Major active and upcoming plants in the country. Deal volume and value analysis of Spain biogas power market. Deals analyzed on the basis of M&A, Partnership, Asset Financing, Debt Offering, Equity Offering and PE/VC. Elaborate profiling of some of the major market participants. Companies Mentioned:
Ruhamya Dispels Fears About Cost of Biogas Installation
Sep 06, 2011 (The New Times/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- As the campaign to promote the use of biogas for cooking and lighting intensifies, concerns are being raised over the cost of installation and maintenance.
Fixing the smallest plant of biogas costs Rwf 600,000, according to Timothy Kayumba, who heads the National Domestic Biogas Program.
Daniel Muganga, a resident of Ndera in Gasabo says; "We are willing to use biogas, but the price of installation should be reduced so that we can all benefit."
Eng. Coletha Ruhamya, the Minister of State for Energy and Water, told The New Times that the government had launched an incentive to lend Frw300,000 to anyone willing to install the system.
The money is then refunded within a period of three years.
"Sure, there is a big problem in affordability of the biogas plant, but the government currently contributes Rwf300,000 to every citizen wishing to install the energy," the Minister said, adding that the Ministry is also looking into more affordable biogas-systems.
Meanwhile, Kayumba disclosed that the ministry had seconded a qualified technician to every two districts countrywide to approve the safety of any newly installed plant before use.
They also sensitise citizens on the sustainable use and maintenance of the systems.
Kigali-based Lycee de Kigali Secondary School is one of the users of the biogas system. Martin Masabo, the director of the school says that some users are hampered by lack of the qualified technicians.
"For instance, our system was constructed in 1999 when the expertise here was low; it started leaking after using it for a short while and we closed it down," he says. Kayumba, however, said that companies that install the plants are required to provide their clients with a one-year warranty. He clarifies that a well constructed plant should have a minimum lifespan of 30 years. Over 1,300 homes have acquired biogas, in addition to various institutions including schools and prisons. Copyright The New Times. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
One company is making waves in renewable energy circles with its low-cost organic fuel technology.
THE late Tun Ghafar Baba was known for his folksy politics. His speeches were simple but he delivered the messages with dry humour and blunt irony. Among his pet peeves were slothful farmers and wasteful expanses of idle land in rural areas.
Tongue in cheek, the former Deputy Prime Minister used to chide villagers: ?You too can be rich, if we can just find a market for all this lalang (weed grass) and keladi bunting (water hyacinth) around you,?
Ghafar, the country?s longest serving MP (Jasin and Batu Berendam) passed away in 2006 at the age of 76 ? not realising the current value of lalang and water hyacinth ? as organic feed to produce clean, renewable energy.
Power from weeds: Water hyacinth is a key component feed for the Serigas energy plant in Bangalore, India. The plant processes the common weed and other organic wastes to produce methane biofuel.
He would have been amazed that a variety of weeds along with waste from farms, kitchens, slaughterhouses and even humans, are now being turned into highly purified combustible natural gas that can be used for cooking, power electric turbines and even as fuel for vehicles.
Scalene Greenergy Corporation in India, has developed an organic fuel technology that can be utilised at a relatively low cost.
The company is currently making waves in the renewable energy circles with a continuous stream of visitors from all over the world to its 670sqm gas energy plant, located within its research campus in Bangalore.
Biogas is the result of the anaerobic digestion (decomposition without oxygen) of organic matter. It usually comprises methane and carbon dioxide, with traces of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and nitrogen.
It is not something new. Assyrians used biogas to heat bath water as early as in the 10th century. In the 17th century, Belgian chemist Jan Baptita Van Helmont discovered that decaying organic matter produced flammable gases. Italy?s Count Alessandro Volta noticed the link between the amount of decaying organic matter and flammable gas produced. British scientist Sir Humphry Davy found out that cow dung emitted methane.
In rural India, where biogas or gobar (Hindi for cow dung) gas is widely used as cooking fuel, the first anaerobic digestion plant was built 152 years ago, in a Bombay (now Mumbai) leper colony. But since then, except for newer construction materials, piping and such, there has been very little change in the process and also not much difference in the quality of the gas.
?It has largely remained a simple technology. Bacteria digest the organic matter and produce biogas,? said Dr Rajah Vijay Kumar, chairman and chief executive officer of Scalene Greenergy Corporation Ltd and Scalene Cybernetics.
Besides the low efficiency gas (55% to 65% methane), the basic system also produces carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, a corrosive gas, resulting in pumps breaking down frequently.
Kumar, a researcher in biophysics, nanotechnology and sustainable energy, together with members of his Scalene Energy Research Institute (Seri) team, have developed a process to produce high-purity combustible gas, trade marked as Serigas.
Today, as much as 200kg of Serigas can be produced from one tonne of organic waste ? between 30% to 60% more than from existing systems.
The bioreactors used to process waste and harness biogas can be scaled down for use in offices, homes and small communities.
Improved systems
Nine years of research has resulted in several scientific breakthroughs, like the Serigas bioreactor, which converts any biodegradable material into biomethane (up to 98% pure methane).
A significant part of the process is the microbe incubated bioreactor, designed to completely digest a very wide range of biomass, including lignin cellulose and hemi cellulose, within 10 to 24 days. For a long-time, lignin has been the single biggest technical bio-processing barrier to cellulosic biofuels because it is very difficult and costly to separate lignin from cellulose.
A fuel enrichment technology called ?spiral protium accelerating reactor super enrichment? (Sparse), meanwhile, is a combustion booster innovation that reduces fuel consumption of electricity generators by 50%. One kilogramme of refined Serigas can generate 6.5 units of electricity using the Sparse technology. Without Sparse, the power produced is only 3.5 units.
?Serigas has similar properties to fossil natural gas but without the undesirable impurities like butane, propane, pentane and CO2. Our highly controlled biological reaction has a very low cost of installation compared to other biogas, solar and wind energy systems,? Kumar said.
Computers of the bioreactors monitor parameters such as pH levels, temperature, humidity, hydraulic retention, carbon-hydrogen ratio and correct measures automatically.
Serigas can also be used in conventional diesel generators with minimum modifications.
The generators at Scalene?s power plant are fully computerised to work on input from readings on air-fuel variations, engine speeds, oxygen sensors and the spark ignition system. They produce no harmful emissions, except for water vapour.
Besides the gas, the other output of the plant is the 98% digested substance of the organic feed ? between 2% and 4 % solid and the rest liquid. This is turned into a high-grade fertiliser and alkaloids-rich pest repellent liquid.
As a cooking fuel, Serigas has the efficiency of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) and safety of firewood, besides being the cheapest cooking gas. It can be delivered through domestic gas pipes and conventional gas cylinders.
The high calorific value of Serigas is also comparable to that of LPG, making it an excellent automotive fuel that produces no carbon monoxide and other polluting gases. Serigas can be compressed into 200kg to 250kg canisters for large vehicles and from 20kg to 30kg canisters for smaller vehicles and motorcycles.
Malaysian partnership
Incidentally, it was a Malaysian who got Kumar involved in renewable energy. Dr Ramesan Pillay, who had undergone multiple angiograms, got to know Kumar ? inventor of the Haemoseis 256 machine, a three-dimensional solution for cardiovascular assessment, diagnosis, management and prognosis ? through a mutual friend. The non-evasive machine that provides crucial physiological data is among the medical devices developed by Centre for Advanced Research and Development (CARD) ? a division of Scalene Cybernetics.
Dr Ramesan, who now heads Kuala Lumpur-based Scalene Asia Pacific, said he joined the team by starting out with research into medical devices and later ventured into renewable energy.
Serigas has similar properties to fossil natural gas but without the undesirable impurities like butane, propane, pentane and CO2. ?DR RAJAH VIJAY KUMAR
?I have always had a passion for waste management, especially municipal wastes, after being guided by two Indian experts in the field, Dr S.R. Maley and Mr Anjan Das,? he said.
It was Dr Ramesan who pointed out that there was abundant energy in the keladi bunting floating in the lake which could be used as feed. ?The Serigas technology provides the ideal solution for the huge amounts of wastes that Malaysia produces. It can turn what is now unwanted to most wanted and valued,? he said.
Dr Ramesan said the application can be widely used because the feedstock can be any organic wastes, including the 930 tonnes of leftover food ? the equivalent of 93,000 10kg bags of rice ? that Malaysians throw out daily.
?Palm oil effluent remain a huge problem for the industry. A 40-tonne mill, for example, produces up to 24 tonnes of effluent per hour. One tonne of effluent can produce 100 cu m of methane. One megawatt of power can be generated with 6,000 cu m of methane, or less than three hours of plant operation,? he added.
Dr Ramesan said the huge amounts of agricultural waste from almost every other crop and also from pig, cattle and chicken farms were potential feeds.
?The system can also take municipal solid wastes while processing wastes from hotels, island resorts, hospitals into renewable energy and can be custom built to meet requirements under Scalene?s ?plug-and-play? system, using very little manpower.?
He said the food and beverage industry, particularly beer breweries, were another area of focus. ?Spent grain from breweries is a huge and costly problem to get rid off. This technology offers the simple yet valuable answer to the problem,? he said.
A brewery in India, reputedly the second largest in the world, has commissioned Scalene to provide electricity for its plant using spent grain as feed.
The Scarlene Greenery technology will be showcased at the second International Greentech & Eco Products Exhibition & Conference Malaysia at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from Sept 7 to 10. A portable version, designed for houses, is expected to be on display.
Three companies partner for biogas power plant - 6 September 2011
Three renewable energy companies have formed a partnership to develop and run a biogas pipe plant in Columbia, South Carolina, US.
The new anaerobic digester will convert 48,000 tonnes of organic waste matter into 3.2MW of biogas power.
German plant engineering company Eisenmann will supply its anaerobic digestion technology to the project, while US companies W2E Organic Power and CIYCOR will oversee construction work.
'We have developed a significant group of partners with waste streams for our system and we look forward to beginning this brand new effort to process waste into energy,' says Daniel Rickenmann, CEO of W2E Organic Power, who is confident the project will be completed ahead of schedule.
The joint venture will break ground on the facility before the end of this year, with operations scheduled to begin in 2012.
Light Rain ShowerMax: 17°CMin: 15°CWind: SW 21mph