Breakthrough Quality Protocol for Anaerobic Digestate Published

This protocol should assist the producers of AD Digestate massively to sell their digestate, if all goes well (Steve Last - www.anaerobic-digestion.com).

02-01-2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Defra Announces New Anaerobic Digestion Initiative

Anaerobic digestion: new energy initiative

Food Waste

Farming Minister Jane Kennedy, speaking at the annual conference of the National Farmers Union in Birmingham on 18 February 2009, announced a new joint initiative with the public and private sector to make greater use of anaerobic digestion – the technology which produces energy from organic material like food waste and manure.

Ms Kennedy said:

"We're producing more organic waste in this country than we can handle, over 12 million tonnes of food waste a year – and farmers know all too well the challenges of managing manure and slurry.

"There are alternatives to sending organic waste to landfill. Anaerobic digestion is a true solution.

"This material could produce enough heat and power to run more than two million homes – helping to prevent dangerous climate change by providing a renewable energy source as well as reducing our reliance on landfill."

A report, ‘Anaerobic Digestion – Shared Goals’, has been drawn up in discussion with a wide cross section of the business community including: agriculture and biogas industries, supermarkets, water and energy companies, the waste and food sectors, Regional Development Agencies, local government, and regulators. It sets out collective ambitions for the use of this technology.

Ms Kennedy will also convene a new Task Group, to be chaired by Steve Lee, Chief Executive Officer of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM), and with members drawn from a broad range of sectors. It will lead the development of an implementation plan setting out the practical measures that Government and stakeholders will take individually and collectively to achieve these shared goals.

More here, and a link to the Defra Shared Goals Report - at least it appeared to be but was not working when we tried to access it!

Biogas Nord Expands to UK and Reports Tremendous United Kingdom AD Potential

Only two days ago, here at Anaerobic Digestion News we announced that UTS Biogastechnik is now also in UK & Ireland, but we have to admit to being slow off the mark with Biogas Nord's Press Release, below which shows their earlier UK AD Market entry which was announced last Autumn!

04. November 2008
BIOGAS NORD expands to UK

Mian Points:
• UK's first energy crop biogas plant commissioned
• Construction of second biogas plant commenced in October
• Tremendous potential thanks to an attractive legal framework

Bielefeld, 4 November 2008. The BIOGAS NORD group has constructed its first English biogas plant in Dorset. This also marks the commissioning of the first energy crop biogas plant in the UK. The plant, with a capacity of 370 kW, operates on liquid cattle manure as well as corn and grass silage.

Farmer Owen Yeatman, who is also the manager of BIOGAS NORD UK Ltd., operates the facility.

"German biogas technology enjoys a good reputation in the UK. The completion of this construction project by BIOGAS NORD generated a lot of local interest. Many farmers from all over the country are coming to see the new plant. They are impressed by its sturdy construction and high efficiency. Our phones haven't stopped ringing since the BBC aired its television report,"

says Yeatman.

BIOGAS NORD AG now intends to increase its British market share. "Since numerous prospective customers from Britain had to travel to Germany in order to see biogas plants in the past, the construction of our first local reference facility will make a tremendous contribution towards future sales efforts. With currently less than 10 existing biogas plants, the English biogas market offers significant growth potential," explains Hardy Radke, sales manager at BIOGAS NORD UK.

Construction of another BIOGAS NORD biogas plant with a planned capacity of 1 MW commenced in West Sussex in October 2008. This construction project in the Southern UK is slated for completion in the spring of 2009.

Supply remuneration in the UK for electricity generated using biogas - among others - is regulated by a bonus system. In addition to certificates with baseline remuneration, the so-called ROCs (Renewable Obligation Certificates), variable payments for electricity supplied to the network are linked to market prices. This applies regardless of the size of the facility and the choice of substrates. Amended bonus regulations will come into force and ROC remuneration will double starting in April of 2009.

"By entering the British biogas market early, we have put ourselves in a favourable starting position in this important core market,"

explains Matthias Kubat, member of the BIOGAS NORD AG executive board.

"Since our flexible plant technology is not limited to the agricultural sector, we are extremely well positioned. We also offer corresponding solutions for other types of organic waste, for example in the food service industry. Thanks to the commitment of the British government to continue promoting renewable energy sources and the planned increase in supply remuneration, we are expecting significant market growth. BIOGAS NORD is ready to reap the benefits,"

Kubat adds. More here at Biogas Nord's web site.

Major German AD Company UTS Opens UK and Ireland Operation

UTS Biogastechnik is now also in UK & Ireland

Foundation of UTS Biogas Ltd.

The UTS Biogastechnik Group of companies were extended into the United Kingdom and Ireland by a new subsidiary on December 1, 2008.

UTS Biogas Ltd., with Rob Heap as General Manager, is located in North Yorkshire, near Scarborough and will provide full support to biogas markets in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Rob Heap has many years of experience in the agricultural and allied industries.

The CEO of the parent company, Dr. Andrew Benedek, said:

"It is now the right time to enter this very interesting and rapidly expanding market. Government plans to support renewable energies are well developed and already the first bills have been accepted by Parliament. It is our belief that this act will certainly help with climate change and, most importantly, will also significantly help local environments by turning waste into energy."

From the German perspective they view the biogas sector in the UK as hardly developed – compared with other European markets.

First developments show that mostly small – medium output plants are appealing to potential customers.

UTS has over sixteen years experience in building reliable plants in this range and they believe that they have a lot to offer the UK market as they can also support the developing UK AD market as the plants in the larger megawatt ranges become important.

With the full support of the parent company situated in Germany, Rob Heap and the UTS team want to offer their future customers a total-solutions concept including feasibility, planning, design & build, operating, training and complete after-sales support following hand-over of the plant.

Rob’s view is that:

“With the vast experience, flexible approach and advanced technical standards of UTS-products, we can deliver more reliable plants and comprehensive supporting services to the UK & Irish markets than those that have been available before."

Further information can be obtained at their website: www.uts-biogas.com

Remade to Offer £25k Cash for Scottish Pilot to Study EfW Heat Use

The Scottish Government looks for pilot plant looking at heat use from EfW plants.

The Scottish Government under its ‘Remade Scotland’ programme is going to make an award of £25,000 towards a pilot plant looking at heat use from EfW plants. Do you have a suitable plant to apply with an expression of interest?

The Scottish Government have asked Caledonian Environment Centre (CEC) as part of its Remade Scotland programme to manage a tendering, evaluation and funding award project for a pilot on heat use from Energy from Waste plants (EfW). This project was suggested by the Zero Waste Think Tank for Scotland.

It is expected that suitable projects will contribute to the flexible development of waste heat use from EfW plants in line with Government policy to ensure EfW systems recovery energy efficiently.

Specifically the project will look to cover a number of factors or issues including:

* Technical evaluation
* System optimisation
* Scale-up costs
* Barriers
* Energy recovery – heat capture and transfer efficiency
* Innovation

There are no technology restrictions for funding although it must be for a pilot project of heat recovery and from an EfW or Waste to Energy (WtE) plant, thermal or non-thermal, including landfill gas and composting. Deliverables from the pilot will include a publicly available report from the successful applicant detailing the outcomes from the defined project criteria. Funding is only available for pilot projects based in Scotland.


Remade Scotland, if you have not yet heard, is a major initiative which seeks to stimulate, develop and strengthen recyclate material markets in Scotland.

Supported by the public and private sector in a unique partnership, the Remade programme - the first of its kind in the UK - was launched in 1999. The Programme has been assisting both Local Authorities and the Waste Industry for nearly 10 years providing successful, cost effective and sustainable solutions. Well aware of the importance of others players such as community groups to further develop recyclate material markets, Remade Scotland also works with and provides guidelines to several of these organisations.

As part of the Scottish Government's Zero Waste Initiative, in partnership with two other delivery programmes, SWAG and WRAP, Remade Scotland has agreed a three programme of support to help Scotland achieve ambitious recycling targets.

For more information Go to the Remade News section.

The Gribble and Yorkshire Research Seeks to Isolate Biofuel Producing Enzyme to Compete with Anaerobic Digestion

Simon McQueen-Mason, Professor of Materials Biology at the University of York, has won a record budget to investigate how the gribble consumes wood.

According to Michael McCarthy the Independent Environment Editor the little creature could hold the key to a discovery which would turn wood into sustainable motor fuel on a vast scale.

If they can isolate and synthesise the enzyme the quirky named creature uses to feed on wood, the way may then be open to greatly increase production of biofuels such as ethanol can be made without using food crops.

We are told that Simon came across the gribble when he was a professional fisherman on the Isle of Wight for six years before beginning his academic career. "I used to clean the bottom of other people's boats, and gribble was a major problem," he said.

Now his laboratory will study gribbles collected from rotting wood by staff from the University of Portsmouth, identifying their enzymes and trying to reproduce them synthetically.

The name of the gribble sounds as if it must be a purely fictional creature straight out of a children’s story or cartoon. But in fact it's a small marine creature resembling a woodlouse.

The gribble spends its life boring into the planks of boats and the pillars of piers and to eat them, and its wood-consuming technique is highly successful. The gribble, is actually, the four-spot gribble, Limnoria quadripunctata, and will feature strongly in Britain's biggest-ever publicly-funded bioenergy research programme, announced last week.

£27m will be spent over five years in the project which aims to create so-called "second generation" biofuels, which are much more efficient than those in production today and in a way which will be much more environmentally friendly than present biofuels, which are largely manufactured from food crops such as maize, wheat or sugar cane.

These proposed second-generation fuels will be derived from non-food plant material, ideally plant waste such as straw and wood, with fast growing high calorific value willow being particularly favoured. If they can isolate the enzymes the gribble uses to extract the nutritious sugars from wood they will have made a big step on this path.

Success could mean an enormous expansion of willow as a biofuel crop in Britain, on some of the three million acres of lesser quality or marginal farmland countrywide, which would go a long way to meeting Britain's targets of drawing 5 per cent of motor fuel from biological sources by 2010 and 10 per cent by 2020.

Would it compete with Anaerobic Digestion? To a certain extent; Yes! However, demand for renewable fuel is likely to be so high that there will be a place for the second generation biofuels and biogas/anaerobic digestion.

As ever - please give us your views by commenting on the blog site, we would be delighted to know your thoughts about this.

Stockholm - Biogas First Choice as the Cleanest Fuel Available

This is a posting from KARAMEL BiogasMax the EU sponsored biogas web site:

Stockholm : an increasing number of buses fueled with biomethane
bus stockholm 050109

SL, the company in charge of Public Transport in the town and the county of Stockholm, announced that its fleet will include 80 buses running on biomethane this year. An SL analysis showed that biomethane is the most environmental friendly and economically attractive biofuel.

SL (Storstockholms Lokaltrafik), in charge of the whole of the Public Transport in and around Stockholm, operates more than 700 000 travels a day. As SL is concerned about environmental impact of its activity, it has run for quite a long time an environmental policy of CO2 emissions reduction. Thus, our Biogasmax partner introduced its first biogas buses by 2003, to reach lately the number of 52 units, which run today with gas natural and bioethanol buses.

An SL analysis that tackles different alternative fuels shows that biomethane is the most efficient biofuel : bioethanol does not offer the same environmental advantages, apart from other ethical concerns. The biomethane use as fuel for vehicle in Public Transport clearly creates an attractive environmentally closed loop : this means that the town-dwellers themselves, with the production of their organic wastes, supply the ressources required for the fuel production of their own public transport.

SL states that biogas is the first-hand choice as it is the cleanest fuel available today. Thus, it announces an expansion of the number of biogas buses : 80 (currently 50 articulated gas buses) by the end of that year, and, over the next four years, a view of 500 units. Today, these buses operate in the inner city of Stockholm, where air quality is the worst. But, as the number of these biogas buses increases, they will operate in the suburbs of Stockholm.

The expansion of the biogas buses depends of course on the local production capacity of biomethane. SL has secured the long term supply via agreements with Stockholm Water and Käppala Association. Go to BiogasMax here.

Scottish Water to Team Up with Monsal on Biogas Plant in Cumbernauld

Scottish Water to build biogas plant in Cumbernauld

Scottish Water's plans to build an anaerobic digestion facility at Cumbernauld which will generate electricity and heat have made a major step forward with the signing of agreements to design and build the 30,000 tonne-a-year capacity plant.

The utilities company has secured the services of Nottinghamshire-based AD specialists Monsal and HBS Construction of Glasgow to design and build the Deerdykes facility, which will be built on the same site as its existing 24,000 tonne-a-year capacity in-vessel composting plant.

Expected to be fully operational by April 2010, the plant will generate 1MW of electricity - to be used on site, by neighbouring industrial estates and, potentially, sold back to the National Grid.

It will also produce 1.1MW of heat which can be used in district heating schemes for local homes and businesses.

Planning permission for the site, which will be run by the commercial arm of Scottish Water Waste Services, Horizons, has already been awarded and the company is in the process of securing operating permits.

Aidan Cumisky, managing director of Monsal, said: "This will be a flagship project for Scotland where Scottish Water Waste Services has taken the initiative to demonstrate the viability of biowaste anaerobic digestion on a large scale.

"This solution can be applied across Scotland to make a significant impact on waste recycling and renewable energy generation targets using the latest Monsal technology."

The development was welcomed by Mike Russell, environment minister for the Scottish Government, who said: "The extension to Deerdykes is precisely the kind of forward-thinking that we want local authorities to undertake as we push to minimise the waste generated in Scotland."

The plans were also well-received by Duncan McLaren, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland who said: "This is an example of a big company taking sound initiative to help address the twin problems of climate change and excessive organic waste being sent to landfill."

A spokesman for Scottish Water explained the plant would at first take in food waste collected by local councils and it is hoped that the food industry will also use the facility to process its waste.

He said that "initial waste streams to provide raw materials have already been secured" and added that Scottish Water is currently trying attract the commercial sector to the operation.

More at New Energy Focus...

Biogas-to-CNG Vehicle Fuel Projects Announced in Asia and Europe

QuestAir Drives Biogas-to-CNG Vehicle Fuel Projects in Asia and Europe
Market Developments Escrito por NGV Global, Martes 06 de Enero de 2009 00:00

Canada, Vancouver

QuestAir Technologies Inc. announced in mid December 2008 that it will supply M-3200 pressure swing adsorption systems for two unique projects that create renewable compressed natural gas (CNG) from biogas. The projects will use the systems to remove carbon dioxide and other contaminants from biogas waste streams to produce clean CNG that will power vehicles.

Austria's Spezialgase und Kryotechniksysteme Limited (SKS) and Salzburg AG, a large utility provider, have ordered a new system to expand their demonstration project in Salzburg. The plant purifies biogas generated by the digestion of grass clippings and other green waste from the city's municipal gardens, providing clean, green CNG for use as a vehicle fuel for city buses. Salzburg AG has plans to develop up to 20 additional biogas projects in Austria.

South Korea's Daesung Industrial Gases Co. Ltd. is developing one of the first biogas-to-CNG projects in Asia in Gimpo City, where biogas produced at the municipal landfill will be purified to create CNG fuel for use in city vehicles. Daesung Industrial and Hansol EME, a Korea-based environmental engineering company, plan to build a large-scale biogas upgrading plant in 2010 if the demonstration project meets expectations. More...

World Carbon Market Doubles and that Includes Anaerobic Digestion Credits

Analyst: World carbon market doubles in 2008
Latest research shows global market enjoyed strong performance in fourth quarter despite economic downturn and falling carbon prices

BusinessGreen.com Staff, BusinessGreen, 14 Jan 2009

According to the Point Carbon report, the global carbon market doubled in size to $125bn.

Further evidence emerged today backing up predictions that the carbon market will shrug off the worst of the economic downturn, as Point Carbon became the latest analyst firm to confirm that the global carbon market enjoyed record growth throughout 2008.

According to the latest figures from the company, the global carbon market doubled in size to €92bn ($125bn) last year, while traded volumes soared by 83 per cent year-on-year to 4.9 giga tonnes of carbon.

The release of the research comes just days after rival analyst firm New Carbon Finance reported that the global carbon market almost doubled to $118bn last year. It also predicted that the market would still enjoy a growth rate of 27 per cent this year, despite the slowing global economy.

The Point Carbon study did not offer predictions for the scale of the market in 2009, but Endre Tvinnereim, senior analyst and author of the report, said that there were encouraging signs during the fourth quarter of the year that the sector could resist the worst impacts of the global recession.

"There was steady growth in traded volumes throughout 2008, with brisk EUA trading in the fourth quarter and high activity in the secondary CER market," he said.

Veronique Bugnion, managing director of trading, analytics and research at Point Carbon, added that the rapid growth expected from new cap-and-trade schemes such as the recently launched RGGI scheme in the US meant that the outlook for the sector remained upbeat, despite the recent slide in carbon prices experienced by the EU emissions trading scheme. "

"The fact that global carbon markets have now broken the £100bn mark is more than symbolic," she said. "It represents a market that has doubled in size in an otherwise depressed environment. It is all the more remarkable since the prices of European Union Allowances have in fact dropped significantly in the past months."

More...

Much Needed Quality Protocol for Anaerobic Digestate Published

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

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

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

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

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

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

Requirements

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reflecting On UK Anaerobic Digestion Policy to Start the New Year

The Christmas and New Year period allows a little more time than usual to reflect on the path that we are treading in the UK, and many other EU nations as well, toward greater utilisation of AD and organic waste in the quest to divert waste from landfill.

Also, by using biogas we will both be gaining renewable energy from an otherwise wasted resource, and avoiding the emission of methane which is such a potent greenhouse gas and we will at least move in the right direction toward sustainability.

Also, there are opportunities via carbon credit funding for EU companies to buy CERs from developing nations, thus enabling them to utilise AD and similar sustainable processes.

I think that what I am describing was in fact very well stated by Dr Stephen Etheridge*, as Chair of the UK Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental management, in his CIWEM Water & Environment Magazine, July/August 2006.

The following is an extract from that article:-

In the UK, around 31 million tonnes of MSW are produced annually. Approximately 30 percent of this waste is biodegradable. As a result of the EU Landfill Directive, the UK waste management authorities must divert the biodegradable fraction of MSW from landfill to other treatment options.
Based on experience from full-scale AD facilities for MSW in Europe, the use of AD technologies in the UK could contribute significantly to waste and renewable energy targets. In order to address this, Defra carried out a consultation in 2003 on the potential role of AD as a bioprocess that could meet energy and soil conditioner objectives for Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPI).

The consultation confirmed that if all the biodegradable MSW in the UK was used to generate biogas from digestion plants, approximately 2,420 million kilowatts of electricity could be produced each year.
As a result of the drive to combat climate change the emphasis in many parts of the world is now on mitigating emissions of methane to the atmosphere from existing treatment lagoons, landfills and other waste management systems. Methane is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas and for every tonne saved there is the potential to secure a tradable certificate of emissions reduction (CER) worth 23 tonnes of carbon dioxide, Under the Kyoto Protocol emissions reductions in developing nations can be purchased by developed countries as a way to cost-effectively reduce their obligation to reduce carbon emissions.

Since many developing countries are in warm climates where methane is readily generated, anaerobic digestion is an ideal technology to mitigate emissions and to capture the biogas for the production of a renewable energy. In addition, developed nations are keen to buy CERs to offset difficult targets which must be achieved at home.
In a recent study funded by the UK FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) significant opportunities were identified for cattle, pig and agro-industrial operations in Mexico. To benefit from emissions trading opportunities each developing country must have a host nation office and a local infrastructure to certify emissions saved. These are now more prevalent and where they are not established many countries are in the process of doing so.
Although it is early days for CER trading, companies are already signing up potential clients in developing countries. Often the climate is naturally warm and with an appropriate low cost technology based on covered lagoons lined with flexible liner materials such as HDPE (high density polyethylene), digesters can be deployed to treat many agro-industrial wastes. The Asia BioGas Company has constructed nearly 50 anaerobic digesters in the last four to five years. One of these, based at a cassava factory, is thought to be the largest digester in the world.
Anaerobic Digestion is a unique technology which presents a range of opportunities to generate renewable energy, treat biodegradable MSW and reduce carbon emissions. It is precisely because the technology straddles different areas that incentives and support must be cross-sectoral. Whilst this has been implemented very successfully elsewhere in Europe, there are still challenges to be overcome in the UK if this technology is to achieve its true potential. ■
*Dr Stephen P Etheridge was the Chair of the CIWEM Scientific Group and a member of CIWEM's Waste Management Panel. He was co-Chair of the Environmental Protection Subject Group of the Institution of Chemical Engineers and Editor for Waste for the European Federation of Chemical Engineering. He has led a number of international projects in Asia and Europe in the environmental and renewable energy sectors and was recently appointed Chief Technology Officer for the Asia BioGas Company.

So, there it is, and we are now two and a half years further down this path and real progress has being made in the adoption of AD on a much wider scale than thought possible even in 2006.

Hopefully, 2009 will see energy prices returning to a viable level from recent lows of scarcely $50 per barrel, and the lending banks will return to being just that, and all before we see a derailment of this progress.

Wishing all our readers very best wishes for 2009.

(Oh! Yes! Before I forget! Please participate by commenting whenever possible on these posts throughout the New Year! We have over 400 subscribers to these posts. However, responses are so much appreciated otherwise your Blogger wonders whether anyone is actually reading these posts!)

Four Killed by Biogas in Digester Tank in Philippines

While the biogas from Anaerobic Digestion does mercifully disperse rapidly, terrible accidents can and do happen around the world, as the following post from the Philippines shows:

Biogas tank that killed four in Batangas had no permit

By TINA GANZON, ABS-CBN SOUTHERN TAGALOG | 12/11/2008 11:10 PM

The sanitary inspector of Malvar town in Batangas province has confirmed that FS Lajara Farm in Bagong Pook town has no permit to operate the biogas tank that killed 4 workers Tuesday morning.

Inspector Aldrin Leviste said that the company, owned by former Calamba Mayor Severino Lajara, would be asked to put their biogas operations on hold. They may also be fined for operating such facility without securing the necessary permit.

Leviste said that all biogas operators are required to employ a pollution control officer to guide and monitor the workers. He said it is also essential to impose the use of necessary safety garments such as protective masks and supportive gadgets.

FS Lajara Farm was allegedly not complying with any of the guidelines provided.

Based on the post mortem report suffocation was identified as the cause of death. Health Officer Dr. Luisa Jaurigue said it is also possible the victims were able to ingest pig manure which also caused poisoning.

It was the last day of a two-week contract for workers William Flores, Jovert Catalan, John John Villa and Richard Manahan when they all lost consciousness upon entering the biogas tank that led to their demise. More at CBN News here.

In the EU the ATEX Directive applies safety rules for all explosion risk and dangerous substances sites like biogas digesters/ See ATEX and DSEAR for the UK requirements.

Important UK Defra Meeting with Anaerobic Digestion Interests Announced

Defra to hold second meeting on AD

11-12-2008

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Feed-in tariffs

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

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

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

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

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

Municipal

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

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

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

See full LetsRecycle article.

Anaerobic Digestion Biogas and EU REACH Implemetation

Last week immediately after the UK implementation of the REACH Regulations I found that I had to admit admit ignorance when I received a call in which I was asked whether biogas produced from waste would fall under the REACH regulations.

I was soon reassured by colleagues that all was OK for those, like me that had not even thought of this, and that biogas did not require REACH registration and compliance.

As an Engineer in waste processing I don't have responsibility for legal compliance, and hence this was not a major gap in my knowledge, nevertheless, I did not know of the background until I read Philip Charlesworth's article in the Chartered Institution of Waste Management's monthly journal for this month.

I am sure that Philip will not mind me copying a part of his article below, which hopefully makes the background to all this clear:

*********************
In October this year the lead REACH enforcement body, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), issued a fact sheet to explain the position on "recovered waste substances". This publication stated that "[waste] recovery businesses are considered to be manufacturers under REACH". A list of waste "recovery" operations is included in the imminent revision of the Waste Framework Directive (WFD).

Registration may be required where a new substance is produced in the manufacturing process. Where a substance has been recovered, or a new substance has been produced, and this is then incorporated into the manufacture of an "article", that “article” may not be caught by REACH.

An article is defined as an “... object which during production is given a special shape, surface or design which determinates its function to a greater degree than does its chemical composition".

This could apply to products made from recycled waste. It follows from Article 7 of REACH that substances contained within the "articles" that are not intended to be released from within the "articles" during use, would not need to be registered (unless the substances are carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction).

REACH specifically exempts the following products that have been manufactured from waste substances; compost, biogas, glass and minerals occurring in their natural state.

These exemptions would appear to support the preamble to REACH, which states that incentives for waste recycling and recovery should be maintained. The exemptions also enable the Government to meet the objectives of Article 6 of the revised WFD by continuing to publish quality protocols for "end of waste" materials. Protocols are already available for compost and some aggregate products derived from waste.

The Government must have enforcement of REACH, following the expiry of the 1 December 2008 deadline. This will see the REACH Enforcement Regulations 2008 come into force (in accordance with Article 126 of REACH). The leading enforcement body (the "competent authority") is the HSE and it will have powers to take action against "recycling and recovery" operations that may have been required to register.

In England and Wales the HSE will join forces with the Environment Agency, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and local authorities to control the manufacture and placing on the market of articles and substances, protection of the environment and the safety of consumer products from chemical substances.

The European Chemicals Agency intends to publish a list of all the pre-registered substances in January 2009.
*******************************

CIWM Members can email the CIWM for more information. Non-members requiring more information can contact Philip Charlesworth. I will have to avoid giving his email as it reads for fear of him receiving a lot of spam from this posting from the plague of spambots which continually scrape web pages for email addresses to send spam. I will therefore describe his ema-il address as containing enads.co.uk after the @ sign preceded with the word info.

IF you are not already a CIWM member, why not consider applying?

UK Planning Bill receives Royal Assent Plus Environment and Transport Bills Moved On

Planning Bill receives Royal Assent...

Michael Donnelly, PlanningResource, 27 November 2008

The Planning Bill has completed the legislative process after receiving Royal Assent last night.

The government says the Planning Act 2008 will enable decisions on major infrastructure projects in areas such as energy, aviation, road and rail transport, water and waste to be taken much more speedily than under the current system.

Under the Act ministers will set out National Policy Statements detailing national infrastructure priorities and the decisions as to whether to allow individual projects to go ahead will then be taken independently by a new Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC).

The government will set out a timetable to set-up the IPC and consult on the detailed regulations and NPSs to implement the new system in the New Year.

Communities secretary Hazel Blears said: "Now that the Planning Bill has been given Royal Assent we can begin to create the faster, fairer planning system we need to reduce our fossil fuel addiction and build up a new generation of renewable energy infrastructure sources like wind power. Many low carbon power sources will now get faster approval, and the country could save £300m a year."

Planning Bill minister John Healey added: "The new Planning Act 2008 will bring about real culture change for deciding the future needs of our national infrastructure. Importantly it will also give the public three chances to get their views on proposals across instead of one."

But countryside campaigners the CPRE expressed doubts about how well the Bill will work in practice. Paul Miner, CPRE’s senior planning campaigner commented: "We have monitored the Bill closely throughout its passage through Parliament. Some of it is sensible. But we doubt that its centrepiece – an expensive, unelected, unaccountable commission taking big planning decisions – will work in practice.

"There is a grave danger that this new commission will be seen merely as a promoter and a rubber stamp for highly damaging infrastructure projects imposed without proper debate. It will be interesting to see who steps forward to be a commissioner on this new body, given the challenges it faces."

The government launched the recruitment process for the position of IPC chairman in October. Shortlisting will take place early next year with interviews in spring and appointment in early summer.


...along with new environment and transport bills

Susanna Gillman, PlanningResource, 27 November 2008

A raft of other legislation that will impact on planning was passed last night along with the Planning Bill.

The Climate Change, Energy and Local Transport bills have also gained Royal Assent.

The climate legislation makes the UK the first country in the world to adopt legally-binding carbon emission targets.

Under the Climate Change Act, the government will have to adhere to five year carbon budgets and will be required to provide annual reports on its progress towards meeting the budgets.

Energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband said: "The UK is the first country in the world to introduce a legally-binding framework to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

“Setting the 80 per cent target was the easy part: now the work really begins. Government, communities, businesses and individuals need to work together to bring about change.

"The Energy and Planning Acts will be instrumental in reducing carbon emissions, removing barriers to enable industry to invest in important new infrastructure, and giving individuals and communities the incentive to use energy more efficiently and generate their own heat and energy."

Meanwhile the Local Transport Act 2008 will help bring all modes of transport together, by strengthening the role of the Passenger Transport Authorities - to be renamed Integrated Transport Authorities (ITAs) - and by enabling new ones to be established.

These will help major urban areas outside London to improve coordination of the road network and public transport.

The existing six Passenger Transport Authorities will be renamed ITAs from early in the new year. They will take on full responsibility for local transport planning across their areas.

The Act also creates the opportunity for local areas to review their existing arrangements, and to propose reforms including enhanced powers and boundary changes.

More at UK Government.

Information for Wasters about the UK's Pre-Budget Report

Waste@Westminster News

CHANCELLOR ISSUES PRE-BUDGET REPORT

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling MP, has issued the pre-budget report for 2009, emphasising the Government’s desire not to let the current economic downturn impact on spending on renewable energy and other environmental projects.

“Action to achieve environmental goals remains a high priority,” he stated in his address to Parliament. Of key importance, the pre-budget report states the Renewables Obligation will be extended until “at least 2037”, in order to encourage increased investment in renewable energy technologies.

In addition the report reaffirms the Government’s aim to implement a feed in tariff for small-scale energy generation (under 5MW) and a renewable heat incentive to encourage more on site generation. Furthermore a new Low Carbon Industrial Strategy will be developed in 2009, outlining a vision of how companies can take advantage of a “low-carbon economy”.

The report also confirms that the scheduled increases in landfill tax, by £8 per tonne up to 2010/11 will go ahead and indeed will continue post-2011.

The increase in the lower rate of landfill tax, applying to inactive waste, from £2 per tonne to £2.50 (to be frozen at £2.50 in 2009/10) will also stay unchanged, as will the planned phase-out of the exemption from landfill tax for waste arising from the clean up of contaminated land by 2012 (in order to extend land remediation relief).

Finally, as previously announced, a new packaging strategy will be produced in 2009 setting out how packaging policy can contribute to a low carbon economy by reducing waste at source and increasing recycling.

To read the Chancellor’s statement to Parliament in full click here, or to read the full chapter, delivering on environmental goals, click here.

Farm Biogas Distribution Network a US First for Cow Power

Despite economic woes and lack of green vision from the Bush administration, the Americans have done it again! They have, in California, gone ahead with the world's first and most amazing biogas distribution pipeline system for farm biogas.

BioEnergy Solutions: Kern County Supervisors Approve First-in-the-Nation Biogas Distribution Network
Landmark Cow Power Project Will Link up to Nine Farms to Generate Electricity for California Homes

BAKERSFIELD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Kern County Board of Supervisors has approved construction of a biogas distribution network that will for the first time produce renewable natural gas from multiple dairy farms to generate power for utility customers, BioEnergy Solutions announced.

The distribution network, the first of its kind to be approved by a government authority in the U.S., will produce biogas from cow manure on as many as nine dairies in eastern Kern County, upgrade it to utility standards and deliver it into a nearby Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) pipeline.

Construction will begin in early 2009.

“California is the leading dairy producer in the U.S. and its dairies, with their abundant supplies of cow manure, have great potential for the production of renewable natural gas,” said David Albers, president of BioEnergy Solutions and a third-generation dairyman. “California’s dairy community is poised to pioneer the large-scale production of this cleaner, greener form of energy and create a model for agricultural and energy producers nationwide.”

Three of the nine farms have agreed to supply biogas to the network: C&R Vanderham Dairy, Inc., Whiteside Dairy and Vermeer and Goedhart Dairy. Their combined herd of 6,500 milk cows is expected to produce 615,000 cubic feet of natural gas a day, enough to generate power for 3,000 California homes.

BioEnergy Solutions, which builds and operates biogas pipeline facilities in California, will construct an underground pipeline linking the dairies which are located south of Lerdo Highway between the City of Shafter and Interstate 5. Biogas from the farms will be transported through the pipeline to an upgrade facility located at the Vermeer and Goedhart Dairy on Magnolia Avenue in Shafter.

Manure from the dairies’ cows will be mixed with water and flushed into a large covered lagoon on each farm. As the manure breaks down naturally and produces methane, a greenhouse gas 21 times as potent as carbon dioxide, the gas will be captured and delivered through an underground pipeline to the purification facility to remove its corrosive materials and upgrade it to utility standards. The resulting renewable natural gas, more than 99 percent pure methane, will be pressurized and delivered into the PG&E pipeline for use in the production of energy for residential customers in northern and central California.

Known as the Shafter cluster, the nine-farm network could include as many as 26,700 milk cows, 17 percent of the dairy herd population in Kern County, and produce enough clean-burning natural gas to meet the energy needs of 12,000 California homes. The cluster could also reduce the equivalent of 220,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually, which is the same as taking 38,500 cars off local roads.

BioEnergy Solutions’ first biogas project began production earlier this year at Vintage Dairy in western Fresno County. It is producing 175,000 cubic feet of natural gas a day, enough to power 1,200 California homes. A neighboring farm, the Pier van der Hoek ... More...

French Natural Gas Network Soon to Accept Biomethane

Biomethane is coming to the French natural gas network

In France, authorisation for injecting biomethane fuel into the natural gas distribution network has until now been subject to an assessment of the environmental and health risks. The French Agency for Health and Safety in the Environment and Workplace (AFSSET) came to a favourable conclusion on the 29th October. The injection of biomethane into the network, as well as a fiscal approach which favours the principle of “green gas”, will allow the field of biomethane fuel, considered the best way of developing biogas, to make progress under much better conditions.

Although natural gas as a fuel is already considered to be safe, efficient and less polluting than petrol or diesel, French support for the field of biomethane fuel is fairly recent. However, initiatives have demonstrated all of its benefits. In Lille (Metropolitan Urban Community, LMCU), the methanisation of urban organic waste has meant that the biomethane obtained has been used as a fuel in the city’s buses and domestic waste disposal vehicles. Furthermore, this approach has been legitimised environmentally by a study of the life cycle of the methods of developing biogas, commissioned in September 2007 by ADEME and GDF (to download the ACV conclusions, go to the BiogasMax web site).

At the ‘Grenelle’ Environment Conference (October 2007) the biogas club had submitted several ways of proceeding with the work for developing this field, which has enormous ecological benefits.

The club’s voice was heard: at a recent conference on this subject, Charles Thiébaut (from the Department of Risk Prevention at the Ministry of the Environment, Energy, Sustainable Development and Town and Country Planning) said that “the commitment had been made to favour methanisation by supporting it and modifying regulations” (National Technical Day conference, 07.10.08 – Succeeding with a methanisation project including household, agricultural and industrial waste, ADEME).

The development of the biogas fuel field was waiting for authorisation to inject its biomethane into the natural gas network, as even if the production of biogas is continuous, vehicle consumption can fluctuate. In order to be used as a fuel, biogas has to undergo processes known as “purification” (drying, desulphurisation, decarbonisation) which makes biomethane very similar to NGV natural gas for vehicles.

In the first instance, therefore, authorisation for injection had to be subject to technical specifications. These having been established and published by GDF in December 2007, (download the GDF technical specifications), there only remained the assessment of risks to public health and the environment.

This study was requested from the French Agency for Health and Safety in the Environment and Workplace (AFSSET) in September 2006. Its conclusions are now available and are “unequivocally favourable when biogas is produced from methanisation of waste or from storage of non-dangerous waste.”

Very soon, therefore, the Centre for Organic Development (CVO) in Lille-Sequedin should receive authorisation from the Ministry in charge of energy and be able to put into operation the connection of its canalisation system of purified biogas with the French gas network. Having opened the way, it will be the local authorities who will subsequently issue these authorisations. More here...

UK Energy Bill to Include Renewable Heat Incentive

The Energy Bill received its third reading in the House of Lords on 5 November 2008 and includes proposals from the Department for Energy and Climate Change for a scheme to incentivise investment in renewable heat. Currently, energy used for heating accounts for just under half of all the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions, while only 0.6% of heat generated in the UK is derived from renewable sources.

The Government has been considering for some time how to reduce heat-related emissions and boost heat generation from renewable sources. Earlier this year, the Government issued a Call for Evidence on Heat (see our related Law-Now) and sought views on introducing a financial incentive to encourage heat from renewable sources in Chapter 4 of its consultation on the UK Renewable Energy Strategy (see Law-Now).

The amendments to the Energy Bill will enable a scheme to provide financial support to any supplier of renewable heat. Support may also be available to producers of biogas or biomethane or to producers of biofuel used for generating heat. The scheme will provide a welcome boost to renewable CHP (Combined Heat and Power) producers and the bio-waste industry, among others.

Key points to note are:

- There is flexibility to band the level of support according to the technology used for generating heat.
- Eligible renewable heat sources for the scheme are biomass, biofuels, fuel cells, water (including waves and tides), solar power, geothermal sources, heat from air, water or the ground and combined heat and power systems (using a renewable fuel only).
- There is no specified limit on the size of plant which will be eligible for support, as the scheme is intended to cover both domestic and industrial scale projects.
- The scheme will be financed by fossil fuel suppliers, perhaps through a levy which would be administrated by Ofgem.

The amendments to the Energy Bill do not contain information on when the scheme will come into force, but the government has acknowledged it would take at least 18 months to develop the details of the scheme and implement the necessary secondary legislation.

The Government’s consultation expected later in November as part of the development of its Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy is likely to provide a forum to develop the details of the scheme. In that consultation, the governement will consider the issue of heat in the round from a low carbon, renewable and CHP perspective, as well as links to energy efficiency, notes Hergen Haye, the Director for Heat Policy at DECC.

The Energy Bill now only requires the House of Commons to approve the Lords’ amendments before receiving royal assent.