The Dangers of Biogas - 7 Known and 3 Unexpected AD Hazards

There are dangers of biogas just as there are dangers inherent in everything we do. The most obvious biogas dangers come from the fact that it is an explosive gas when mixed air in the right proportions.

However, there are also anticipated dangers of biogas plants which the public authorities and individuals raise during consideration of planning applications, which this article also discusses with examples, in section 2.

Finally, in section 3 below we have included three surprising unexpected dangers of biogas which few if any people have foreseen, with:

• honey which became coloured due to an anaerobic digestion plant locally, and 
• estrogen, antibiotics which persisted in dairy farm waste after AD treatment
• worries about aluminium roof collapse if sulphur leaks out of the biogas.

1. Normally Accepted Biogas Hazards

The normally accepted dangers of biogas are summarized in the list of 7, below:

1. Fire/Explosion
2. Asphyxiation
3. Disease
4. Methane
5. Carbon Dioxide
6. Hydrogen Sulfide
7. Ammonia.

Precautions to Limit the Normally Accepted Dangers of Biogas

Standard biogas plant safety procedures will major on the following actions to keep plant staff safe:

• Observe All Manufacturer Warnings with Rigour, create Site Safety Policies and implement procedures to ensure all staff and each visitor is trained to avoid every biogas plant hazard which could cause injury or ill-health.
• Conduct Safety Walk-Throughs/ Plant and Equipment Inspections Regularly
• Use and Maintain Gas Sensors
• Use the relevant Personal Protective Equipment via Biogas Safety

2. Dangers Raised During Biogas Plant Planning Discussions

Dangers of biogas production as an alternative energy source for rural areas

Biogas is a mixture of 55-65% Methane, 30-35% Carbon Dioxide and Moisture, Hydrogen Sulphide, Nitrogen and Hydrogen making up the balance.

Its heating value is around 600 B.T.U. per cubic feet. Biogas production is a biological process without oxygen in which organic matters are converted into biogas by bacteria, because organic matters are the food source for methane producing bacteria. About one cubic feet of biogas may be generated from one pound of cow dung at around 28°C.

This is enough to cook a day's meals for 4-6 people. In anaerobic process, the bacteria requires both Carbon and Nitrogen, but they consume Carbon roughly 30 times faster than Nitrogen.

Biogas is not poisonous, although this may be improved by filtering it through limewater to remove CO2, iron filings to absorb corrosive H2S and Ca2Cl to extract the water vapour.

The only danger is by the explosion of the plant and mixed with air and fire. Thus proper maintenance of the Biogas plant is important to prevent the leakage.

via Biogas production as an alternative energy source for rural areas

Villagers fear biogas plant in Canwick would cause ‘unnecessary danger’

February 2018: Plans for a new biogas plant in Canwick have provoked an angry response from fearful local residents, with even the Environment Agency and Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue weighing in to say that the development should not be approved in its current form. via Canwick danger’

THE Energy Regulatory Commission has not licensed any of the bottled biogas products which are ... are highly explosive, hence pose a lot of danger if not well handled. "The people bottling biogas need to get safety approval first," ERC director ... via Kenya: Traders Selling Bottled Biogas Illegally - Kenya: Traders

Anaerobic digester plans stymied in Franklin - News - Milford Daily News

After hearing the pleas of several concerned residents, Town Council on Wednesday tabled zoning changes that sited an anaerobic digester plant for a Pond Street property.

... The questions about anaerobic digestion, a biological process that converts organic waste into energy, overshadowed the positives of the burgeoning technology.

With support from the Economic Development Committee, Town Administrator Jeffrey Nutting and officials in the Department of Planning and Community Development had hoped to tweak the zoning to allow for an anaerobic digester facility on the former Pond Street sewer bed.

... a day after the Planning Board voted not to recommend the zoning changes, residents who live on or near Pond Street attended the council meeting ready to fight the prospect of an anaerobic digester in their backyard.

"I want you to take into consideration what anything seeping into the ground, or going into the air … could do to our community — the town we love so much," said Sandra Verhaegen. "Is the $500,000 to $1 million worth it? Probably not. Look to new businesses (to fill the property). Do we really want something in our community that isn’t tested?"

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the "biogas" or gas produced when the anaerobic digester breaks down waste is comprised of methane, hydrogen sulfide, a highly toxic and flammable gas with a distinct rotten egg smell, and carbon dioxide.

Residents worried that problems [of the dangers of biogas] with the plant, such as a fire or leak, could put them in immediate danger. And they feared the increased truck traffic that would accompany the plant.

Councilors expressed the same concerns. via Anaerobic digester plans stymied

3. Unexpected Dangers of Biogas

Waste from M&M's Candy Causes Honey to Turn Green in France

M&M candies come in every color of the rainbow – but what if honey came in the color of M&Ms?

Distraught beekeepers in Northeastern France are facing just that conundrum, as honey from their apiaries has been turning up in shades of green and blue.

After weeks of perplexing investigation, the farmers found the candy colored honey to be caused by waste from nearby Agrivalor biogas plant, which has been processing M&M’s waste.

The farmers in Ribeauville, Alsace are just 2.5 miles away from the biogas plant, a short jaunt for their bees to travel and pollinate before returning to the hive. In the past the biogas plant threatened no danger to their business, but since processing waste from the colorful shells of M&M’s, the beekeepers felt an immediate effect. Bees from around twelve apiaries have been returning to the hive with blue and green debris, which gets directly transferred to the honey they yield.

Honey appearing in colors other than amber is needless to say, unsellable. The murky blue and green sweet stuff isn’t being packaged as a new M&M flavor, but instead is being thrown in the trash.

These beekeepers are already facing adversity, with increasing bee mortality rates killing off many of their producers they can’t afford to lose the honey they do make. Coupled with the effects of harsh winters, the apiaries are already in a jam.

[The AD plant operator] has been notified and has begun cleaning up the mess, but the beekeepers are still stuck with green honey. via Honey Green

Estrogen, antibiotics persisted in dairy farm waste after advanced treatment, study finds

When University at Buffalo chemists began studying waste disposal at a dairy farm in New York State, they thought that the farm's advanced system for processing manure would help remove estrogens and antibiotics from the excrement.

Instead, the scientists found that the chemicals largely persisted in the treated materials, which are typically reused as fertilizer and animal bedding on the farm.

The waste management process—an advanced anaerobic digestion system—also converted a less harmful form of estrogen in the manure into a form that may pose a greater ecological threat.

The study underscores how far waste treatment techniques have fallen behind the times.

Hormones and antibiotics, if not removed from waste, can migrate into the environment and threaten wildlife. Estrogens, for example, can enter rivers and lakes, causing male fish to develop female traits—a phenomenon that can harm reproduction. Rogue antibiotics pose a different kind of challenge, encouraging the spread of antibiotic resistance, in which disease-causing bacteria stop responding to drugs.

... "One of the messages of our work is that even anaerobic digestion, an advanced treatment, doesn't totally remove these chemicals which may pose a danger to the environment. We need to start looking closely at additional treatment techniques to identify better practices."

The research, funded by the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute, was published in two recent papers. via Estrogen, antibiotics persisted

Waste Not, Pollute Not 

This is part of IEEE Spectrum's special report: Critical Challenges 2002: Technology Takes On

Cow Power - Danger of Sulphur Precipitation to Aluminium Roof Corrosion and Potential Eventual Collapse

...each of DDI's three barns will be warmed by water pipes running under the concrete floor. The hot water, which will be heated by biogas power, will keep the manure flowing into the digester even in the dead of winter. So the electricity will keep flowing, too.

That electricity will be generated by four microturbines from Capstone Turbine Corp., Chatsworth, Calif. [see "Networking Assets," IEEE Spectrum, January 2001, p. 84]. ...DDI will still scrub the gas before it goes to the microturbines by passing it through iron-impregnated wood chips...

If the biogas is not scrubbed, the sulfur could precipitate out of the exhaust as an acid, a danger for surrounding equipment as well as the farm's 12 000 m2 of aluminum roofs.

via Waste Not, Pollute Not

Well there you have it! Biogas Dangers never imagined!

Applying Biogas Benefits Essential After Bad News for Climate Change in 2018

We consider that applying the biogas benefits in helping reduce climate change (global warming) is now more essential than ever after the bad news for climate change in 2018.

Just take a look at the trending news about climate change in the last 30 days, as summarized below:

Climate change: Our plans are in pieces as killer heat shreds records

(CNN) Deadly fires have scorched swaths of the Northern Hemisphere this summer, from California to Arctic Sweden and down to Greece on the sunny Mediterranean. Drought in Europe has turned verdant land barren, while people in Japan and Korea are dying from record-breaking heat.

Climate change is here and is affecting the entire globe -- not just the polar bears or tiny islands vulnerable to rising sea levels -- scientists say. It is on the doorsteps of everyday Americans, Europeans and Asians, and the best evidence shows it will get much worse.

This summer, 119 people in Japan died in a heat wave, while 29 were killed in South Korea, officials there say. Ninety-one people in Greece died in wildfires, and ongoing fires in California have taken at least eight lives. Spain and Portugal sweltered through an exceptionally hot weekend with a heat wave that has killed three people in Spain and pushed temperatures toward record levels. via heat shreds records

Biogas Benefits - "Off the Chart "NCE Magazine - Warning!

Science Says: Record heat, fires worsened by climate change via Science

Record-breaking heat and fires are worsened by climate change, scientists say

Heat waves are setting all-time temperature records across the globe -- again. Europe suffered its deadliest fire in more than a century, and one of nearly 90 large fires in the U.S. West burned dozens of homes and forced the evacuation of at least 37,000 people near Redding, California. Flood-inducing downpours have pounded the U.S. East this week.
It's all part of summer -- but it's all being made worse by human-caused climate change, scientists say.
"Weirdness abounds," said Rutgers University climate scientist Jennifer Francis.

via Record-breaking heat

We think that the need to implement all possible means of reducing climate change which can be done using proven technologies, without incurring un-affordable costs, must surely now be implemented without delay.

Biogas Benefits are Now Proven - Time to Ramp Up AD Plant Construction

The global biogas industry has developed rapidly over the last 10 years, and now is the time to start ramping up anaerobic digestion plant construction.

Biogas offers a solution to helping protect our environment and meet ambitious climate change commitments. All of these critical functions – generating renewable energy, reducing solid wastes, managing nutrients, reducing GHGs and mitigating pollution risks – can be realized from a biogas facility in an economically sound and sustainable manner.

GHG Emission Reduction

The capturing and utilization of biogas is a powerful tool for reducing GHGs that are the principle cause of human-induced climate change. GHGs are reduced in two ways: first, the biogas produced is a source of renewable energy that can replace fossil fuels. Second, the capturing of biogas reduces methane, a very potent greenhouse gas that would otherwise be free to escape into the atmosphere. Biogas has the potential to reduce GHG emissions by 37.5 Mt CO₂e, or 10% of the national target.

Methane Abatement

Biogas reduces two critically important greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄). Carbon dioxide emissions are reduced when biogas replaces fossil fuel use (i.e., coal, diesel or natural gas). This can be in the form of direct displacement in the pipeline by injecting RNG into the natural gas supply, or in transportation by replacing diesel with RNG. In addition to displacement, the biogas process is able to capture upstream methane emissions and convert it to renewable energy. Methane abatement strategies are critically important in agriculture for manure management, as well as at municipal landfills that flare their captured gas. There are multiple ways in which biogas can reduce methane emissions or displace other higher carbon intensive fuels with a lower-carbon solution.

Resource Recovery

Biogas offers a solution to waste management that ensures valuable organic material is not sent to landfill. The benefits resulting from diversion of organic materials, include the following:

• Less food waste going to disposal means fewer GHG emissions associated with growing, manufacturing, transporting, and disposing of food;
• Diverting organics from disposal avoids potential methane emissions from landfills;
• Using the biogas produced from organic wastes as a source of energy reduces the need for fossil fuel energy sources, such as oil and natural gas;
• Digestate (the product that comes from the anaerobic digestion of organic material) returns organic matter to the soil.
• Digestate utilization reduces the extraction of peat, an important sink for CO₂.

An additional societal and political benefit of organic material diversion includes preserving landfill space for “real” waste. For biogas system operators, these materials are essential for fueling their biogas systems and producing clean, green energy. via Canadian Biogas Association

Who Will Drive Accelerated AD Plant Development?

While some governments will undoubtedly raise their financial support for climate change reduction initiatives, after the heat-wave and fire events of summer 2018, many will not.

The best hope for rapid implementation of all forms of climate change mitigation will be most likely to come from big investment funds. These funds are becoming critically aware of the need for their investment funds to identify and only invest in sustainable companies, as their long-term pension funds can only prosper under a stable global climate.

How Big Investment Organisations Will Only be Able to Invest in Sustainable Businesses

“The next step for [large investment funds] will be to begin the process of identifying and quantifying the financial impacts of climate change, exploring how resilient their strategies are to different climate scenarios, and encouraging others to do the same.”
“Many of the biggest investors in infrastructure worldwide are signed up to the TCFD guidelines, requiring disclosure of the climate risks to their investments,” explains Mott MacDonald head of climate resilience Ian Allison.

“The consequence is that we will see investment diverted away from businesses or industries that are not making a positive contribution to the Paris Agreement,” Allison says.

The pace at which the financial sector is acting to understand its exposure to climate risk is fast and is beginning to make a real impact on infrastructure clients and their supply chains, says Mott MacDonald principal climate advisor Madeleine Rawlins. via NCE

Summary to Applying Biogas Benefits After the Bad News for Climate Change in 2018 

We consider that applying the biogas benefits in helping reduce climate change is now more essential than ever after the bad news for climate change in 2018. Climate change is here and is affecting the entire globe, not just the polar bears or tiny islands vulnerable to rising sea levels.

Spain and Portugal sweltered through one exceptionally hot weekend. Flood-inducing downpours have pounded the U.S. East, and terrifying fires are raging across the US. So, as we contend that the biogas benefits are now proven it's time to accelerate global AD Plant Construction.

But who will drive this accelerated AD Plant Development? Governments are unlikely to provide the needed push.

The best hope for rapid implementation of all forms of climate change mitigation will be most likely to come from big investment funds.

The pace at which the financial sector is acting to understand its exposure to climate risk is fast.

These institutions are beginning to make a real impact on infrastructure clients and their supply chains, insisting on sustainable projects such as biogas plant development for renewable energy from waste materials (not food crops).

See also our article at the AD Blog on Biogas Benefit and the Civil Engineer's Call to Action!

How the EU’s Circular Economy Package (CEP) Will Advance Anaerobic Diges...

Here is the article, "How the EU’s Circular Economy Package (CEP) Will Advance Anaerobic Digestion in the UK".

After many years of gestation, the legislative changes included in the EU’s Circular Economy Package (CEP) came into force last month (July 2018).

Here we explore the implications of these changes for UK Anaerobic Digestion.

One of the main headlines the sector talked about throughout negotiations on the Circular Economy Package (CEP) is the proposed increases in recycling targets.

The final package (which came into force on 4 July 2018) does introduce new, higher targets, but, there are also many other ways it will affect UK waste collection and recycling practice.

In this video we will discuss only the affect on anaerobic digestion, and the news here is that the Circular Economy Package places a greater emphasis on waste prevention and reuse in general.

So, there will be a duty on member-states to promote food waste prevention and on the Commission to consider setting targets for reductions to this, and other waste streams.

The requirement for separate collection of waste is strengthened and the test as to whether separate collection isn’t technically, environmentally or economically practical (‘TEEP’) is made tougher.

The separate collection of bio-waste is required (by 2023), among other stipulated waste streams.

The overall targets for recycling of municipal waste are increased to 55% by 2025, 60% by 2030, and 65% by 2035.

Along with tightened ‘TEEP’ tests and the requirements on biowaste, etc, this is also likely to push more waste collectors towards separate collection in England, catching up with the direction of travel elsewhere in the UK.

For bio-waste, various changes promote the use of anaerobic digestion and in-vessel composting over incineration.

Alongside the changes to collection rules, this will push much more biowaste towards AD and IVC and, as highlighted above, strengthen the case for more UK-based reprocessing capacity.

Summary:

The overall impact of the changes in the CEP will be to make the case for separate collection of food waste far stronger for English local authorities.

Once collected separately, this waste will need to be recycled (not landfilled or incinerated), which will drive demand for Anaerobic Digestion, and IVC until and unless food waste reduction actions bite or new technologies (such as biorefineries, etc) come along.

Text condensed from CIWM Journal Online article "Read It & TEEP" (2nd August 2018):

https://ciwm-journal.co.uk/read-it-teep.

AD Plant/ Biogas Efficiency Improvements to feature this month at global biogas expo in UK

Increasing Anaerobic Digestion plant efficiency will be a subject featured at the forthcoming ADBA global biogas expo Birmingham UK.

Exhibitors will not be short on cost-effective methods, on offer capable of improving biogas yields, as the following ADBA Press Release makes clear:

Water industry anaerobic digestion (AD) plants can improve efficiency from 10% to 30%, according to key exhibitors at the eagerly awaited UK AD & World Biogas Expo 2018 taking place on July 11th-12th at Birmingham’s NEC.

Charlotte Morton, Chief Executive of the Anaerobic Digestion & Bioresources Association, who are organising the expo in partnership with the World Biogas Association, said: “Based on what we’ve seen with farm-based and food-waste AD plants, even when a digester appears to be steadily ticking along, some fine-tuning or retrofit of the mixing system can produce much better gas yields.

“In addition to more gas, technologically advanced mixing systems that will be on display at the expo can drastically reduce maintenance and energy costs.

“Improved monitoring can also bring about a positive difference to a digester – and with the possibility of mixing sewage sludge with food waste in the future, UK AD & World Biogas Expo 2018 is the perfect place to learn more about enhancing digester performance”.

Paul Davies from mixer and pump manufacturer Landia agreed:

“Based on the increasing number of retrofits we carry out in the AD sector, there is clearly a demand to reach optimum levels of AD operation – especially as a mixer retrofit doesn’t have to mean draining down the tank."

“Numerous farm and food waste AD operators are already seeing the benefit of fine-tuning their equipment, so there is a real opportunity for the water industry to review its renewables/biosolids operation – which can pay back in a short time-frame. We are ever-presents at the expo, which is totally focused on biogas. It is the best place to catch up on all the latest industry news, seek out advice and talk directly to equipment suppliers”.

Davies also states that while many mixing systems may have 7.5 kW motors, in most cases these are running flat out, using 180 kW hours per day.

For what he describes as ‘complete mixing of the whole digester’, Davies suggests AD operators consider 18.5 kW motors that only have to run for 10-15 minutes per hour, using just 110 kW hours per day.

Featuring more than 200 exhibitors from all over the world and 100-plus speakers, over 3,000 attendees are expected at UK AD & World Biogas Expo 2018, now in its ninth year.

What Others are Saying About Biogas Efficiency Improvements:

Evaluation of energy efficiency of various biogas production and utilisation pathways

The energy efficiency of different biogas systems, including single and co-digestion of multiple feedstock, different biogas utilization pathways, and waste-stream management strategies was evaluated. The input data were derived from assessment of existing biogas systems, present knowledge on anaerobic digestion process management and technologies for biogas system operating conditions in Germany. The energy balance was evaluated as Primary Energy Input to Output (PEIO) ratio, to assess the process energy efficiency, hence, the potential sustainability. Results indicate that the PEIO correspond to 10.5–64.0% and 34.1–55.0% for single feedstock digestion and feedstock co-digestion, respectively. Energy balance was assessed to be negative for feedstock transportation distances in excess of 22 km and 425 km for cattle manure and for Municipal Solid Waste, respectively, which defines the operational limits for respective feedstock transportation. Energy input was highly influenced by the characteristics of feedstock used. For example, agricultural waste, in most part, did not require pre-treatment. Energy crop feedstock required the respect cultivation energy inputs, and processing of industrial waste streams included energy-demanding pre-treatment processes to meet stipulated hygiene standards. Energy balance depended on biogas yield, the utilization efficiency, and energy value of intended fossil fuel substitution.

via Evaluation of biogases

HP efficiency for biogas

Combined heat and power plant efficiency is a function of the conversion efficiency of the energy in the fuel gas to useful energy in the form of electricity and heat.
A combined heat and power (CHP) plant is typically a reciprocating gas engine that uses the energy in the gas to drive a crank shaft. The crank shaft turns an alternator to produce electricity. Heat is released during the gas combustion process. This heat can be recovered during cogeneration in order to maximise the heating value of the system. via  Clarke Energy

Anaerobic digestion

Anaerobic digestion is the man-made process of harnessing the anaerobic fermentation of wastes and other biodegradable materials. Anaerobic microbes can be harnessed to treat problematic wastes, produce a fertiliser that can be used to replace high carbon emission chemical fertilisers. It also is the process that results in the production of biogas, which can be used to provide renewable power using biogas cogeneration systems. via  CHP 

Sadiq Khan Endorses Separate Food Waste Collections and ADBA Welcomes new London Strategy

Separate Food Waste Collections for London.  Separate Food Waste Collections are being endorsed by Sadiq Khan the Mayor of London, and ADBA welcomes this new London Environment Strategy.

There is no need to click any links below! You are already on the article page. Read the full article below...

Responding to the publication of the London Environment Strategy today, ADBA Chief Executive Charlotte Morton said:

“As anyone who lives in London knows, the city faces a major challenge in tackling the huge amount of food waste produced by millions of homes and businesses every day. 

“We are therefore pleased to see Sadiq Khan endorsing separate food waste collections across the capital to allow anaerobic digestion to recycle London’s inedible food waste into renewable heat and power, clean transport fuel, and nutrient-rich biofertiliser.

“What is now needed for this to happen is a commitment from government to roll out separate food waste collections across the whole of England to emulate the example set by Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. We’ll be looking for such a commitment in the forthcoming Resources & Waste Strategy, particularly given that the UK is set to adopt the European Union’s new legislation obliging separate biowaste collections by December 2023.”

Anaerobic Digestion & Bioresources Association: www.adbioresources.org

ADBA is the trade association for the anaerobic digestion (AD) industry in the UK and companies and organisations working on novel technologies and processes that compliment the anaerobic digestion process and products. With their members they promote the economic and environmental benefits of AD in the UK.

They represent organisations from many sectors including: AD operators, AD developers, AD equipment providers, water companies, farmers, food & drink retailers, waste companies, universities and more.

Silage Clamp Design and Construction UK by JP Concrete

Silage Clamp Design by JP Concrete Helps Power 10,400 UK Homes

This is about Silage Clamps for Anaerobic Digestion Plants, which create renewable biogas which powers electrical generators, which supply electricity to UK homes through the National Grid.

Silage clamp design and installation to comply with the UK silage clamp regulations (SSAFO Regs (UK)) is an essential component of modern anaerobic digestion plants.

The humble silage clamp, is so often forgotten when reliable biogas production is discussed, but is the key to storing energy from annual harvests, so that the energy producing AD process can be fed a consistent feedstock, all year round.

(C) JP Concrete

That very consistency of the food provided for the bacteria which create the biogas, is what ensures that power is available to those homes throughout the coldest days of winter, and hottest summer heatwaves.

Designing and building silage clamps to the lowest possible budgets, which will provide a seal against loss of liquids into the environment, is not an easy one to achieve.

JP Concrete, has just announced that it has completed a total of seven silage clamps and storage pads, for Beeswax Dyson Farming’s AD plants in Lincolnshire that produce almost 5 Megawatts powering 10,400 homes, via the National Grid.

The pre-cast retaining wall units from JP Concrete have been installed at the Nocton Fen and Carrington AD plants, as well as at five satellite pad locations in the local area.

The two silage clamps and five 50 metre by 50 metre freestanding satellite pads enable Beeswax-Dyson-Farming, to meet Silage Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil storage (SSAFO) regulations, and provide greater flexibility, for its harvesting and storage of energy crops such as maize, and provide greater flexibility for its harvesting and storage of energy crops, such as maize.

Beeswax-Dyson-Farming’s contractors installed the earth bank retaining walls, whilst Modular-Cubed (JP Concrete’s sister company), installed the 3 metre  high 5.6 tonne dividing T-wall sections.

But that's not all! Now read the full article at: https://anaerobic-digestion.com/jpc

We make videos and we'll make one for you. Go to www.ippts.info

Help promote biogas production, and share this article!

Anaerobic Digestion in Ireland Encouraged by Biofuels Obligation Rate Rise

Anaerobic Digestion in Ireland will be one of the Biofuel resources encouraged by the Government's announced Irish Biofuels Obligation Rate Rise.

Ireland has followed EU targets set for increasing bio-energy production and use, by announcing a rise which will come into force at the start of 2019.

Ireland has a great largely untapped resource in its farms which could, and hopefully soon will, be raising their own efficiency, and improving their management of farm waste by installing their own biogas plants.

Recent developments in raw biogas upgrading equipment, to make pure methane (biomethane) of the same quality as the natural gas in national gas grids, also mean that it is easier than ever for farm biogas plants to purify their raw biogas.

Once anaerobic digestion plants upgrade and produce biomethane, they will be able to sell that energy in compressed form for use in transport fleets.

What makes this a remarkable win-win situation, is that using methane as a transport fuel reduces air-pollution at the same time. methane is a clean burning fuel with vastly reduced emissions of the sort produced by diesel and petrol fuels.

IrBEA Welcomes Government’s Biofuel Blend Increase to 10%

Press Release: 10th April 2018
Statement from Irish Bioenergy Association

The Irish Bioenergy Association (IrBEA) welcomes the Government’s announcement that the biofuels obligation rate will increase from 8% to 10% from January 1st 2019. The decision was taken this week by Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten.

IrBEA responded to the open consultation on the BOS in January 2018 recommending and supporting the proposed increase.

Ger Devlin (IrBEA CEO) stated: “Biofuels represent nearly all of the carbon emission reductions achieved by Ireland in the transport sector in the last decade. Their continued use during the infrastructural transition to electric vehicles and renewable generated electricity is crucial if we are to reach our climate targets for 2030 and 2050. The new blend rate will now displace c.600 000 tonnes of CO2 annually.”

The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts that biofuels will need to make up a third of the world’s total transport energy by 2050 if the Paris climate targets are to be met, making them as important as electromobility and efficiency in decarbonising transport the transport sector.

IrBEA supports sustainably produced EU biofuels with low iLUC impacts such as conventional bioethanol and biodiesel (the main biofuels used in Ireland today).

Sustainably produced biofuels are an important part of the global bioeconomy revolution. As a world leader in agriculture, Ireland is ideally positioned to benefit from growth in the bioeconomy. The Irish government should continue to implement policies – such as the biofuels obligation – that support the sector.

James Cogan, Head of the Biofuels Transport Group within IrBEA, said:

“Europe has been dithering over transport climate action for the last decade but the climate problem hasn’t gone away.  Indeed transport carbon emissions have grown in the period.  In raising the biofuels obligation Ireland is grabbing the bull by the horns. Conventional EU sourced biofuels and biogas are safe, effective, economical and scaleable, and they act as an anchor for bioeconomy innovation and investment. The next decade has to be about confidence, progress and growth.”

With over 200 members, IrBEA is the national association representing the bioenergy industry on the island of Ireland. The main objectives of the association are to influence policy makers, to promote the development of bioenergy and to promote the interests of its members.

Improving public awareness, networking and information sharing and liaising with similar interest groups are other key areas of work in promoting biomass as an environmental, economic and socially-sustainable energy resource. www.irbea.org and www.bioenergyfutureireland.com

In the following paragraphs er have provided a two additional perspectives on the rise in the biofuels obligation Ireland:

Ireland ups biofuel obligations

April 20, Ireland’s Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment published a policy statement confirming its intention to increase the biofuel obligation to 10% from 1 January 2019 and to 11% in 2020. Ireland’s Biofuels Obligation Scheme requires suppliers of road transport fuel to ensure a certain proportion of the fuel that they place on the market is biofuel. … via Ireland ups biofuel obligations (corrected)

Ireland increases crop-based biofuel transport share, provides ‘business certainty’ 

Ireland’s environment ministry has decided to increase the crop-based biofuel share in transport to 10% from the existing 8% and draw a 2030 plan aiming to provide long-term business certainty in the field.

Irish Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten published a draft order, according to which the biofuel obligation rate to 10% (by volume) will be increased from 1 January 2019.

The minister also proposed a long-term plan for the Biofuels Obligation Scheme, which was set up in 2010.

The scheme sets out an obligation for suppliers of road transport fuels to include a certain percentage of environmentally sustainable biofuels across their general fuel mix.

The “biofuel obligation rate” was initially set at 4% and has gradually increased to the current rate of 8% (by volume).

“The Biofuels Obligation Scheme is a vital policy measure that increases the use of renewable energy and decreases emissions in the transport sector. Today I have published a Policy Statement setting out the increased level of obligation and future development of the scheme to 2030 and beyond,” the minister said in a statement.

He added that the scheme currently contributes an estimated 450,000 tonnes in carbon emission reductions each year towards Ireland’s national targets.

“The changes I have announced today will increase this contribution to over 600,000 tonnes annually,” he emphasised.

The ministry’s proposals were warmly welcomed as “rational” by Irish farmers, because crop-based biofuels “have up to 70% less GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions than fossil fuels, reduce dependence on imports from outside the EU and provide a much-needed boost to EU arable farmers”.

However, they warned that the government should now take action at EU level and prevent the European Commission from gradually phasing-out first-generation biofuels. via Irelandbiofueltransport

Anaerobic Digestion Plant Operation 8 Years-On Landia GasMix

Anaerobic Digestion Plant Operation - Ireland’s GreenGas Biogas Facility 8 Years-On

Based on Landia Press Release; Ireland’s first farm-scale Anaerobic Digestion plant might be approaching its eighth year of operation, but the 24/7 attention to detail has never been more focused.

Although they worked closely with a German engineering firm, they chose to work directly with equipment suppliers, and these included Landia.

Kirk supplied our first digester, with Gary Little recommending Landia for its mixing systems, introducing us to Hugh Vaughan.

Lifetime cost was a very big selling point for us, as were companies who were proud of their work, and prepared to roll up their sleeves.

At first, Landia’s GasMix didn’t appear to be achieving the results that had been forecast, but this put right by a site visit from Hugh, who back-flushed the pipework to remove a blockage caused by a build-up of sulphur.

Digestate was reversed to clear the pipe.

After a short break for lunch, the digester was being mixed fully.

Since then, as part of its preventative maintenance schedule, the back-flushing has become a regular part of GreenGas’s maintenance program.

GasMix, having all moving parts on the outside is a big plus.

You don’t have to take a hit on gas yield.

A service agreement was put in place with Landia and an extended warranty, but because of the reliability of the pumps, the latter was never needed.

For the business, it is understood that the lifetime cost of the plant has always been a big selling point.

Another criteria is the efficiency of the mixing systems.

In addition to the GasMix system, GreenGas also invested in Landia’s side-entry mixers for its digesters to add some extra impetus.

Such is the efficiency of the mixing systems that GasMix (combining a Landia chopper pump and a series of venturi nozzles) only runs for about 15 minutes every two and a half hours.

The side-entry mixers run for only about 5 minutes every hour,so  energy use is very low.

Senan Meade, who has been with GreenGas since 2013, takes up the story: Even though our dry solids are usually a max of 5%, we feel the side-entry mixers give us a guarantee, he said.

Since 2010, GreenGas grown, to its current status as a 1 Megawatt plant, adding a new digester (from Wolf-Austrian) in 2015.

"We’ve come a long way as there was no real A D industry here when we started and certainly very few financial incentives, and we still lack the same catalyst as Northern Ireland, or many other states.

See the full Press Release at: https://.anaerobic-digestion.com/greengas

The following is based upon a Press Release by Landia UK.