ORGANICS RECYCLING Water-wash venture makes splash
The UK’s latest project to use gas from renewable waste resources and inject it directly into the national gas grid has been launched in Stockport. Like the first UK venture of its kind in Didcot, which opened in October 2010, the Stockport system will feature, at its heart, an upgrad- ing unit designed and manufactured by Chesterfield BioGas’ partner, Greenlane Biogas of New Zealand. The modular “Kanuka” unit will take the raw biogas produced by anaer- obic digestion of food waste from local hotels and restaurants and, using a water-wash process, upgrade it to 98% pure biomethane. The unit is capable of processing up to 300 cu m of gas per hour and fea- tures a newly patented water-flooded screw compressor, says Chesterfield BioGas.
The £5M facility, which will open in autumn 2012, is operated by Fairfield Bio Energy – a partnership between green energy firm Bio Group Ltd and Centrica, the owners of British Gas –
and will generate enough renewable gas to supply up to 1,400 homes in the northwest every year.
Chesterfield BioGas has received the
order for the upgrader following exten- sive investigation by Centrica into numerous gas upgrading systems and facilities in Europe. The
contract, including ancillar-
ies and remote monitoring services is worth approximately £1M.
“Our unit uses the proven Greenlane water-wash process which is success- fully operating at over 60 sites around the world,” says Stephen McCulloch, managing director.
“Our first project at the Thames Water site at Didcot used raw biogas captured during the treatment of waste water. The fact that the new Stockport site will use gas derived from a com- pletely different waste material is a significant testament to our upgrading system and its versatility in coping with variable inputs from the anaero- bic digestion process.”
Chesterfield BioGas claims it is the
only UK-based supplier and installer of this type of technology.
“We have the expertise to man- age projects to the exacting engineer- ing and health and safety standards demanded by utility companies and gas grid operators,” says John Hayward, the company’s group chief executive.
www.chesterfieldbiogas.com Food waste – given the home treatment
As the Government prepares its national waste prevention programme, local initiatives to reduce waste not only support this policy agenda but also underpin the waste hierarchy, which places waste prevention at the top. UK households waste 6.3 million tonnes of food every year and local action is vital to change behaviour. In Wiltshire, with its
scattered
population and large land area, providing a food waste collection for 200,000 households is predicted to cost the local authority several million
pounds each
year. Because home composting of garden waste has strong sup- port among residents, Wiltshire Council has been persuading resi-
14 Local Authority Waste & Recycling March 2012
Stop throwing food waste in the bin!
dents to take responsibility for leftover waste in households. Working with Great Green Systems (formerly Green Cone), Wiltshire Council runs promo- tional campaigns to raise awareness of the benefits from treating all food waste, including meat and bones at home. Using Green Cone and Green Johanna food waste digesters, the cam- paigns are designed to reduce costs and divert waste from landfill.
WASTE
NSAYO TO FOOD
“We’ve calculated that if a family were to use a food waste digester over a five-year period, then we’d recoup our initial outlay thanks to the savings on landfill charges alone,” says Andy Conn, head of waste management at the council. “With land-
fill tax set to rise over the coming years, the financial benefits to us can only ever increase.”
With more than 4,600 subsidised units sold across the county since 2007, managing food waste at home sits well with the council’s wider food waste prevention initiatives such its “Love Food, Hate Waste” campaign. “As part of the harmonisation of waste
our management
from March 2012 all residents will receive alternating collections of dry recyclates, garden waste and residual waste,” says Conn.
“With the introduction of further proactive promotional activities throughout the transition period, we are confident that we will see an even greater uptake in this food waste dis- posal method.”
www.greatgreensystems.com
An upgrading unit operating in Sweden
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