Features

Bioenergy Insight spoke to Kevin Vandewalle, sales director at VYNCKE, who gave a comprehensive picture of its business model, its agility during challenging times and ongoing technological innovations. VYNCKE was established in 1912 in Flanders by Louis Vyncke, a blacksmith by trade. As Flanders’ flax industry was flourishing by the 1920s, so demand for steam boilers grew — to generate…
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Anaergia is one of the world’s largest listed companies that produces biomethane from organic waste. It produces carbon-negative fuel, helping to reduce global carbon emissions and get the world to net-zero. Andrew Benedek, chairman and CEO at Anaergia, told us more. Can you tell me more about any recent technological developments, activity or products from Anaergia that you are particularly…
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Lauma Kazuša, head of market analysis at SUEZ, analyses the state of the wood waste markets. Keeping people warm and businesses open is at the forefront of nearly every publication these days. We had winters and cold temperatures before, yet the world economy and geopolitical situation differed considerably. Wood waste is a commodity of choice in a few bioenergy and energy-from-waste (EfW)…
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Bioenergy Insight attended the European Biogas Conference 2022, which took place in Brussels, Belgium, in October. There was a buzz in the atmosphere, and a real sense that now is the time for the industry to seize the agenda. One of the stand-out plenary sessions consisted of an EU Member State-specific update – from Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain (although unfortunately, technical…
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Colin Ley examines the complications of the bioenergy sector in Asia and Africa. Assessing the late-2022 state of bioenergy progress in Africa and Asia inevitably involves looking at how these two multi-country continents are managing to cope with the eight-month-old energy shock created by Russia's invasion of Ukraine alongside the longer-term impact of climate change and the need to reduce…
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Yoshinobu is executive advisor at RENOVA. What first drew you to this industry? In 2004, a major Japanese power company contacted me asking if I have a source of biomass. I did not know anything about it. They said they wanted to co-fire at their coal-fired power plant in Kyoto prefecture, where Kyoto Protocol was discussed — and was in place in 1997 at COP3. This was the beginning of…
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Dr Ahmet Aksoz of Sivas Cumhuriyet University, presents the case for a hybrid solution, utilising biogas and solar technologies. With the increase in population and urbanisation, the consumption of fossil fuels has increased. That causes carbon emissions and other environmental pollution. The energy demand in cities, especially in remote areas, has increased drastically. According to the World…
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Jorg-Peter Lindner, technical sales manager - mixing technology specialist at SPX FLOW, explores technology surrounding mixing processes. There are now over 9,600 biogas plants in Germany. A large part of Germany's power supply is generated through renewable energy sources (42.1% through renewable energy in the power, heating and transport sectors). Biogas alone provided roughly 32,000 GWh in…
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Colin Ley examines the challenges and optimism within the Canadian biomass industry. Bioenergy developers in Canada have pretty much had to make their own opportunities in the past, often working to advance the industry without the focus of funding and regulatory attention often given to other parts of the climate change and renewable energy community. How much this might now change in response…
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Paques, a world leader in the development and construction of cost-effective purification systems for wastewater and gases, has reduced downtime by deploying APEX, Qdos and Bredel pumps at one of its anaerobic industrial effluent treatment systems in Brazil Paques, which has headquarters in the Netherlands, helps companies to reduce fresh water intake, decrease their carbon footprints and…
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Mark Vanderbeke, chairman of Drycake TWISTER and Steve Last, IPPTS principal and organic processing consultant, explain the challenges facing organic waste processing equipment suppliers — and propose a solution. The technology used to prepare feedstock for the anaerobic digestion (AD) of organic waste will depend on the type of biowaste (organic waste) being processed. However, common…
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Ross McKenzie, director of international affairs at Drax, spoke to Bioenergy Insight about the company's expansion into new international markets, and its plans for its UK plant in Yorkshire. Drax recently announced it had agreed the acquisition of Princeton Standard Pellet Corporation. What are the benefits of this? "This acquisition adds another pellet plant to our portfolio in Canada, where…
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We hear how the right training and opportunities provided by their employer have allowed two early-career professionals to reach the shortlist for the Association For Renewable Energy and Clean Technology’s (REA) Young Renewable Energy Professional Award in such a short amount of time. Two site managers from the east of England, Liam Hughes and Tyler Warman, were shortlisted for the REA's…
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On its website, tomato producer Guy & Wright (established 1928), described itself as "being complete idiots; building our own AD plant". The company's story, though, is one of growth. Fifteen years ago, when the first 1,800m3 digester was built on the 100-acre site in Hertfordshire, UK, John Jones (great grandson of Mr Guy) could be forgiven for wondering what on earth he had taken on. As if…
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