News

The utility’s new thermal hydrolysis plant (THP) is now processing 100 tonnes of sludge daily. The £60m project changes the way the company treats waste before it’s used to generate green power. It’s designed to make the process considerably more efficient and increasing the amount of clean energy produced by almost a third. More than half of the plant is now up and…
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As part of the Russia-Japan Investment Fund (RJIF), the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and JBICIG Partners (a subsidiary of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation) have agreed to 'collaborate and consider' potential investments in Russia’s bioenergy industry. The forestry company RFP Group from Russia and investment company Prospect from Japan have also signed onto…
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Prodeman, a major peanut producer in Argentina, has begun commercial operation of its 10MW bioenergy facility. The plant uses peanut shells to generate energy and is expected to consume 50,000 tons of the waste per year. The facility’s opening comes two months after signing its power purchase agreement with Argentine regulators. Depending on weather conditions, Prodeman can produce up…
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A problem facing biorefinery operations is the flow of biomass into and throughout facilities. Lignocellulosic biomass, often made up of post-harvest agricultural materials such as corn stover and soybean hulls, often accumulates and compacts while moving through augers, forcing shutdowns for maintenance. A team led by Purdue University scientists is to receive a $1.8 million grant from…
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Scientists from Ghent University in Belgium have found that burning biogas is the least cost-effective way to use the product. Instead, they propose using biogas as the raw material for the production of chemicals. This approach, according to the researchers, has advantages for businesses, governments and the environment. "Combustion has always been the easy solution to convert raw material into…
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The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has endorsed calls for the city’s waste authorities to begin separate food waste collections. In the newly published Environment Strategy, the Mayor lays out plans to ‘tackle the most urgent environmental challenges’ facing the city. According to the Mayor’s office, it’s the city’s first integrated environmental strategy, with…
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Official statistics from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) show recycling, composting and re-use of waste from ‘all sources’ has moved past 60% for the first time. The new report covers 2016, and shows a trend towards increased recycling and re-use of waste, including through anaerobic digestion. According to the SEPA statistics, 6.69 million tonnes (61%) of waste was…
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Major research in Malaga, Paris, Skopje and Zagreb claims to have made significant strides in the bid to implement food waste to biomethane initiatives. Funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 scheme, the Bin2Grid project aimed to implement waste-to-biofuel initiatives in the four cities with the goal of developing biomethane as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. In particular, the two-year…
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Effluent from the new Molson Coors Brewery in Fraser Valley, British Columbia, will be handled by a Global Water Engineering high wastewater pretreatment facility built by the City of Chilliwack. Molson Coors new $CAD 200 million brewery will produce beverages from mountain fed water at the foot of the North Cascade Mountains. Wastewater from the new brewery will be pumped to the new Chilliwack…
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Finnish company Apetit is planning to build a bioenergy plant at its Avena Kantvik rapeseed oil milling plant in Kirkkonummi, Finland. According to a statement, the planned bioenergy plant would replace the current energy solution that uses non-renewable fuels, in turn significantly reducing the carbon dioxide emissions of the entire Apetit Group. “In addition to reducing carbon dioxide…
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In the US, the American Biogas Council (ABC), the Agriculture Energy Coalition (AgEC) and the Biomass Power Association (BPA) have come out against the H.R. 2, the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018, also known as the Farm Bill. Over the past two years, these organisations have been working to advance the Farm Bill, legislation that supports the use of biomass and agricultural residues to…
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Vermont Coffee Company said on 17 May that it has become the first US coffee roaster to use 100% renewable biogas to roast its coffee. Both thermal and electric energy are sourced from renewable methane. The company says that it has been trying to get to this system in place for some time.  "Renewable electricity was the easy part," says company founder and CEO, Paul Ralston. "The real…
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On 10 May California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. issued an executive order designed to address the state’s spate of record-breaking forest fires. The measures included long-term use of small bioenergy generators. Combatting dangerous tree mortality, increasing the ability of forests to capture carbon and systematically improving forest management are among the order’s goals. It also…
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The company, which operates three biomass units in the UK (with a fourth on the way), says it is piloting ‘Europe’s first’ carbon capture storage project. Bioenergy carbon capture and storage (BECCS) stores the carbon that’s produced when biomass is burned to produce energy. Coupled with the carbon- absorption that takes place while the biomass is growing, biomass power…
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