News

Two new biogas plants have been recently completed in the US, one in California and the other in Washington. Sacramento-based waste-to-power business Cleanworld has brought online what it claims to be the country’s largest commercial-scale anaerobic digestion system. The system is set to convert 25 tonnes of food and organic waste materials a day into electricity and renewable natural…
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The Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA) has responded to the UK government’s decision to allow drilling for shale gas to recommence this month. Energy secretary Ed Davey has agreed for energy company Cuadrilla to resume operations after drilling for shale gas was suspended in 2011 due to two related earthquakes. This follows a dismissive Gas Generation Strategy, which made no…
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The first food waste to power plant in Bristol, UK opened this December. The facility is operated by Geneco, a subsidiary of Wessex Water, with the anaerobic digestors provided by technology business Monsal. It took less than a year to construct and can generate 10GWh, enough power for almost 3,000 homes. ‘The opening of the food waste plant builds on our experience of using anaerobic…
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Netherlands-based engineering consultancy Grontmij has won a contract to design a new organic waste to energy biogas facility in Poland. The facility will be located in Bialystok and is hoped to produce 23 million cubic metres of biogas a year from biodegradable organic waste material. The contract is said to be worth about €2 million ($2.6 million) and will be handled by Grontmij’s…
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The public in both Suffolk and Norfolk, UK can now be ferried on a specially created bus route via the power of biogas. Anglian Bus, a division of the Go Ahead Group, is operating the fleet of 13 renewable energy powered single-deck buses, brought for a cost of £624,000 (€772,500), via new routes between Lowestoft and Norwich. Part of the UK government’s £3 million Green…
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A $275 million (€211.3 million) biopower plant under constrcution in Berlin, Germany has taken delivery of a new 132 tonne steam turbine this December. Japanese company Fiji provided the turbine to the Burgess Biopower plant, which will be owned by UK-based technology developer Cate Street Capital and built by Babcock and Wilcox Construction. The plant is expected to come online by the end…
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US-based Enova Wood Pellet Group has signed a long-term port agreement as it looks to solidify a presence in Georgia and South Carolina. The deal was inked with Georgia Kaolin Terminals (GKT) and will provide Enova with enough capacity to export up to 1.35 million tonnes of wood pellets via the facility in Savannah. GKT is a subsidiary of the Colonial Group. ‘This is a milestone for Enova…
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The Fairmont ethanol plant has now changed ownership from Advanced Bioenergy to Flint Hills Resources as previously reported by Bioenergy Insight. The acquisition was announced on 7 December but the finances have not yet been revealed. It is believed that Flint Hill will be looking to appoint four new members of staff at the plant based in Nebraska. The plant has a capacity of 115 million gallons…
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US-based technology provider ArborGen has signed a long-term partnership with the College of Charleston Foundation to support forest conservation and restoration efforts. Its first order of business was to donate 75,000 Longleaf Pone seedlings that will be planted over the next few months across 144 acres of Dixie plantation. ‘We are grateful for ArborGen’s partnership,’ says…
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Germany-based biogas plant manufacturer Weltec Power has been chosen to help bring a new project online in France. The company will work with engineering and development business Methaneo to establish a 500kW plant in Saint Varent, western France. Weltec has worked on five previous biogas projects in the country to date. ‘We decided to work with Weltec because it is capable of integrating…
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A working partnership believes it has found, following a year and a half of research, a direct biological pathway to convert renewable sources into butadiene. Butadiene, a light olefin generated from oil, is used to manufacture rubbers, nylon plastics and latexes. Around 10 million tonnes is produced a year with a market value coming in at over $20 billion (€15.4 billion). Industrial biology…
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US-based Portland General Electric (PGE) is delving deeper into alternative biomass sources to help replace coal at the Boardman power plant. According to plant research and development director Wayne Lei, 18 different products have been tested in scaled-down apparatus at Washington State University. Of the 18, it has been decided that corn stover, wheat straw, poplar chips, special biomass…
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Control systems provider Tri-Mer and Enginuity Energy (EE) will work together to test the air emission quality of various biomass fuels. Both companies will share technologies and work out of EE’s research and development laboratory in Pennsylvania, where EE gasifies a range of high moisture and high ash content material. Tri-Mer will provide a filter system that is capable of removing NOx,…
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Energy from waste company DP Cleantech has been subject of an equity buyout which has led to a change of ownership structure. The change comes as a result of an equity buyout led by longstanding CEO Simon Parker and is accompanied by a refinancing deal. ‘We are pleased to take full control of the company at such an exciting time for the industry, which we strongly believe is primed for…
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