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The overall legislation concerning the obligation to recover biowaste in European countries is becoming increasingly stringent. Biowaste producers — food industries especially — supermarkets, and catering companies are strongly encouraged to avoid the incineration and landfilling of organic waste. Composting and AD on the other hand,are strongly promoted. In France, from January2016,... the law requiredcommercial and industrial businesses to take allreasonable steps to recycle asmuch of its waste as possible.Businesses which producemore than 10 tpy of biowasteare required to present it for separate collection. [read more]

Using chicken manureas a feedstock in biogas production has been possible only in a limited scale because of ammonia inhibition risk. A new fermentation process has been developed by Ductor, a Finnish bioenergy company that removes nitrogen from chicken litte rbefore biogas processing. This treatment produces a high phosphorus digestate. To fully exploit this natural fertiliser, economic drying... technology, such as a superheated steam(SHS) dryer, is needed. A combination of these two technologies opens up the possibility to use chicken litter— among other high nitrogen materials — as feedstock in biogas production and turn the digestate to dry fertiliser. [read more]

Aviation isr esponsible for 2%of global man made greenhouse gas(GHG) emissions,but the International AirTransport Association (IATA)expect aviation to grow by5% annually until 20301 (EBTP2015). Clearly, decarbonisation of the aviation sector can make a vital contribution to global GHG reductions and the International Air Transport Association (IATA)have CO2 reduction targets of 50% by 2050 (ATAG... 2012). [read more]

Biomass energy producers in the US had more reason to celebrate the beginning of 2016 than just the regular NewYear’s jubilations, as the US Congress passed a regulation extending the production tax credit (PTC). The Consolidated Appropriations Act 2016 extended the tax credit for biomass energy technologies commencing construction through 31 December,2016, and established it retroactively... for 2015. [read more]

Which US presidential candidate willbe good for the bioenergy sector? It is a challenging question for industry leaders and investors as they contemplate what condition their respective renewable energy ventures may be in by 2025. It is certainly a sobering thought to consider the length of time during which then ext US president will help to shape renewable energy policies, both domesticallyand... across the globe. Making the correct choice over th enext few weeks — as the race for nomination heats up — willhave a significant impact on how future energy policies develop in the US and how that affects business aims and objectives in Europe, SouthAmerica, Asia, and so on. [read more]

Bioenergy has the potential to be a low carbon game change rfor the UK’s future energy system,according to a new report from the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI). The ETI is apublic-private partnership between global energy and engineering companies and the UK government, and has recently published Deliveringgreenhouse gas emissionsavings through UK bioenergyvalue chains, a report which... reaffirms the potential of bioenergy in a future UK. [read more]

Recent years have seen the construction of several large scale pellet plants in North America.There are obviously many up front decisions when setting up a plant, such as availability of fibre, proximity to ports,and ultimately, off-take contracts. But once these basic considerations are settled, a company has to make decisions about which technology to use. These decisions, while seemingly... straightforward, can have a significant impacton the profitability of the venture. Key considerations include performance,reliability, operating and capital cost, and speed of ramp-up to full production. On occasion project developers in sufficiently analyse competing technologies and focus on capital cost alone. This is a “fingers crossed”approach that produces uncontrolled outcomes. [read more]

In an effort to transform the waste disposal industry, Entsorga WestVirginia, (EntsorgaWV) will be the first to introduce its proprietary system of mechanica lbiological treatment (MBT) to the US. This technology has been successfully deployed throughout Europe, where Entsorga has provided facilities in five countries that currently process approximately one million tonnes of municipal solid... waste annually. Entsorga’s HeBioT technology utilises a combination of mechanical and biological treatment of waste in order to produce an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognised alternative,renewable fuel source called solid recovered fuel (SRF). [read more]

Following the welcome news that the UK’srenewable heat index(RHI) budget is set to treble between now and 2021, the country’sanaerobic digestion (AD)industry is breathing a small sigh of relief. Despite the fact that the Department ofEnergy and Climate Change(DECC) has capped Feed-InTariff (FIT) support at the unambitious level of 20MW per year until 2019, thesector remains healthy.... There are more than 270 plants inoperation outside of the water sector, and around 90 new plants are in development for 2016, according to the Anaerobic Digestion & Bioresources Association. [read more]

There are many reasons machinery manufacturers innovate.Continued research,development and engineering enables them to maintain their competitive edge and capitalise on new opportunities. But that innovation would mean nothing if it did not address the imminent and upcomingchallenges customers face. For example, when processing waste wood for biomass, operators understandably focus on... performance-centric criteria such as shredder capacity, throughputs and cost efficiencies. Fortunately the spotlight is growing on energy consumption too —after all, there seems little point creating a renewable energy feedstock if the production process itself is a drain on valuable resources. [read more]