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Volume 8, Issue 3
Mind your language
Feature
As Bioenergy Insight went to press,media outlets reported that topaides of President Donald Trump will be meeting to discuss whether or not the US should remain part of the Paris climate agreement. Officials will be discussing their options, with the goal of providing a recommendation to the president about the path forward, according to an administration official who spoke on condition of...
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Maize is not to blame!
Feature
In February 2014, just after the serious winter floods that hit the UK in that year and in 2013, Guardian columnist George Monbiot went on the war path against maize, claiming that the crop is a major cause of soil erosion and run off.
Policy objectives
Feature
I was recently at aconference where the speaker, a developer of a biomass combined heat and power (CHP) plant, made the comment that their client is the government, not the lenders, the power purchaser or the heat off-taker, but the government.
State of play: Fulfilling potential
Feature
The UK biomethane industry grew strongly in 2016 and looks set to make further progress this year. Even so, questions remain overhow the sector is being handled at government level and how investors and developers will react to the continued easing back of publicly funded support, especially as Brexit impacts on the UK economy.
The next decade: Where we've been and where we're going
Feature
There are several significant reasons for the EU to put forward ambitious legislation to accelerate the take-off of renewables on the continent beyond 2020. Renewable energy has greatly contributed to the European economy by creating both high and low skilled jobs and boosting the European manufacturing and service sectors.
Alternative to pellets
Feature
Biomass is recognisedf or being anefficient and anenvironmentally friendlyalternative to fossil fuels. Densification of biomass is an importantelement in trading and handlingbiomass, as densified fuel offers logistical advantagesand becomes a commodity ensuring high energy content and homogenous quality.
Don't waste the waste: Efficient biogas upgrading
Feature
Biogas is an eco friendly energy source thatis becoming increasingly important in today’s energy supply. It can be used to generate power or heat or as a fuel. To produce fuel, an upgrading and purification process is required and in the past a stable reliable technology was a challenge.
Nitrogen and phosphorous recovery
Feature
The first biogas plant equipped with Ductor’s nitrogen and phosphorus recovery technology was put into use in Tuorla, Finland, late November 2016. The size of the Ductor fermenter at the demonstration plant is capable of treating 600 tonnes of poultry manure each year.
Opportunity knocks
Feature
Reducing fossil fuelusage helps protect the limited supply of fossil fuels in the world while decreasing the pollution produced. Alternative energy reduces the reliance on limited fossil fuels.
A joint venture
Feature
Two solution focused industry leaders have formed a coalition to maximise anaerobic digestion(AD) plant efficiency through enhanced biogas quality analysis and control. As a well-known gas analyser manufacturer, Geotech is constantly expanding its series of fixed and portable units.
Powering ahead
Feature
The past decade has, on the whole, been kind to the AD industry, allowingit to blossom from a niche nice-to-have into an established no-brainer technology that can help the UK to achieve a range of policy objectives, from reducing imports of natural gas and artificial fertiliser to providing renewable energy, supporting farmers, and helping to restore our degraded soils.
Engine power
Feature
In 2015, Robert Greenow— who runs his own an aerobic digestion (AD)technical and biological support business, BioGUK— applied for planning permission to install an AD facility on a farm in Staffordshire. As well asproviding a reliable source of power, making the farm completely self-sufficient in terms of energy use, the site would also supply heat to dry grain, a way to minimise crop...
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Food, glorious food
Feature
In tackling London’s food waste, of whichit processes 75,000 tonnes per annum, BIO Collectors’ Paul Killoughery almost nonchalantly describes the 1.7MW electricity produced as “the easiest thing we do”.
Understanding the risks of AD
Feature
There is little doubt that theanaerobic digestion(AD) industry will continue to growin momentum as the global appetite for sustainable and more environmentally-friendly energy alternatives becomes entrenched.
Green storage
Feature
The success of abiogas project heavily depends on how carefully the specific requirements that each project has are considered during planning and construction of the plant. Standard solutions often are not the optimum fit for the specific needs of the operator.
Planning permission: How to get approval
Feature
As a specialist chartered surveyorand town planner I have been advising clients for many years on the best ways of securing planning consent for a variety of different projects.
Wastewater power
Feature
A Californian companyis pioneering pasteurisation as a third-stage wastewater treatment. PasteurizationTechnology Group (PTG)has patented a two-for-one process which heats wastewater to kill pathogen sas well as generating lower cost power for industrial and municipal treatment plants.
AD challenges in Brexit Britain
Feature
Many people in the UK are keeping a close eye on Brexit negotiations and anaerobic digestion (AD) operators are no exception. Recent postulations about the future of waste management legislation leave the sector’s future somewhat ambiguous.
Tank options
Feature
Almost every biogas plant that handlesliquid substrate has one or more roundtanks, where the substrate is mixed in the most efficient way to maximise the biogas it produces.
From project build to asset management
Feature
It is no great surprise thatwith the continual tariff degression and the general lack of renewables support from the government, the anaerobic digestion(AD) industry remains in the doldrums.
Making the right choice - ORC vs. steam cycle
Feature
The last ten years a large number of small and medium sized wood combined heat and power plants between 300kWe and 5,000kWe has been built. Due to optimising, repetitionand learning curves thecosts of the units have gone down dramatically.
Feeling the heat
Feature
A health and safety incident occurred at one of DMT’s plants recently .An activated carbon filter overheated due to an incorrect mode ofoperation, causing damage to the installation.
Feeling the heat
Feature
A health and safety incident occurred at one of DMT’splants recently. An activated carbon filter overheated due to an incorrect mode ofoperation, causing damage to the installation.
Biomass to power
Feature
It is not just people who sometimes struggle to combine intensive and extensive behaviours.Biomass generators have often failed to address both of these challenges simultaneously.
EUBCE 2017: The indispensable role of biomass
Feature
On 12-15 June, the European Biomass Conference and Exhibition celebrates its 25th edition in Stockholm, welcoming the global biomass community. EUBCE has been held at different venues in Europe since 1980.
Learning curve
Feature
Itasca Community College (ICC) was founded in 1922 as a public college. It serves 1,200 students with 40 full-time faculty.The average class size is 24 students. The main focus is in natural resources, pulp and paper, geographic information systems and power generation, to name a few.
Full steam ahead
Feature
Scottish manufacturer Heliex Power has solved an energy problem that has stumped academic and engineering minds forc enturies by devising an efficient way of harnessing the power of “wet” steam. A team of engineershas developed patented technology to recover energy from a ubiquitous yet frequently untapped energy source — the type of vapour you can see when a kettle boils.
'Alternative facts' in the recent Chatham House paper
Feature
Providing misleading,inaccurate, andsometime outrightfiction as facts could be called propaganda. With overtonesof Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the term“alternative facts” has recently been coined. Either way, it is information that is biased and misleading that is used to promote a point of view.
Biomass in Belgium
Feature
On 20 April, the bankruptcy of‘Langerlo’ — a 400MW coal unitpoised to be converted into a pellet fired power plant — was announced, a few weeks after it became clear that it would not be granted the promised €2 billion of subsidies it needed.
