WRAP Charts Huge Rise in AD Capacity

Anaerobic digestion capacity in the UK is expanding rapidly, with 41 on-farm and commercial plants already in operation, 13 being built and a further 50 planned, according to Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

Map showing the location of commercial AD plants currently operational in the UK (blue) and those being built (purple). Source: WRAP

Nina Sweet, organics sector specialist at WRAP, told the Futuresource conference and exhibition last month (June 16) that the industry - which breaks organic waste down in the absence of oxygen to produce biogas for energy - had come a long way in the last three-to-four years (see table below).

She said: "The acceleration of growth in this industry is very, very sharp - more so than we have seen in many of the other waste sectors to date."

However, she warned that not all the proposed plants would be built and developers must consider what to do with the digestate byproduct produced during the process in order to make their operations a success.

She said: "Unless we cope with the digestate side of things we will have an incomplete loop and we cannot complete the picture.

"Anyone with a digester will not find the project bankable unless there is certainty that there is a market for the digestate."

Fertiliser

Ms Sweet explained that digestate could be used in the form of biofertiliser as a direct replacement for inorganic fertilisers on farms, saving farmers £180 per hectare and also cutting down on carbon emissions and reducing the use of phosphorus.

But, she said there was a need to make sure the digestate was good quality - through use of the Quality Protocol for anaerobic digestate (see letsrecycle.com story) and PAS110 safety standard (see letsrecycle.com story) - and build confidence in its use.

She told letsrecycle.com that digestate was not being used to directly grow crops for consumption, but had been used on land which was used for grazing or to grow energy crops.

Responding to a question, Ms Sweet added that digestate odour was a challenge for the industry, despite the PAS110 setting out stability standards which helped reduce its impact.

Future

Looking forward, Ms Sweet said there was potential for digestate to be used in markets other than those two listed in the Quality Protocol.

And, with anaerobic digestion producing 300kWh of electricity from every tonne of food waste feedstock, and increasing incentives to produce renewable energy, she said that the future for the industry looked bright.

She said: "We need to expand to two million tonnes of food waste treatment capacity by 2020. We need this technology to treat our food waste. We have to start looking at food waste as a resource."

AD plants in operation and being built

SOURCE: http://www.letsrecycle.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=37&listcatid=217&listitemid=55749&section=composting

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