Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas retain strong support despite the stuttering global economy

LONDON Globally, large investments and an increased emphasis on organic waste landfill diversion are driving anaerobic digestion (AD) through the economic gloom. On both sides of the Atlantic, the environmental profile, economic credentials and reliability of AD are making it an increasingly attractive proposition for waste management companies and investors alike.

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In the UK, the Prince of Wales’ private estate and Jacob Rothschild are among the high profile investors behind the $103 million investment in Tamar energy which plans to build 40 digesters in the UK alone. Meanwhile, in the USA, AgPower are set to open the largest AD facility on the continent this year. Waste management companies are among the significant players committed to AD and other new approaches in organics management; Tim Hawkins, Area Vice President for Waste Management Inc. commented; “As the nation’s largest environmental solutions provider, our customers are asking us to help them meet their sustainability goals.”
But despite enormous progress, the US and the UK lag significantly behind continental Europe in terms of development. The maze of bureaucracy in regulation and permitting, as well as the project economics are delaying the progress of AD as a feasible and widely implemented technology for utilizing organic wastes. Haley Sawyer of Navigant Consulting, in her article on the opportunities in Anaerobic Digestion said, “AD conversion requires a specific organic waste composition and a sufficient supply, without which biogas output will be lower, and the project will be uneconomic.”
The message from stakeholders across the industry is clear; Investment coupled with a serious commitment to sustainable goals and long term feedstock agreements will lead ultimately to an economic business proposition that provides genuine societal benefit. Renewable Waste Intelligence has provided a forum, in San Francisco, to address these issues of business model, investment, infrastructure and long term agreements.
The Anaerobic Digestion Conference and Expo is bringing together waste management companies, entrepreneurs, municipal authorities and investors to ensure that solid supply chains can be built for the long term: Take a look at: http://goo.gl/u7Gnm or email Oliver Saunders at osaunders@renewable-waste.com to find out more about how you can get involved.

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Types of Anaerobic Digesters

Types of Anaerobic Digesters Biogas Plant

Anaerobic digesters are capable of treating insoluble wastes and soluble waste-waters. Insoluble wastes such as particulate and colloidal organics are considered to be high-strength wastes and require lengthy digestion periods for hydrolysis and solubilization. Digester retention times of at least 10–20 days are typical for high-strength wastes. High-rate anaerobic digesters are used for the treatment of soluble wastewaters. Because these wastewaters do not require hydrolysis and solubilization of wastes, much faster rates of treatment are obtained. High-rate anaerobic digesters usually have retention times of less than 8 hours.
High-strength wastes are usually treated in suspended growth systems, whereas soluble wastewaters are usually treated in fixed-film systems. Several anaerobic digester processes and configurations are available for the treatment of insoluble wastes and soluble wastewaters . Each configuration impacts solids retention time (SRT) and hydraulic retention time (HRT). Minimal HRT is desired to reduce digester volume and capital costs. Maximal SRT is desired to achieve process stability and minimal sludge production Readmore

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Dengue season is coming back

dengue mosquito

Dengue season is coming back

Dengue fever is caused by one of four different but related viruses. It is spread by the bite of mosquitoes, most commonly the mosquito Aedes aegypti, which is found in tropic and subtropic and the Caribbean regions , usually during the rainy seasons in areas with high numbers of infected mosquitoes.Asia-Pacific countries have more than 70% of the disease burden.Dengue fever can be caused by any one of four types of dengue virus: DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, and DEN-4. A person can be infected by at least two, if not all four types at different times during a life span, but only once by the same type.Dengue fever begins with a sudden high fever, often as high as 104 – 105 degrees Fahrenheit, 4 to 7 days after the infection.A flat, red rash may appear over most of the body 2 – 5 days after the fever starts with intense headache, joint and muscle pain and a rash. Mild bleeding of the nose or gums may occur.. A second rash, which looks like the measles, appears later in the disease. Infected people may have increased skin sensitivity and are very uncomfortable. The hemorrhagic form of dengue fever is more severe and associated with loss of appetite, vomiting, high fever, headache, difficulty breathing and abdominal pain. Shock and circulatory failure may occur. Untreated hemorrhagic dengue results in death in 40 to 50 percent of cases.Read More

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Fraunhofer turns brown bananas and squashed tomatoes into useful biogas

Fraunhofer turns brown bananas and squashed tomatoes into useful biogas

Mushy tomatoes, brown bananas and overripe cherries – to date, waste from wholesale markets has ended up on the compost heap at best. However, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB have developed a new facility that ferments this waste to make methane, which can be used to power vehicles. Drivers who fill up with natural gas instead of gasoline or diesel spend less on fuel and are more environmentally friendly. Natural gas is kinder on the wallet, and the exhaust emissions it produces contain less carbon dioxide and almost no soot particles. As a result, more and more motorists are converting their gasoline engines to run on natural gas. But just like oil, natural gas is also a fossil fuel, and reserves are limited.
Now, though, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart (Germany) have developed an alternative: They have found a way to obtain this fuel not from the Earth’s precious reserves of raw materials, but from fruit and vegetable waste generated by wholesale markets, university cafeterias and canteens. Fermenting this food waste produces methane, also known as biogas, which can be compressed into high-pressure cylinders and used as fuel.
In early 2012, the researchers will begin operating a pilot plant adjacent to Stuttgart’s wholesale market. The facility uses various microorganisms to generate sought-after methane from the food waste in a two-stage digestion process that lasts just a few days.
“The waste contains a lot of water and has a very low lignocellulose content, so it’s highly suitable for rapid fermentation,” says Dr.-Ing. Ursula Schließmann, head of department at the IGB. But it still presents a challenge, because its precise composition varies every day. Sometimes it has a high proportion of citrus fruits, while other times there are more cherries, plums and lettuce. On days with a higher citrus fruit content, the researchers have to adjust the pH value through substrate management, because these fruits are very acidic.
“We hold the waste in several storage tanks, where a number of parameters are automatically calculated – including the pH value. The specially designed management system determines exactly how many litres of waste from which containers should be mixed together and fed to the microorganisms,” explains Schließmann. It is vital that a correct balance be maintained in the plant at all times, because the various microorganisms require constant environmental conditions to do their job.
Another advantage of the new plant lies in the fact that absolutely everything it generates can be utilized; the biogas plant, the liquid filtrate, and even the sludgy residue that cannot be broken down any further. A second sub-project in Reutlingen comes into its own here, involving the cultivation of algae. When the algae in question are provided with an adequate culture medium, as well as carbon dioxide and sunlight, they produce oil in their cells that can be used to power diesel engines. The filtrate water from the biogas plant in Stuttgart contains sufficient nitrogen and phosphorus to be used as a culture medium for these algae, and the reactor facility also provides the researchers with the carbon dioxide that the algae need in order to grow; while the desired methane makes up around two thirds of the biogas produced there, some 30 percent of it is carbon dioxide. With these products put to good use, all that is left of the original market waste is the sludgy fermentation residue, which is itself converted into methane by colleagues at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland and at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
Others involved in this network project, which goes by the name of ETAMAX, include energy company EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg and Daimler AG. The former uses membranes to process the biogas generated in the market-place plant, while the latter supplies a number of experimental vehicles designed to run on natural gas. The five-year project is funded to the tune of six million euros by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). If all the different components mesh together as intended, it is possible that similar plants could in future spring up wherever large quantities of organic waste are to be found. Other project partners are the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV in Freising, FairEnergie GmbH, Netzsch Mohnopumpen GmbH, Stulz Wasser- und Prozesstechnik GmbH, Subitec GmbH und the town Stuttgart.

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Biogasrat to promote biogas in Russia

Biogasrat to promote biogas in Russia

      RBC, 24.02.2012, Moscow 17:21:45.Russia's National Union for Bioenergy, Renewable Energy Sources and Environmental Protection (NSBE) and German union of biogas companies Biogasrat have agreed to cooperate in order to establish a biogas industry in Russia, Russia's Corporation GazEnergoStroy, a member of NSBE, said in a press release.

      NSBE and Biogasrat will focus on securing investment, supplies of equipment and materials, R&D, and soliciting government relations for biogas companies.

      The parties intend to finance the construction of biogas stations, use biogas in power generation, and produce biomethane, which is upgraded biogas. No biomethane is produced in Russia at present, but the parties expect to supply it to the gas transportation system for distribution to Russian consumers and exports to the EU sometime in the future.

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