Bioenergy Insight January/February 2015

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015 Volume 6 • Issue 1

Industry voices Market leaders make their predictions for the year ahead

A lot to consider

A guide to successfully specifying AD storage tank solutions

Global water, wastewater and processing storage solutions

Regional focus: bioenergy in Europe

Construction

All under one roof

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Operation & Maintenance

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Analysis

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High quality large scale biogas plants focusing on co-digestion of biomass from a wide range of sources

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contents Bioenergy

Contents Issue 1 • Volume 6 January/February 2015 Horseshoe Media Limited Marshall House 124 Middleton Road, Morden, Surrey SM4 6RW, UK www.bioenergy-news.com PUBLISHER Margaret Dunn Tel: +44 (0)208 687 4143 margaret@bioenergy-news.com

3 Comment 4 News 13 Technology news 16 Green page 17 Incident report 18 Biomethane industry welcomes tariff support

EDITOR Keeley Downey Tel: +44 (0)20 8687 4183 keeley@bioenergy-news.com

ASSISTANT EDITOR Natasha Spencer Tel: +44 (0)20 8687 4146 natasha@horseshoemedia.com

STAFF WRITER Daniel Traylen Tel: +44 (0)20 8687 4126 daniel@horseshoemedia.com INTERNATIONAL SALES MANAGER Tom Hunter Tel: +44 (0) 203 551 5752 tom@bioenergy-news.com NORTH AMERICA SALES REPRESENTATIVE Matt Weidner +1 610 486 6525 mtw@weidcom.com PRODUCTION Alison Balmer Tel: +44 (0)1673 876143 alisonbalmer@btconnect.com SUBSCRIPTION RATES £150/€210/$275 for 6 issues per year.

Contact: Lisa Lee Tel: +44 (0)20 8687 4160 Fax: +44 (0)20 8687 4130 marketing@horseshoemedia.com Follow us on Twitter: @BioenergyInfo

No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in any form by any mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording or other means without the prior written consent of the publisher.

Whilst the information and articles in Bioenergy Insight are published in good faith and every effort is made to check accuracy, readers should verify facts and statements direct with official sources before acting on them as the publisher can accept no responsibility in this respect. Any opinions expressed in this magazine should not be construed as those of the publisher.

Latest biomethane tariff review set to give boost to biomass industry

20 Industry voices

Market leaders from around the world reflect on 2014 and make their predictions for the year ahead

28 On the right road

The world’s largest biomass gasification plant is up and running, supplying Sweden’s transportation sector with synthetic natural gas

30 A solid sector?

Big questions overhang Europe’s biomass pellet prospects for 2015, despite long-term sector strength

33 Plant update: Europe 36 Peering into the crystal ball

A look at what 2015 holds for bioenergy in the UK

38 The seal of approval

The ENplus certification scheme ensures the production of high quality, sustainable wood pellets

40 British engineering excellence

A look at the engineering challenges of building a biomass handling facility at the Port of Hull

42 A lot to consider

A guide to successfully specifying AD storage tank solutions

44 Rendered useful

The installation of a new digester mixing system at Biogas Energy’s North State Rendering AD pant is helping cut maintenance costs and reduce energy consumption

47 On the rise

ecoprog discusses the potential of biomassbased power around the world

49 Event preview

Biogas comes to Bremen

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015 Volume 6 • Issue 1

Industry voices Market leaders make their predictions for the year ahead

A lot to consider

A guide to successfully specifying AD storage tank solutions

56 Upcoming events

Advert index Global water, wastewater and processing storage solutions

Regional focus: bioenergy in Europe

ISSN 2046-2476

Bioenergy front cover_Jan-Feb_14.indd 1

Front cover courtesy of Balmoral Tanks ltd.

Bioenergy Insight

15/01/2015 17:15

January/February 2015 • 1

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comment Bioenergy

The drive for energy efficiency

W

Keeley Downey Editor

hen the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) secretary Edward Davey delivered his annual energy statement to Parliament last year, there was a lot to feel positive about.

Between 2010 and 2013, average annual investment in renewables doubled, while £45 billion (€59 billion) was spent on new electricity infrastructure.

As a result, almost 20% of the UK’s electricity now comes from renewable resources, ‘putting us on target to meet energy security requirements as old and polluting generating capacity goes offline’, Davey said.

In fact, having met its first carbon budget, covering the period 2008-2012, the UK is set to up the ante and succeed in reaching the increasingly stringent carbon reduction requirements set out in the second and third carbon budgets.

In the report that accompanied Davey’s statement, we learned that the UK’s renewable energy capacity has more than doubled since 2010, clocking in at almost 19.7GW by the end of

2013. The various renewable electricity technologies received an £8 billion investment in 2013 alone.

Looking at biomass in particular, if sourced sustainably, this feedstock has the potential to provide power equivalent to 10% of the UK’s electricity supply, or 8 million homes. Anaerobic digestion was also recognised as a ‘growing sector within the UK energy market’, providing 707GWh of electricity to the national grid in 2013, an increase of 208GWh over the previous year.

In his speech, Davey described the UK as having ‘one of the best legal and financial frameworks to support the cost-effective growth of low carbon technology anywhere in the world’, adding that the new EU 2030 climate and energy framework means Europe is now ‘well placed to lead on the world stage and secure the global deal that is so crucial for future generations’.

Since the coalition government took power in 2010, significant progress has been made within the UK’s energy sector. But as we start to consider what the election year will bring, all eyes will be on the political parties, their pre-election campaign promises and what new challenges — or

opportunities — will arise.

Inside this issue we speak to industry experts from the likes of ReFood, Glennmont Partners and Estover Energy to get their views on it all. The consensus is that 2014 was not an easy year, and 2015 won’t be plain sailing either.

Dan Wright from the European Research Institute at Aston University also provides his thoughts on what 2015 has in store for bioenergy in the UK. Many are concerned for the future of biomass development post-Renewables Obligation, while others believe 20152016 could become a period of stagnation for new projects, depending on the outcome of the election.

While any election brings with it a level of uncertainty, one thing is for sure: government support is fundamental if bioenergy is to continue playing a role in meeting carbon targets.

On that note, all that’s left to say is happy New Year from everyone at Bioenergy Insight and we look forward to keeping you up to date on all the latest developments in 2015.

Best wishes, Keeley

Follow us on Twitter: @BioenergyInfo

Bioenergy Insight

January/February 2015 • 3

biomass news Shepherd hands over new biomass facilities at Drax Shepherd Construction, a nationally operating contractor, has achieved handover at the UK’s largest power station, Drax, following completion of new biomass facilities.

Now independently operating and burning up to 14,000 tonnes of biomass daily, new facilities designed, built and engineered by Shepherd are enabling Drax to generate up to 1,260MW of renewable electricity per day.

The project was officially opened in December by the Energy and Climate Change secretary, Edward Davey.

Drax has already converted two of its six generating units to burn biomass, and a third will be converted during 2015 and 2016. With all three units converted, annual carbon savings will amount to some 12 million tonnes and the production of enough renewable power to meet the equivalent needs of

around three million homes.

With 3.8 million man hours worked on site and a peak labour force of over 950 people, Shepherd has delivered a range of biomass storage and handling facilities as well as the infrastructure works required to transport high volumes of biomass material across site.

All four domes, the boiler distribution system, the direct fuel route and boilers two and three have now been officially handed over to Drax.

Following government announcements last year that it would be implementing challenging sustainability criteria for biomass, the facilities at Drax will go a long way to helping tackle climate change now and in years to come.

Jason Shipstone, engineering manager at Drax, says: ‘Collaboratively, we’ve produced a feat of construction and engineering, the like of which this country has never seen, and one that will provide a long term legacy for the UK’s renewables industry.’ l

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News in brief STOBART ENERGY AND IMPERATIVE ENERGY FORM BIOMASS PARTNERSHIP

BIOMASS SUPPLIER Stobart Energy has entered into a strategic partnership with Imperative Energy, a provider of biomass energy solutions.

Imperative Energy has completed 80 biomass installations totalling over 45MW in energy capacity, with a further 10 projects currently under construction.

‘This partnership can offer an appropriate solution for all end users needing a biomass energy supply,’ says Richard Butcher, CEO, Stobart Energy. Just 2% of the 60 million tonnes of oil equivalent UK heat market is currently provided by biomass. The continuing focus on sustainability, energy security and costs, and the support policy environment towards biomass, assures us that the fundamentals for growth of the biomass sector are already in place.’

UNDER 0.1% OF UK’S ARABLE LAND USED FOR BIOENERGY CROPS IN 2013

IN 2013, around 51,000 hectares of UK agricultural land were utilised for bioenergy crops — around 0.8% of all arable land in the nation. This is according to a new report, Areas of Crops Grown for Bioenergy in England and the UK: 2008-2013, released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

Of this 51,000 hectares of land used for bioenergy, 42,000 of them (just over 80%) were for growing biofuels crops for the transportation sector. DEFRA says that provisional estimates indicate that 787,000 tonnes of UK-produced crops were used for the domestic road transport market in 2013/2014.

This year, 17% of the nation’s total maize was consumed in anaerobic digestion plants and used to generate biogas.

RENEWABLES NOW SCOTLAND’S LARGEST SOURCE OF POWER

RENEWABLE ENERGY has overtaken nuclear power to

become Scotland’s main source of power, new figures show.

In the first six months of 2014, renewable sources produced 32% more electricity than any other single source of power in Scotland.

In total, the renewables sector generated 10.3TWh, compared to 7.8TWh from nuclear power — previously Scotland’s main source of electricity.

‘Every unit of power generated from renewables means less carbon emitted from the burning of fossil fuels, decreases our reliance on imported energy and supports jobs and investment in communities across Scotland,’ says Niall Stuart, CEO of Scottish Renewables. The renewables industry has come a long way in a short space of time, but there is still plenty of potential for further growth.’

The new facilities include four biomass storage domes

4 • January/February 2015

Bioenergy Insight

biomass news

EBRD invests in biomass in Bosnia and Herzegovina The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is to provide a loan of up to €7 million for the construction of a new biomass boiler plant in Prijedor, a municipality in the north west of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This will be EBRD’s first investment in renewable energy in the region.

The operator of the plant is Toplana AD Prijedor, the majority of which is owned by local authorities. The new boiler will replace oil and be fuelled by woodchips — a sustainable

Bioenergy Insight

and cheaper alternative.

The new plant will help Bosnia and Herzegovina meet its 2020 renewable energy targets. Set out in the Energy Community Treaty for South Eastern Europe, the country is working to slash its CO2 emissions by 80% within the next five years.

The project will also be supported by grant funding of up to €2 million from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

This project will not only change the source of district heating for the citizens of Prijedor from polluting fuel oil to cleaner, sustainable and renewable energy, but it will also deliver real cost savings to the city and its consumers,’ says Ian Brown, head of the EBRD office in Bosnia and Herzegovina. l

Roxas Holdings and Global Power sign MoU

Roxas Holdings, a large integrated sugar business in the Philippines, and Global Business Power (GBPC), a power producer in the Visayas, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to undertake a front-end engineering design (FEED) study and other pre-development activities for a 40MW cogeneration facility in La Carlota City, Negros Occidental.

The MoU details the parties’ respective duties and responsibilities in the financing, design, construction, ownership and operation of a 40MW biomass power plant which will be located within the premises of Roxas’ Central Azucarera de la Carlota sugar facility.

The biomass power plant is targeted for completion by 2017. The parties have agreed to establish a joint venture company to operate the plant.

‘The cogeneration project will not only help stabilise the power supply in our Negros Occidental plant but will also address the growing concern on energy supply,’ says Roxas chairman Pedro Roxas. l

January/February 2015 • 5

biomass news

Over 190MW of biomass power planned for Philippines CHE Group has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Full Advantage to build a number of biomass-fired power plants across the Philippines.

Under the $480 million (€386 million) contract, the companies will develop 16

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biomass plants totalling 191MW constructed in strategic locations in the Philippines.

The facilities will be built over the next five years, with engineering work on the first plant set to begin in Q2 2015. This is CHE Group’s first biomass-to-energy project to be located in the country.

The equipment for these power plants will be manufactured and supplied by CHE Group from Malaysia. CHE Group,

which partners with European technology companies Torftech (UK) and ERK Eckrohrkessel (Germany), has designed a system able to utilise energy crops as biomass fuel to generate electricity.

Torche Energy, a joint venture between CHE Group and Torftech, will be the main contractor to execute the project. It will be managed by the group’s sister company, WVEL Energy. l

New study highlights importance of an optimised biomass supply chain If heat and power plants that burn forest woodchips acquire these chips from optimised supply chains, they can obtain better quality biomass and lower their total acquisition costs. This is according to a study by Ramoll Finland, commissioned

by Miktech Oy. An optimised supply chain includes comprehensive and real-time management features for biomass, resources and conditions.

‘The higher quality of the forest chips, especially in terms of their moisture and homogeneity, will affect the economic efficiency and profitability of heat and power plants,’ explains Ramboll Finland’s business manager, Mirja Mutikainen.

The most significant benefits will be in fuel economy, boiler efficiency and other energy production costs. The plants will also benefit from fewer production outages and decreased operating and maintenance costs.

Forest lots used for harvesting energy wood will yield more energy, costs for transportation and intermediate storage will decrease, the acquisition process will become more efficient for suppliers and plants, and the availability of wood will improve. The supply chain will also become more interactive, which improves its reliability and continuity. Delivery chains can also be traced and controlled. Looking at the bigger picture, an optimised overall solution can improve the competitiveness of forest chips as a fuel and the general competitiveness of bioenergy.

The study also developed a simulation model to demonstrate the benefits for fuel suppliers and power plants. This model provides the estimated added value of an optimised supply chain producing high-quality wood fuel.

A supply chain used to supply fuel for a 50,000MWh woodchip plant would bring more than €400,000 of savings in harvesting and transportation costs. Cost savings for the plant would amount to up to €200,000 or even more. This model is based on previous studies and the chip quality factors and their effects which were evaluated in this latest study. l

Bioenergy Insight

biogas news EBA 2014 biogas report reveals increased production The European Biogas Association (EBA) has released its Biogas Report 2014, which found there are now more than 14,500 biogas plants in Europe and this figure is still growing.

In central Europe, countries such as Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic experienced an 18% increase in the number of biogas plants.

Other key producing countries included the UK, France and Sweden, which continue to develop at a steady rate.

The report states: ‘The combined amount of electrical and thermal energy produced today from biogas in Europe corresponds to the annual consumption of the households in Belgium and Slovenia put together. Such a production could replace 15 coal power plants with an average capacity of 500MWel.’ However, stagnation has been observed in some of Europe’s largest biogas producing nations, such as Germany, Austria and Italy, where crucial changes in support schemes are either expected or already taking place. Additionally, the Czech Republic and

Cyprus have also ceased support for biogas plants.

The EBA says it will continue to work to ensure continuous growth of biogasbased energy across Europe as it is important for the continent’s energy security and decarbonisation.

‘The biogas industry is facing tremendous policy changes, and it is our responsibility to provide the most reliable data to support our member associations to do political work in your home countries, to support our scientists in their research on new technologies, and to support our companies with updated information.

Sita wins operating contract for Amétyst biogas plant Via its subsidiary Sita, Suez Environment has been awarded a €150 million operating contract for the Amétyst anaerobic digestion plant in Montpellier, France, for a period of 10 years.

Sita has operated the Amétyst plant since 2008, which will benefit from a €10 million investment programme funded by the company.

This investment will increase its electricity and heat production by 50%. Waste materials with a high calorific value will be transformed into solid recovered fuel by Sita and used to power cement works as a substitute for fossil fuels.

Under this new contract, Sita will also recover local biowaste and household waste at Amétyst in order to produce 33,500 tonnes of certified compost a year. The development of this new business line, in combination

Bioenergy Insight

with improved energy recovery of waste, will consequently reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill, with more than 51% of local waste transformed into new resources.

Recovering waste at Amétyst in the form of renewable energy will provide Montpellier and the surrounding area with heat through a district heating system, supply the EDF network with electricity and meet the majority of the plant’s energy needs. As a stakeholder in the energy transition, in 2013, Sita France produced over 2 million MWh of heat and more than 1.5 million MWh of electricity.

Christophe Cros, senior executive VP of Suez Environment in charge of waste, comments: ‘Through these types of innovations, the Amétyst green energy production plant is becoming a European benchmark in the anaerobic digestion of household waste and biowaste, with unrivalled performance for this type of facility.

The new resources we will produce at Amétyst will secure the essential resources needed for the future.’ l

Jan Štambaský, EBA president, says: ‘The dramatic change which started with the German Renewable Energy Act EEG 2012 continues to hamper the industry. On the other hand, the biogas industry is increasing in the other parts of Europe — UK, Italy and Denmark, and we hope that the rest of Europe will follow these positive developments.’

The number of biomethane plants has also grown, reaching 282 plants across Europe with a total production of over 1 billion m3. The share of biomethane used in transport is around 10% of the total produced biomethane in Europe. l

Biogas plant with gas upgrading facility comes online in UK A biogas plant complete with gas upgrading facility has been installed for Icknield Gas in Oxfordshire, UK. Construction began in June 2014 and was complete in six months; since 12 December Icknield Gas has been feeding green energy into the existing Southern Gas Networks grid.

Using a combination of pig slurry, farm by-products and energy crops, the facility is able to deliver an annual energy value of around 35 million kWh of biomethane.

‘Our new plant currently enables us to deliver enough gas for the annual needs of about 2,150 homes,’ says project developer David Bermingham.

The facility was supplied by EnviTec Biogas and is the company’s first biogas plant with a gas upgrading facility to be installed in the UK. l

January/February 2015 • 7

biogas news

Tamar Energy signs PPA with EDF Energy Renewable energy company Tamar Energy has signed a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with EDF Energy for its current 11MW generation portfolio.

The PPA covers Tamar Energy's first five anaerobic digestion plants, located in Basingstoke, Hampshire; Holbeach, Lincolnshire; Retford, Nottinghamshire; Halstead, Essex; and Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire. The PPA was signed with EDF Energy at the end of 2014.

The Basingstoke and Holbeach AD facilities started on the PPA terms in December and the other plants will follow in this year.

Willie Heller, Tamar Energy's CEO, says: 'Agreeing the PPA with EDF Energy, the UK's largest producer of low-carbon electricity, is a landmark commercial achievement for Tamar Energy.

Five of Tamar Energy’s AD plants are covered in the PPA

Moreover, it's an important achievement for the UK's AD sector, proving the value of AD's base load generation in the market over the long-term.'

John Cockin, EDF Energy's director of business services, adds: 'We're always keen

to work with new low-carbon generators.

This PPA provides a flexible way to sell energy into the market, so Tamar Energy can achieve the best price for its power and benefit from the minimum income certainty provided by the Feed-in Tariff.' l

Anaerobic Digestion is becoming increasingly popular worldwide as one of the main processes which produce renewable energy in the form of Biogas.

Anaerobic Digesters treat wastewater and organic solid wastes such as municipal, food, agriculture crop, animal waste and a variety of other wastes like sewage sludge, converting the organic portion to Biogas.

In order for anaerobic plants to operate effectively they require a wide range of nutrients for the micro-organisms to grow and function properly.

Deficiencies often occur and can affect plants’ stability, performance and biogas production. Omex Environmental has created Nutromex TEA in order to prevent these deficiencies.

Omex will assess a plants requirement by the analysis of its influent and effluent. It will then produce a TEA solution, tailormade to treat the plants individual requirements, in a form which is fully bio-available in anaerobic conditions.

As well as its’ Trace Element Additive solutions, Omex offer a wide range of products designed to overcome problems that can occur within the septicity treatment industry, such as odour problems, filamentous bulking and pH issues.

Additionally Omex offer a range of high performance laboratorybased analytical services and can provide new and existing customers with a nutrient profiling service. This is the basis for advice on how to assess the correct nutrient dosage in biological treatment systems such as anaerobic processes.

Find out more by visiting our website www.omex.co.uk Tel: +44 (0)1553 770092 Fax: +44 (0)1553 776547 Email: environmental@omex.com Website: www.omex.co.uk

8 • January/February 2015

Bioenergy Insight

biogas news

AD plant slashes Nestlé’s electricity bill UK-based anaerobic digestion (AD) specialist Clearfleau has revealed its energy output results for the plant it built for global food and beverage supplier Nestlé, one year after commissioning.

Clearfleau designed and built the onsite bioenergy plant for Nestlé’s Fawdon confectionary factory, near Newcastle, which is helping Nestlé develop environmentally sustainable manufacturing at the site.

One year after commissioning, the plant is converting 200,000 litres per day of feedstock into renewable energy.

Feedstock includes wastewater from the site and 1,200 tonnes a year of residual by-products and ingredients.

The biogas produced is fuelling a combined heat and power (CHP) engine, which generates 200kW of electricity, used in the confectionary production process. This is around 8% of the factory’s power requirements, cutting the annual electricity bill by approximately £100,000 (€128,000) per year. In addition, the site has registered for the Feed-in Tariff and will receive annual payments of around £250,000.

Previously, production residues from Fawdon, the former Rowntree factory, were discharged or fed to pigs in the locality.

Following the installation

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of the AD plant, all biodegradable production residues are now converted into renewable energy on the factory site.

Clearfleau used its mobile trial unit to showcase the digestion technology to the management and workforce at the Fawdon site before construction and the help optimise the process design.

Nestlé’s head of sustainability, Inder Poonaji, comments: ‘Onsite treatment of production residues will help us reduce the wider environmental impact of our business and meet our sustainability goals. By working with Clearfleau, we continue to reduce our carbon footprint and generate value from food production residues.’

In addition to saving on fossil fuel purchase plus the other savings and revenue benefits, the project has reduced carbon footprint and environmental impact on the site. The carbon footprint for anaerobic digestion is at least seven times smaller than for conventional aerobic treatment plants.

The payback period on Nestlé’s investment in the new AD plant is predicted to be four to five years.

Clearfleau CEO Craig Chapman says: ‘For Nestlé, what was previously a processing overhead is now a valuable financial and environmental asset. The advantages of anaerobic digestion are becoming more apparent and we are currently building AD plants on dairy, distillery, food and biofuel manufacturing sites.’ l

News in brief ORMÁNSÁGI ZÖLDENERGIA PLANS BIOGAS PLANT IN HUNGARY HUNGARIAN ENERGY firm Ormánsági Zöldenergia is reported to be investing HUF950 million (€3 million) in a new biogas plant in Vajszló in the southwest of the country.

Using waste products sourced from nearby farms, the plant will have a capacity to generate 4.5GWh of electricity when it comes online in Q2 2015.

In addition to Ormánsági Zöldenergia’s investment, the project will also receive an EU grant of HUF625 million.

Electricity produced at the plant will be sold to power firm Mavir. Excess heat will be used to heat local greenhouses.

UK’S BIOMETHANE CAPACITY CONTINUES TO SOAR THE QUANTITY of biomethane being injected into the UK’s gas grid is expected to have more than quadrupled by the end of 2014. This is according to data compiled by the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA).

Having analysed information shared by the UK’s four Gas Distribution Networks, ADBA’s results show that the number of biomethane upgrading plants has doubled each year since 2011.

According to ADBA, there are now 10 biomethane-to-grid plants, two of which are within the water sector, generating almost 1TWh. This is up from 0.16TWh in 2013.

ADBA’s CEO, Charlotte Morton, says: ‘From the biomethane capacity data across all of the UK’s Gas Distribution Networks, we have found that capacity has tripled year-on-year since 2011 and is set to quadruple this year [2014]. Today just 10 biomethane plants have the capacity to generate almost 1TWh of gas, sufficient to heat around 50,000 homes each year. Biomethane is one of the most efficient forms of domestic renewable energy.’

TOYOTA BUILDING METHANE PLANT TO CUT CARBON EMISSIONS TOYOTA MOTOR Manufacturing Kentucky, with help

from Waste Services of the Bluegrass, is converting methane from a local landfill into renewable electricity to power Toyota’s Georgetown assembly plant.

Scheduled for completion in early 2015, the project will provide enough power to produce 10,000 vehicles annually, but it will also lead to improved air quality, reducing local air pollution by as much as 90%.

With the increasing number of landfills in the US, the effect of landfill gas on the environment can be detrimental.

January/February 2015 • 9

wood pellet news SBP accepts certification bodies as applicants The Sustainable Biomass Partnership (SBP) has announced that five certification bodies have been accepted as applicants and are now able to progress towards achieving SBPapproved status. These applicant certification bodies are BM Trada, Bureau Veritas Latvia, Control Union, NEPCon and NSF. The SBP framework of standards and processes enables producers of woody biomass to demonstrate that they source their raw material responsibly and that it complies with

the legal, regulatory and sustainability requirements applicable to Europe power generators. It also facilities the carriage of energy and carbon data along the supply chain to the end user. Under the framework the biomass producer, typically a pellet mill, is certified by a SBPapproved certification body and is responsible for ensuring that its feedstock meets the SBP standards.

To become SBP-approved, a certification body must first provide evidence that it meets the SBP requirements regarding its existing accreditations and it must also demonstrate that it has sufficient resources and competence to manage the certification programme.

The next step for an applicant certification body is to satisfy SBP

of its competence to undertake an audit of a biomass producer against the SBP standards in a reallife situation. The first assessments are expected in early 2015.

Peter Wilson, executive director of SBP, says: ‘We have had a lot of interest from certification bodies and are pleased to accept BM Trada, Bureau Veritas Latvia, Control Union, NEPCon and NSF as applicants. This is a significant step in establishing the SBP framework as the most efficient way for biomass producers to demonstrate they are meeting European legal, regulatory and sustainability requirements, and a milestone in establishing an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable biomass supply chain that contributes to a low carbon economy.’ l

RusForest to sell Arkhangelsk assets RusForest, a Swedish forestry company with operations in Russia, has announced the sale of its Arkhangelsk assets in northwest Russia for approximately $31 million (€25 million), including related debt.

In a statement, RusForest says it expects to receive a total of approximately $12 million in net cash from the transaction.

The company has executed a definitive sale and purchase agreement with several buyers, including ZAO Lesozavod 25, for the Arkhangelsk LDK-3 sawmill and related pellet mill, as well as for all of its forest leases and

10 • January/February 2015

harvesting companies in the Arkhangelsk region for a total of approximately $31 million, including all outstanding debt.

The Arkhangelsk sawmill has an annual capacity of 120,000m3 of sawn wood, and the pellet mill has an annual capacity of 100,000 tonnes of pellets. The Arkhangelsk LDK-3 sawmill and the harvesting company, Severny Les, hold forest leases with 851,000m3 of annual allowable cut (AAC).

The transaction is expected to close in the next week.

The net cash received by RusForest after repayment of the sawmill’s debts is expected to be approximately $12 million. RusForest has already received a cash pre-payment of $5.7 million, and the remainder of the cash is expected to be received in four tranches within the next 12 months.

Last year, RusForest

intended to grow the Arkhangelsk business segment due to the attractive port location.

It successfully completed the pellet mill earlier this year as the first step in the Arkhangelsk investment programme. The current sawmill in Arkhangelsk is outdated and requires significant investment to maintain profitability.

The management of RusForest evaluated the possibility of building a new sawmill in Arkhangelsk, but, due to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and the related sanctions against the Russian financial sector, RusForest concluded that it is not possible to finance the construction of a new sawmill at the LDK-3 site without significant shareholder dilution. The company has therefore decided to divest the entire Arkhangelsk operation in order to focus

on RusForest’s profitable operations in eastern Siberia.

Following the divestment of the Arkhangelsk assets, RusForest will be a debtfree company with a profitable core business in Magistralny, eastern Siberia.

Pro forma for the sale of Arkhangelsk, RusForest has total annual sawmilling capacity of 90,000m3 of sawn wood and forestry leases with approximately 1.7 million m3 of AAC. Matti Lehtipuu, the company’s group CEO, says: ‘Now that we have divested all loss-making and non-core operations, we are committed to increasing profitability and identifying new growth opportunities. We plan to begin negotiating the merger of RusForest with Nova Capital’s profitable forestry business in eastern Siberia, Lesresurs, and we continue to focus on increasing shareholder value.’ l

Bioenergy Insight

wood pellet news

Enviva forms partnership to develop wood pellet projects in US Enviva Holdings and John Hancock Life Insurance Company have partnered to develop industrial wood pellet production plants and marine export terminals in the southeastern US. Through their affiliates, Enviva Development Holdings, (Enviva) and Hancock Natural Resource Group (HNRG), the companies have committed to invest up to an aggregate of $320 million (€258 million) in equity capital in joint venture company Enviva Wilmington Holdings (EWH).

This joint venture plans to construct an industrial wood pellet production plant in Sampson County, North Carolina, a marine export terminal at the Port of Wilmington, North Carolina, and

potentially other wood pellet plants and marine terminals in the southeastern US. Enviva will serve as the managing member and operator of the joint venture, which expects to commence construction of the Sampson plant and Wilmington terminal shortly.

Wood pellet production from the Sampson plant will be exported through the Wilmington terminal under long-term contracts with major European power generators. EWH’s customers are replacing coal with wood pellets to improve the environmental profile of energy generation.

Enviva’s affiliates currently own and operate five wood pellet production plants throughout the southeastern US and export its product through terminals in Chesapeake, Virginia and Mobile, Alabama. The joint venture’s projects are expected to complement this existing operating footprint. l

Portucel expands into wood pellet market Portucel S.A, a Portuguese pulp and paper company, will build a wood pellet production plant in South Carolina, US, according to reports.

With an annual production capacity of around 460,000 tonnes and costing in the region of $110 million (€88 million) to build, construction on the facility is due to begin this year. It is slated to be up and running towards the end of 2016.

Portucel has already secured longterm supply contracts for around 70% of the plant’s wood pellets. l

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January/February 2015 • 11

wood pellet news

Helsingin Energia and Vapo agree on Finland’s largest pellet deliveries Helsingin Energia and Vapo have agreed on wood pellet deliveries to the Salmisaari and Hanasaari combined heat and power (CHP) plants.

Under the agreement, Helsingin’s Salmisaari coalfired power plant will begin co-firing wood pellets with a ratio of 5-7% within the coming weeks. And at the company’s Hanasaari power plant, pellets will be cofired with the same percentage once the pellet equipment has been installed.

‘The mixture ratio of pellets is based on thorough pellet combustion tests carried

out at the power plants,’ Helsingin said in a statement.

Vapo’s regional director Jan-Juhani Laitinen comments: ‘This contract is significant.

Once the deliveries are in full swing, Helsingin Energia will be our largest fuel customer using pellets. The employment effect of the contract is about 50 years throughout the production and delivery chain. Our production capacity in Finland will be able to meet growing demand.’

Increasing the use of pellets at its two power plants is part of Helsingin’s aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% on the 1990 level and to increase the share of renewable energy to 20% by 2020. l

Tanac to build $60m wood pellet mill in Brazil

Tanac S.A. is building a 400,000 tonne per year, $60 million (€48 million) wood pellet manufacturing plant at its Rio Grande port site in the south of Brazil.

Construction began in October and is scheduled for completion at the beginning of 2016. The first pellets are due for export in mid-2016. Under a long-term agreement, Tanac will supply its wood pellets to Drax Power.

Tanac says the move to wood pellet production is a natural step. Its primary product is vegetable tannin, a product mainly utilised by the leather industry and in wastewater treatment.

Tannin is extracted from the bark of ‘Black Acacia’ or ‘Black Wattle’. After removing the bark, the remaining wood is chipped at Tanac’s woodchip mill and a proportion of these woodchips will now provide the feedstock for the new pellet plant.

All of Tanac’s own plantations are FSC Forest Management certified and local sourcing operations all carry FSC Controlled Wood certification. As part of the Drax agreement, an independent carbon stock assessment must be conducted on the plantation area in the Rio Grande do Sul State every two years to ensure carbon stock levels are being maintained.

The pellet plant is strategically located in the southern part of Brazil and will be the largest plant in Latin America. l

Bois Energie

12 • January/February 2015

Bioenergy Insight

xx Bioenergy

technology news First BTS Biogas installation for France

Italy-headquartered biogas company BTS Biogas is expanding its presence across Europe, including France.

Michael Niederbacher, BTS Biogas GM, says: ‘The main reason for the predicted boom in France is the improved Feedin Tariff, which will primarily benefit agricultural biogas plants. Increases have also been made to subsidies for operations involving the fermentation of organic wastes and residues from the agroindustry. In France, this attractive scenario

BTS Biogas is building its first biogas plant in France

is combined with one of the biggest volumes of available biomass in Europe.’

With France therefore set to become a key market in Europe in the field of alternative energies, especially biogas, BTS Biogas is well placed to take advantage of this and has established a subsidiary company in Lyon.

This subsidiary is building what will be BTS Biogas’ first biogas plant in France, to be based on a cattle farm in Nantes.

‘We are installing a biogas plant with a capacity of 190kW, which will be fed with liquid manure and cow dung,’ explains Niederbacher.

In addition to construction works, BTS Biogas also specialises in plant optimisation, and technical and biological support. The company also has subsidiaries in the UK, Germany and Japan, and shareholds in biogas companies in the Far East and worldwide. l

Rubb installs biomass infrastructure at Ironbridge Power Station Rubb Buildings has designed, manufactured and constructed the biomass fuel processing and storage facility for energy giant E.ON UK. The company provides custom engineered fabric structures for the renewable energy and biomass power sectors and its facilities provide the ideal building solution for material processing, bulk handling and storage.

The 31.5m span x 137.5m

long fuel storage building at Ironbridge Power Station has an apex height of 21m, making it Rubb UK’s tallest building to date. The roof provides rigidity with minimal deflection, providing stability and support for a 200-tonne roof-mounted conveyor system used for the dispersal of biomass fuel products. The complex helped facilitate the coal to biomass conversion at the power station in Shropshire, UK. The handling and storage structure features a roof pitch of 35 degrees which was designed around

the angle of repose of the biomass materials. The UKbased Rubb team was on hand to provide advice, support, recommendations, site visits and ongoing solutions regarding the challenges that arose during the project.

These included structure height, weight loadings, access and custom door designs.

Rubb met with E.ON’s requirements that all elements

of the structure were to be designed and manufactured in the UK. The steel framework of the building is protected from corrosion by hot dip galvanizing. Galvanizing is the process of metallurgically bonding a tough coating of zinc in to the steel surface. The frame is clad with polyester woven base cloth covered on both sides by PVC and coated by a PVDF finish. l

The 137.5m long fuel storage building

Bioenergy Insight

January/February 2015 • 13

technology news

Energy Capital Partners closes on acquisition of Wheelabrator Technologies Wheelabrator Technologies has announced the close of its $1.94 billion (€1.6 billion) acquisition by Energy Capital Partners from Waste Management.

A definitive agreement for the sale was previously announced in July 2014.

a current platform of 15 energy-fromwaste facilities, four independent powerproducing facilities, four ash monofills and three waste transfer stations.

Waste Management will continue to be a core Wheelabrator customer under long-term waste supply agreements.

‘We are pleased to join forces with Energy Capital Partners and benefit from their team’s substantial capital base, power generation expertise, and experience in clean energy and environmental infrastructure,’ says Mark Weidman, president and CEO of Wheelabrator.

Wheelabrator has an annual waste

Wheelabrator creates clean, renewable energy from everyday residential and business wastes, and will operate as a standalone company. Wheelabrator has

processing capacity of over 7.4 million tonnes, and a total combined electric generating capacity of 768MW — enough energy to power more than 645,000 homes. Wheelabrator facilities also recover metals from ash for recycling into commercial products.

A new energy-from-waste facility is under construction in the UK and is scheduled to begin operations in 2015.

Energy Capital Partners is focused on investing in the power generation, midstream oil and gas, environmental infrastructure, renewable energy, electric transmission, and energy service sectors of North America’s energy industry. l

Acquisition puts biomass fuel supplier in prime position LC Energy, a UK-based supplier of sustainable wood fuel, has acquired Ecolyf, an MCS accredited company which specialises in the supply, installation and maintenance of wood fuel boilers.

The acquisition means LC Energy is now a provider of one-stop biomass services covering the supply and installation process through to fuelling and maintenance for boilers. It will also give the company, which is the sole supplier to Heathrow Airport’s biomass energy centre and Center Parcs Woburn, the opportunity to

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14 • January/February 2015

further grow its market across both industrial and domestic sectors.

‘The beauty of our new integrated service,’ says Mark Lebus, managing director of LC Energy, ‘is that any issues with the operation of biomass boilers can be addressed and customers can feel confident that they have the ongoing support of committed specialists through every stage of the process, whether it be specifying and supplying the correct fuel for a particular boiler or ensuring that a boiler system is appropriately installed in the first place.’

‘The quality of the wood fuel is crucial to the performance and reliability of the biomass boiler and there have been cases where some suppliers have not met these standards leading to problems with boilers,’ Lebus continues. ‘Now that we are involved in the sourcing and maintenance of the boilers, as well as supplying the fuel, we can ensure a seamless and reliable service to customers.’

Mike Barnsley, managing director of Ecolyf, retains a 20% interest and will continue as LC Energy’s head of engineering. l

Bioenergy Insight

technology news

Di Piu installs technology at French briquetting plant Italy-headquartered biomass briquetting company Di Piu has been chosen to install its technology at what will be one of the largest biomass briquetting plants in France.

The facility will be equipped with two briquetting machines able to process up to 15,000 tonnes per year of material. The briquettes will be produced from forest waste, biomass and unused industrial wood sourced from the area around Toulouse.

The output briquettes will guarantee high combustion efficiency when burned in residential stoves, fireplaces and boilers.

The last year was spent designing and building the plant, which is now almost ready to begin production.

Di Piu says the plant will have a high efficiency with low electricity consumption. The company’s briquetting machines are designed to run on low electric power and require low maintenance. l

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Rural Energy provides biomass knowledge at new training centre Rural Energy has opened its Biomass Training and Skills Centre in Leicestershire, UK, which will serve to educate engineers within the renewables and heating sector, providing them with the knowledge and experience needed to deliver high quality biomass installations.

The 1,800ft2 facility cost over £150,000 (€192,000) to develop. The space has been fitted with a range of Herz biomass boilers to give students practical experience of operating boilers from this brand — of which Rural Energy is the only UK supplier. The centre also features a teaching classroom and a

Bioenergy Insight

mechanical and electrical training area.

Rural Energy’s MD, Paul Clark, comments: ‘The launch of the domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) has added to the considerable demand already generated by the commercial arm of the scheme, so a growing number of businesses are now offering specialist biomass technology in the UK market. Many gas boiler and solar PV installers, for example, are looking to up-skill and add biomass to their service offering.’

Courses available at the centre cover various topics, including Herz biomass boilers, control systems, fuel feed options and fuel quality. Additionally, mechanical and electrical aspects of installation and operation, commissioning, maintenance, servicing and government incentives such as the RHI, are also included. l

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January/February 2015 • 15

green page ‘Tis the season to recycle It’s about that time of year already, where reality kicks back in after the festive break and we all start to realise just how much we ate and drank — cue countless New Year’s resolutions of abstinence, ‘Dry January’, and soonto-be-abandoned fitness regimes.

But what about all those leftovers that went in the bin?

In Peterborough, UK, this household food waste — combined with the previous two years’ worth — adds up to

Not very appetising, but good for the planet!

around 9,000 tonnes. It would have been destined to rot in a landfill, however thanks to UK-based anaerobic digestion (AD) plant installation and commercial food waste management company Biogen, it has all been recycled.

Simon Musther, head of commercial operations at Biogen, says: ‘This is fantastic news which will bring benefits to the council and to the community as

a whole. We have a great working relationship with Peterborough City Council and will continue to provide support so that the money saving and environmental benefits of the scheme can be promoted to householders.’

Piles of the waste are taken to Biogen’s Westwood AD plant and processed to generate electricity for the national grid and a nutrient-rich biofertiliser for use on local

farmland, resulting in massive savings for the local council.

Councillor Gavin Elsey, cabinet member for Street Scene, Waste Management and Communications, says: ‘The introduction of food waste recycling has saved us over £500,000 (€643,504) in landfill costs. This is great news for the city and demonstrates the impact recycling can have, not only on the environment, but also the city’s finances. If everyone can do that little bit more when it comes to recycling it can save us huge amounts of money that we can then spend on providing extra services.’

Recycling the food waste by anaerobic digestion has also prevented 6,160 tonnes of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere. l

Bloody biogas Food, wood, manure, even ice cream — all have been used to generate biopower thanks to advancing technology and research in the sector.

But what about blood?

More specifically, animal blood. A group of Maasai pastoralists are leading the way with their exciting new development.

Biogas is produced at the Keekonyokie slaughterhouse in Kenya’s Kajiado County using animal blood and waste from the 120 cows and 400 sheep and goats that are, on average, slaughtered there daily. This gas is in turn used to generate electricity that powers the facility’s meat

16 • January/February 2015

cold room and processing equipment, as well as being piped to local hotels. The slurry is used as a fertiliser.

The process has allowed the facility to cut costs since it began producing biogas in 2005, having previously spent Ksh36,000 (€335) a week on waste disposal to meet environmental standards.

The project group, made up of around 320 pastoralists, is now making plans to begin selling its product — known as Keeko Biogas — in 6kg cylinders by March this year.

A cylinder would cost around Ksh700, half the price of conventional petrol, and is reportedly highly combustible to allow for faster cooking.

The Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI) is in the process of safety testing the cylinders, following which biogas will be bottled and sold.

Keeping hopes high for a swift safety approval

So what will this cost the facility? Nothing, actually, because the filling of each cylinder is powered by Keeko Biogas.

As well as expanding the slaughterhouse’s sources of revenue beyond selling meat, the project could help the local environment by helping to stop so many trees being cut down for charcoal.

Currently, Keekonyokie will be able to produce enough

biogas per day to fill 100 cylinders at 6kg each. However, the facility is receiving funding from World Bank initiative the Kenya Climate Innovation Centre to upgrade with secondary biogas digesters that will allow it to produce three times that much.

The project seems to have everything going in its favour so far, and we’re keen at Bioenergy Insight to see how it progresses. l

Bioenergy Insight

incident report Bioenergy A summary of the recent major explosions, fires and leaks in the bioenergy industry Date

Location

Company

Incident information

04/01/15

Devon, UK

N/A

A chimney fire in a biomass boiler at a farm in Devon had to be tackled by firefighters at around midday.

The fire reportedly started in the base of the flue of a woodchip boiler.

The blaze was under control within half an hour.

13/12/14

Gypsum, Colorado, US

Holy Cross Energy

Fire crews were called to a biomass power plant in the early hours of the morning to assist in tackling an ‘active, three-alarm’ fire.

The plant, which burns woody biomass, was taken out of operation due to the blaze.

The fire reportedly involved a rubber conveyor belt and also affected a silo. The cause is under investigation.

Reports say the plant should be back online soon. No injuries were reported.

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Handling a World of Materials

January/February 2015 • 17

Bioenergy regulations Latest biomethane tariff review set to give boost to biomass industry

Biomethane industry welcomes tariff certainty

T

he Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) published the outcome of its Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) biomethane tariff review on 9 December 2014. The department’s response to the tariff follows a consultation during the summer of last year, which collected evidence on whether economies of scale justified reducing tariffs for new, larger scale projects.

Prior to the publication of the formal government response to DECC’s consultation, which set out how the biomethane injection to grid tariff could be revised, a flat rate of 7.5p/kWh was paid to all plants injecting biomethane into the gas grid.

This was then set to drop to 6.75p/kWh on 1 January, irrespective of their scale.

A tiered approach Following joint lobbying efforts between the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA), the Renewable Energy Association (REA) and their members, DECC has now agreed to apply a ‘tiered’ approach.

This, according to ADBA, is important to avoid some of the distortions which can be caused by tariff banding, where projects can be incentivised to reduce their size to fit under caps.

Projects subject to the new rules will receive the first ‘tier’ tariff level for the first 40,000MWh they generate, the second tier tariff for the

18 • January/February 2015

Tier Tariffs Up to 40,000MWh

7.5p/kWh

40-80,000MWh

4.4p/kWh

80,000MWh+

3.4p/kWh

The new tariff levels

next 40,000MWh, and the final tier tariff for biomethane produced and injective beyond that. The tariff levels have increased significantly compared to the consultation proposals, which the industry warned were too low to stimulate new deployment.

In its written ministerial statement published in December, DECC said: ‘Biomethane is set to be an important contributor to renewable heat under the RHI and the scheme allows the burgeoning biomethane injection to grid market to grow sustainably. We intend to pay 7.5p for the first 40,000MWh injected into the grid (the “tier 1” tariff), 4.4p for the next 40,000MWh (the “tier 2” tariff) and 3.5p for any subsequent biomethane injected over a period of 12 months from the date of registration.

‘Tiering was overwhelmingly popular amongst consultation respondents, particularly the three tier approach. Tiering is less prone to unintended consequences such as gaming, as opposed to the alternative option we consulted on, a banding solution which encourages clustering around band thresholds which could lead to inefficient sizing of plants. Tiering the tariff also means there is

no longer a requirement to accurately determine the system capacity of the plant. This is because the meter readings relating to volume of gas injected can be used to determine the “tiered” payments.’

The new tariffs have been designed based on a feedstock mix of 70% unpackaged food waste and 30% energy crops. ‘Feedback from the responses indicated that it is necessary to include some energy crop in the feedstock mix to hedge against the risk inherent in short-term waste contracts,’ DECC continued.

Degression As DECC explained in its statement, ‘degression’ is the budget management mechanism used to control RHI expenditure within agreed limits: ‘When the new tiered tariffs are introduced, the biomethane degression triggers will remain unchanged and committed expenditure (for the purposes of assessing degressions) will be based upon expenditure for plants registered under both the old tariff and new tariffs. If a degression for the biomethane tariffs is triggered, it will be applied to all tiers equally. This means that the relative

levels of the tiers will be maintained. We consider this approach avoids introducing further complexity into the scheme and creating uncertainty for industry.’

If the new tariff were to be degressed soon after its introduction, this would be destabilising for investor certainty. With that in mind, DECC says this new biomethane tariff will be temporarily protected from degression between its introduction and the end of June 2015.Once introduced, the new tariff will be eligible for degression from (and inclusive of) 1 July.

‘The industry will welcome this announcement, which will reassure developers and investors that they can continue to deliver the biomethane projects they have been planning,’ said ADBA’s CEO Charlotte Morton.

‘Once the regulations have been approved in parliament, the new tariffs will be protected from degression until 1 July 2015, giving existing developers certainty about tariffs if they can complete projects by then.’

REA CEO Nina Skorupska added: ‘Biomethane is one of the success stories of the RHI and has a major role to play in greening the gas grid. From almost nowhere two years ago, we have now 10 projects operational, with more still in the pipeline. The current tariff rates are already competitive with many other technologies and further cost savings are likely as the industry deploys at scale.’ l

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2015 outlook

Market leaders from around the world reflect on 2014 and make their predictions for the year ahead

Industry voices

Thomas Dalsgaard, Dong Energy Thermal Power

Still a relatively untapped resource Thomas Dalsgaard, executive VP, Dong Energy Thermal Power I believe that biomass has a greater potential in the European energy transformation than is currently being utilised. We have demonstrated with real-life, large scale projects in Denmark that it can replace coal as a reliable, sustainable and low cost green source of energy. Conversions of existing coal-fired power stations could offer good value for money for many European countries as a part of the future green energy mix.

Biomass at power stations is a natural, low cost complement to solar projects (PV), onshore and

20 • January/February 2015

offshore wind and other renewables.

Biomass converted power stations can deliver the flexibility and back up needed to accompany intermittent energy sources such as solar and wind. Moreover, by replacing coal in existing power stations, we can keep and preserve the value of already existing assets and existing grid infrastructure.

Like any other renewable energy source, bio conversions require that framework conditions are in place to support the investment decision.

However, since they are cost competitive with almost any other green technology, bio conversions can contribute to reduce the overall costs for households and industry of the green transformation.

Biomass needs to be sustainable in order to result in a genuine and significant CO2 reduction as it replaces coal. There is currently no international regulation to define sustainability, and many countries are now developing their own frameworks and definitions. A number of European organisations, e.g. the Sustainable Biomass Partnership (SBP), have contributed to this work by developing a system for certifying and auditing biomass producers in order to ensure compatibility with strict sustainability criteria. These criteria, for instance, ensure full re-planting of trees, preservation of biodiversity and protection of highly sensitive forestry areas.

In late 2014, a Danish industry agreement on sustainable wooden biomass was signed and approved by the Danish Minister of Climate, Energy and Buildings.

This agreement takes into account the criteria and enforcement mechanisms defined in the SBP framework. Other sustainability

frameworks are already in place or are being established by authorities, e.g. in the UK, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Dong Energy is now implementing its own programme for sustainable biomass sourcing in order to ensure its compliance with the Danish industry agreement.

The establishment of the new frameworks is a first and very important step in ensuring and documenting our compliance with strict sustainability criteria. They will develop over time as more tools and knowledge become available. Biomass needs to be sustainable, and the sustainability needs to be documented.

Sustainable biomass gives a significant CO2 reduction as it replaces coal, and it has a great potential in the European energy transformation as part of the future green energy mix.

We are working to convert a number of our large combined heat and power (CHP) plants into multifuel plants so that they are able to run full load on sustainable biomass such as woodchips and wood pellets.

We have already completed two full conversions and have initiated the conversion of another two units, taking our total biomass-based power capacity to 1.4GWs by 2017.

In the coming years, we will continue our focus on replacing coal and gas with sustainable biomass. Our objective is that by 2020 more than 50% of the electricity and heat produced by our CHP plants for Danish homes originate from biomass. We thus expect to be able to reduce our coal consumption by approximately 80% compared with 2006 levels.

Bioenergy Insight

2015 outlook Going from strength to strength Thomas E. Beck, chief commercial officer, ReEnergy Holdings Last year was a significant year for the US biomass power industry and ReEnergy Holdings. The positive developments we witnessed in 2014 portend a strong 2015 for biomass power across the US. According to a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission report, released in December 2014, a total of 45 biomass units with a combined capacity of 241MW were placed into service in the US during the first 10 months of 2014.

The most exciting development in the US biomass industry last year was scientific and policy-related. As the year progressed, there was a growing body of scientific findings that concluded that carbon emissions from biomass do not introduce new carbon into the existing natural carbon cycle and play an important role in climate change mitigation. These include: 1. The White House’s National Climate Assessment in May 2014 characterised biomass as ‘one component of an overall bioenergy strategy to reduce emissions of carbon from fossil fuels, while also improving water quality and maintaining lands for timber production as an alternative to other socioeconomic options’.

2. In June, the draft Clean Power Plan released by the US Department of Environmental Protection (EPA) recognised that ‘biomass-derived fuels can play an important role in CO2 emission reduction strategies’.

3. In September, the Society of American Foresters released a peer-reviewed scientific study entitled ‘Forest Carbon Accounting Considerations in US Bioenergy Policy’, which was published in the November print issue of the Journal of Forestry. This study confirmed the virtues of biomass, not just as an energy source, but also as an important element for forest health and atmospheric carbon management. The study concluded that energy resources derived from forests have the potential to play an

Bioenergy Insight

important and ongoing role in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.

4. On 19 November, the EPA released its long-awaited analysis of carbon emissions from biogenic sources. The framework declared that biomass is ‘likely to have minimal or no net atmospheric contributions of biogenic CO2 emissions, or even reduce such impacts, when compared with an Thomas Beck, alternate fate of ReEnergy Holdings disposal’. It was accompanied by a memo delivered to states on counting biomass in Clean Power Plan near Watertown, New York. This carbon reduction strategies. will be secure power, because our EPA has declared that biomass from facility is located behind the fence sustainably managed forest-derived at Fort Drum, and this contract was sources, as well as agricultural the largest renewable energy project waste, contribute no net carbon in the history of the US Army. to the atmosphere. This analysis Also in Q3 2014, our 39MW critically underscores the value ReEnergy Ashland facility in Ashland, of biomass as a renewable energy Maine resumed operations after source as states begin to review their being idled for more than three compliance obligations to reduce years. This restored 25 jobs at the CO2 under the Clean Power Plan.

This is good news for the industry facility and significant economic and also for ReEnergy Holdings, and environmental benefits in which owns and operates eight Aroostook County, Maine. biomass power facilities in the We are encouraged by the northeast US with a total installed progress made in 2014, as favourable capacity of approximately 300MW. regulations are likely to support the ReEnergy had a positive year. In Q3 growth of our industry while also 2014, the US Army awarded a 20-year providing economic and contract to our 60MW ReEnergy Black environmental benefits River facility for the provisioning, in rural communities production, purchase and delivery of across the US. 100% of the electricity requirements of Fort Drum, an Army installation

January/February 2015 • 21

2015 outlook A not-so-certain future Peter Dickson, partner and technical director, Glennmont Partners Of all the forms of renewable energy, bioenergy is the most inconsistent performer.

While biomass was used to produce 70% of the renewable energy (total heat + power + transport fuel) generated in the UK in 2013, its future is not so certain.

Here at Glennmont Partners we are interested in the section of the market associated with dedicated power production only — new built power stations burning 100% biomass fuel to produce power only or combined heat and power.

This sector is subject to a range of regulatory changes across Europe.

We are working with developers across Europe on a range of biomass opportunities and will remain committed to the value of biomass as a generation technology. However, we are also realistic about the future and find it difficult to see where new biomass generation capacity will come from after the end of 2015.

For all renewable sources of energy, European regulation is changing to reflect the maturing of technologies and the decreased cost of production.

The recent European directive on state aid has increased the elements of competition in the selection of tariffs to be awarded to plants.

In the UK, Electricity Market Reform and the advent of Contracts for

Difference (CfDs) have impacted on the pipeline for biomass developments.

The outcome in the UK is that, post-Renewables Obligation, there is serious cause for concern Peter Dickson, about the future G lennmont Partne of biomass rs development.

CfDs are valid only for combined heat and power (CHP) projects and part of the sector, with the long-term bankable heat offtake Sleaford plant being commissioned contracts are hard to find. In the in the UK and new plants being rest of Europe, similar changes constructed and developed in the to the Renewable Energy Sources UK and other European countries. directive are impacting on the 2015 will be a pivotal year for development of biomass as subthe European renewable energy sector of the power market. sector; the volatility of the oil and Nevertheless biomass remains the gas markets shows the value of the only source of baseload renewable stability of a price-consistent source energy and the only possible source of power (while the low price of of industrial renewable heat sources conventional energy is a real threat and as a consequence one must to alternatives). Biomass will likely be optimistic that the current be more sensitive to changes than problems associated with biomass other renewable sources, given the development will be overcome. perception of the high unit price of Waste material remains the most power produced and the complexity interesting source of biomass, and of the projects. Without European we would anticipate that future regulators taking positive action biomass plants will likely be fuelled to protect the value of biomass, by waste material, whether waste there is a risk of the industry once from industrial or agricultural again slipping into one of its all-tooprocesses. Straw-fired power is regular periods of inactivity. becoming an increasingly interesting

A game of politics Max Aitken, director, Estover Energy For the first time in some years, financing is available for a number of UK-based biomass projects. This is encouraging, but the projects are few and far between. The government says it wants to support biomass combined heat and power (CHP) projects but in reality the regulations make projects

22 • January/February 2015

extremely difficult to develop and finance. Much more needs to be done to make heat and power incentives co-exist. Otherwise, unlike many of its European neighbours, the UK will never make the most of this technology.

Estover Energy financed its groundbreaking Speyside CHP plant, which won the IJ European Biomass Award 2014, in 2014. Our intention is to take this proven model and replicate it. We have a pipeline of

three projects and would like to finance these during the course of 2015. Our developments are sited in regions where there is an excess of low grade wood feedstock.

The result of the election will be critical to the continuation of biomass CHP in the UK. Various regulations will need to be approved mid-year. These are not controversial and are supported by all parties as non-controversial policies, but will need quick action

Bioenergy Insight

2015 outlook by the incoming ministers.

Given the challenges of a new government, this may not happen fast enough and, if so, would mean a hiatus of new projects during 2015-2016.

Bioenergy has the potential to play a significant role in both reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and slashing GHG emissions, but this depends on the government getting the regulations right. Both Labour and the Coalition appeared to support large-scale biomass plants but this was later reversed. Small-scale plants

could be widespread in the UK, supporting the nation’s industry with distributed energy production, but the jury’s out as to whether this will happen. It will be a great pity if it doesn’t as the plants have received immense support.

I’m hoping the new government will focus on decentralised, sustainable energy production which can be quickly implemented, while both helping industry and meeting our carbon targets.

Max Aitken, Estover Energy

Government support is fundamental Philip Simpson, commercial director, ReFood The past 12 months have been a hugely exciting time for the UK’s anaerobic digestion (AD) sector, demonstrating the progress the industry is making to become a pivotal part of the national energy landscape. This said, 2014 hasn’t quite met the mark in terms of further traction and progress towards making eliminating food waste from landfill policy — a stumbling block we’ve been looking to overcome for a number of years now.

With this in mind, greater strength in policyis needed in 2015. If the recycling industry is going to develop further, then we need to see a clear commitment from the government. England is falling behind other EU nations, including its UK counterparts, and this is due to a lack of regulation and support from those in power.

Ultimately, we need to achieve behavioural change across businesses, local authorities and individuals to increase recycling in the UK, particularly food waste, and meet wider global targets.

One way of doing this is through phased legislation and decisive

Bioenergy Insight

frameworks. What I’d like to see is a national waste strategy that focuses on separating waste for recycling and introduces landfill bans in the longer term.

I think the driver for change has to come from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). This is how we will ensure businesses and homes eradicate food waste from landfill, and the UK makes greater traction towards important waste milestones.

However, until this happens, it’s up to the industry to further progress momentum and encourage the greater uptake of alternative waste management strategies.

For ReFood specifically, 2014 has been a year of continued investment and progress towards encouraging a wider understanding and uptake of food waste recycling. The official opening of our brand new gasto-grid AD facility in Widnes was a real standout moment in this drive. The plant, the first of its kind in the UK, marked the next phase in our plan for a network of facilities across the country, and showcased our commitment to leading the AD sector nationally.

Purpose-built to capture food waste’s true value in the most sustainable way, the facility came

at an investment of more than £22.5 million (€29 million) — part of a total £90 million being invested by the SARIA Group into its UK sites throughout 2014/15.

Taking recycling technology to the next level, the plant makes the transformation of food waste to energy even more efficient by sending biogas directly to the grid, rather than converting to electricity via the traditional combined heat and power (CHP) model.

A process becoming evermore prominent in AD, gas-to-grid sees biogas (created by the natural breakdown of food waste) cleaned of impurities, dried and upgraded to a high methane content. This end product resembles the quality of natural gas, which means that it can be exported, via the national grid, to homes and businesses across the country. In the future this will enable renewable gas to make up a significant proportion of the UK’s residential gas demand. This, combined with the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of food waste now being processed in AD facilities nationwide, makes the whole process incredibly efficient and beneficial.

Supporting such advances as

January/February 2015 • 23

2015 outlook gas-to-grid, as well as the vast number of new and updated AD facilities across the country, wider industry groups and representation bodies, such as WRAP, have played

Philip Simpson, ReFood

an invaluable part in backing the industry and introducing widespread initiatives to maintain our positive momentum.

In November 2014, the organisation revealed third phase discussions into its Courtauld Commitment, a voluntary agreement to reduce waste across the grocery supply chain. Aimed at helping the food chain to reduce waste, improve efficiencies and support consumers through waste prevention, ‘Courtauld 2025’ will make a real difference to the food supply chain and, therefore, help to achieve the goal of eliminating unnecessary food waste.

Following on from the third phase of the scheme, which launched in May 2013 and runs until 2015, the next-step programme will take the form of a 10-year framework, running from 2016-2025. Central to the proposed agreement is the ambition to help consumers reduce avoidable food waste and to aid businesses to share efficiency savings along supply chains, waste less and

get more value from unavoidable waste. Having this agreement will help enable organisations to assess the evidence, identify priorities, and work collaboratively to move beyond changes at individual stages of the food life-cycle and focus on optimising system-wide outcomes.

Although specific targets are yet to be confirmed, the programme truly reflects the passion and aspiration of the wider AD sector, as well as the national demand for more environmentally-friendly waste management considerations.

This said, the success of Courtauld 2025 and its wider impact is obviously unknown at this stage and there is only a proportion of those in the food chain signed up. Therefore, more prevalent government support is essential. If the recycling industry is going to develop further, then we need to see more clear commitment — the AD sector is playing its part, but the government has to reciprocate.

A market in demand Brent Jaklin, managing director, Greenlane Biogas North America Interest continues to grow in North and South America for renewable energy projects that upgrade biogas to biomethane, which is more commonly referred to as renewable natural gas (RNG) in these markets.

This interest is being supported by various programmes in these regions.

In the US, monetary incentives are offered to producers of biofuels derived from organic waste materials, and the state of California requires petroleum producers to reduce the carbon intensity of their products which has opened up the market for biofuels. Additionally, many major cities in North America have also implemented organic waste bans in landfills.

In Canada, the provincial gas utility in British Columbia promotes a voluntary RNG programme to

24 • January/February 2015

its customers, allowing people to choose a gas option with a smaller carbon footprint, and one that supports sustainable energy produced locally. Elsewhere in the country, Ontario has legislation in place to bring in more renewable energy sources, while the Quebec government is implementing a programme to divert organic matter from landfills to produce biomethane.

And in South America, Brazil is leading the way when it comes to biomethane projects, with the states of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul having forms of biomethane programmes and legislations in place.

Upgrading biogas to biomethane offers many benefits. Most notably, biomethane is a clean and sustainable energy source. It is produced from organic matter, allowing industries with organic waste to

Brent Jaklin, Greenlane Biogas

reuse what they would normally dispose of and, in the process, reduce overall waste.

A key component of biogas is methane, a greenhouse gas

Bioenergy Insight

2015 outlook (GHG) 20 times more potent than CO2. When biogas is upgraded to biomethane, the atmospheric release of methane and other gases, as the organic matter naturally decomposes, is eliminated.

With their chemical similarities, biomethane is interchangeable with natural gas. This interchangeability enables us to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and reduce the emission of GHG generated by fossil fuel production. The produced biomethane can be injected into pipeline networks and used to fuel natural gas vehicles (NGV).

As a low carbon fuel, biomethane can be highly attractive for fleet managers. Not only do NGV engines produce less CO2 than petrol and diesel vehicles, delivering additional GHG reductions, but there is also a financial incentive: it costs less to fuel a NGV with biomethane.

The RNG industry in North and South America is an emerging one, which we believe has significant potential. We are seeing more projects being developed and in more industries. And with each project that is developed, it should

increase awareness of the benefits of biomethane and ease concerns about the technology and gas quality.

Despite the market potential and programmes that currently exist, the minimal infrastructure to support biomethane projects results in uncertainty in the market. For example, while there are incentives in place for alternative biofuel production, there have been delays in quantifying the renewable fuel targets for petroleum-based producers.

Because of this uncertainty, acquiring long-term agreements and financing can be challenging.

Looking into 2015 and beyond, I hope to see more clarity and support across the board for biomethane projects in the US. Once this is more defined, we should see more biomethane projects being developed in the wastewater sector, with farming anaerobic digester aggregation and high BTU landfill gas sites.

At Greenlane Biogas, we have been developing projects in Europe since the nineties, applying our water scrubbing technology to upgrade

biogas to biomethane. We developed our first North American project in 2010 with an 800 Nm3/hr (470 scfm) plant at a farm in British Columbia.

In 2014 we commissioned the largest biomethane project in the world, with a 16,000 Nm3/hr (9,417 scfm) plant at a landfill in Quebec.

Our entry into South America has also been well received. Our first project, a 1,200 Nm3/hr plant at a landfill in Brazil has just been completed, and with the same client we recently signed an agreement for two additional plants at separate agricultural waste sites. We have also seen an increasing interest level in other South American countries.

Last year also marked our acquisition by Pressure Technologies (PT). Through one of their subsidiaries, they have been selling our upgrading systems in the UK since 2008. Being part of the PT family will enable us to solidify our market position, invest in new territories and further our research and development to continue developing innovative technology.

Eliminating challenges Christopher Standlee, executive VP of global affairs, Abengoa Bioenergy 2014 was a year of growth for the biofuels industry.

As with any expanding market, each growth phase presents its own set of challenges.

The past year was a year of celebrating industry firsts and laying foundations for future successes, even in the midst of obstacles.

Abengoa is optimistic about the health and long term market opportunities within biofuels, such as increasing demand from developing countries (specifically Asia, Africa and India), higher demand for cheap oil, and the increasing burden of waste due to a rapidly growing global population.

The needs of consumers are great and we, as an industry, will be able to satisfy them through technological

Bioenergy Insight

innovation, and with the help of government incentive programmes — the driving forces behind the creation of a sustainable future.

Second generation technologies were the industry buzz for 2014, as two commercial-scale plants were opened with a third to follow in early 2015. Abengoa’s Hugoton, Kansas plant was pleased to be one of these two commissioned second generation cellulosic ethanol facilities.

These plant openings prove there is a market demand for ethanol, driven by the continued demand for oil. From an economic and environmental point of view, ethanol is the best alternative to oil as it is an octane booster and oxygenate for petrol. With advances in production, the US is the lowest cost ethanol producer in the world and among the cheapest and most efficient sources of octane in the

Christopher Standlee, Abengoa Bioenergy

January/February 2015 • 25

2015 outlook world. Despite lower gas prices, ethanol competes very favourably with competing oxygenates on a price basis, and since those same low prices spur increased petrol demand, our markets remain relatively strong.

Government incentives drive the continued investment in technology development. Within the US and many other countries, there is a strong political desire for oil independence which makes alternative sources of energy, like ethanol, even more important. Even with current Canadian and US oil production rates, the US imports about one-third of its transportation petroleum needs, paying nearly $1 billion (â‚Ź800 million) per day. Clearly, the need to foster an environment for developing alternatives and promoting independence from foreign imports is present.

The US government has implemented the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to create an environment that encourages innovative companies to build a more sustainable energy future.

California has also established a low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) to improve its air quality. The LCFS makes California an attractive biofuels market, as their carbon credit price, currently $26 per tonne, is expected to rise as more low-carbon cellulosic ethanol becomes available and the law’s requirements for carbon reduction increase.

These credits can be used as a resource to further industry research and technology exploration beyond second generation biofuels.

Abengoa is currently considering the hybridisation of its first

generation technology to meet the second generation standards. Our second initiative is the commercial proof of technology, which we have demonstrated over the last 18 months, to extract renewable sugars from municipal solid waste and transform them into biofuels.

As we plan for the future, we are looking beyond the creation of ethanol; we as an industry are exploring the expanding sector of by-products and how they will help contribute to the creation of other biofuels, bioproducts such as bio-plastics, and renewable bio-chemicals.

For all the obstacles and market uncertainties, Abengoa is firm in its commitment and vision of the future, where biofuels and renewables will offer global opportunities.

Belgium: The place to Bee Michael Corten, CEO, Bee In Belgium, 2014 was a somewhat better year for renewable energy than 2013, which saw very little investment. But in order for

Michael Corten, Bee 26 • January/February 2015

Belgium to meet its EU 2020 target, extra efforts are needed. Two largescale biomass plants have been approved by the government, which will increase biomass power capacity in the Flemish region to 800MW. In order for renewable energy producers to obtain subsidies, it is crucial they are operating an efficient plant, utilising the cheapest biomass and have low operational costs.

This is necessary as governments want to avoid over-subsidy and use tenders or subsidy limitations by technology to achieve this goal.

The Maxgreen biomass plant (GDF Suez) was closed down for several months amid regulatory discussions surrounding the origin of its wood pellets, but this issue has now been successfully

solved and the plant restarted in September.

Other large-scale biomass projects include the coal-to-biomass conversion E-ON Langerlo, which is currently in the process of changing ownership, and our new Bee Power Ghent (BPG) facility. Construction on BPG is expected to begin later this year and is scheduled to become operational by the end of 2017. We have already signed the EPC contract and Sea Invest is the stevedoring and logistics partner for BPG. Located at the Port of Ghent, our facility will generate 200MW of power and 120MW of heat. BPG will be linked to the existing district heating network located in the city of Ghent.

Modern combined heat and power (CHP) plants are very efficient and offer flexible power.

Dedicated biomass power plants are economically and environmentally suitable to be part of the solution to the European energy question.

Once construction has commenced on the BPG plant, we plan to then invest in biomass-to-energy plants in other countries around Europe, Africa and the Americas.

Bioenergy Insight

2015 outlook Advocating sustainability John Brushwood, director of communications, Gainesville Renewable Energy Center Private land owners and timber companies plant tree farms specifically for the production and sale of wood products. The merchantable wood is sold to wood mills, leaving behind the non-merchantable wood as waste. Unmerchantable wood from timber harvests account for millions of tonnes of waste wood annually in Florida, US. Much of this waste wood is burned in open piles, where there are few if any emissions controls, to make space for planting new trees.

At Gainesville Renewable Energy Center (GREC), which with a production capacity of up to 102.5MW is the largest biomass facility in the US, we provide land owners an outlet for their waste, where it is converted to energy under strict environmental emissions controls. As a result, GREC reduces land owners’ reforestation costs, and improves air quality in the region, while producing locally sourced energy for consumers.

Additionally, we have partnered with the Florida Forest Service to reforest certain important ecosystems such as the endangered long leaf pine. Long leaf pine is the most diverse ecosystem in Southeast US and at one time was the most prominent. In forests such as the Goethe Forest, the mid-story must be removed in order to replant long leaf pine. GREC utilises the removed under-story allowing for the Forest Service to re-introduce endangered ecosystems.

Our second fuel source is clean urban wood waste. This does not include construction and demolition debris or treated wood.

GREC’s smallest fuel source is residues from saw and pulp mills. These mills produce wood waste such as sawdust or wood shavings, and a portion of these are also sent to the centre.

As part of our commitment to sustainable forestry, in October 2014 GREC became the first power plant to receive Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for chain

Bioenergy Insight

John Brushwood, GREC

“Without European regulators taking positive action to protect the value of biomass, there is a risk of the industry slipping into a period of inactivity” Peter Dickson, Glennmont Partners

of custody of controlled wood. FSC is a highly regarded organisation and gold-standard in third party certification of the timber industry.

The strict chain of custody requirements we adhere to include the recording and source verification of every shipment of wood received.

Additionally, the sustainability standards of all the timber farms that our fuel comes from is scrutinised.

GREC offers fuel diversity to Florida, a state that uses natural

gas for over 60% of its energy needs.

Much like a financial portfolio, an energy portfolio benefits from diversity. A diverse portfolio increases price and fuel stability, particularly when the fuel comes from local sources. At GREC we source our woody biomass from within a 75 mile radius.

January/February 2015 • 27

Bioenergy profile The world’s largest biomass gasification plant is up and running, supplying Sweden’s transportation sector with synthetic natural gas

On the right road

F

or Sweden’s Göteborg Energi, Christmas came early last year when its biogas plant began supplying renewable, synthetic natural gas to the natural gas grid on 15 December 2014. The 20MW plant, known as GoBiGas, is the world’s first plant for large-scale production of biogas via the gasification of biomass. It has been under development since 2011, when the main contracts were signed, and has been in the commissioning period for much of the last year.

While originally designed to handle wood waste and residues from the forestry industry, e.g. woodchips made from branches and tree tops, GoBiGas is currently utilising wood pellets supplied by Södra, a Swedish company involved in the production of wood products, pulp and paper, and biofuels. Between five and six biogas-fuelled trucks per day deliver pellets to the plant, which consumes 9 tonnes per hour.

Wood pellets, however, are more expensive to buy than woodchips and Göteborg Energi plans to begin gasifying the latter by January 2016 at the latest — when the fuel handling unit has been built.

GoBiGas project director, Freddy Tengberg, explains: ‘We’re currently running on wood pellets because the handling unit for woodchips is yet to be built. We’re in a very tight location here in Rya Harbour; first on the agenda was erecting the temporary cabins and building the plant.

Now that this is complete we are able to deconstruct the cabins and start work on the handling unit. This will enter

28 • January/February 2015

The GoBiGas plant

operation at the end of this year or the beginning of next.’

The new infrastructure will also increase Göteborg Energi’s feedstock handling capabilities. ‘The fuel handling unit will be able to take woodchips of various qualities,’ Tengberg says.

‘That includes both very wet and very dry material (and a mixture of the two), but also wood that may have been damaged in a forest fire or storm, for example. This is useless to everyone except us.’

A world first GoBiGas consists of two main parts: gasification and methanation. The gasification technology comes from Repotec of Austria, while the

technique for methanation and gasification was supplied

by Denmark’s Haldor Topsøe.

Other technology suppliers include Valmet (formerly Metso) and Jacobs Process.

In 2002, Repotec built a gasification plant in Güssing, Austria, using the same indirect gasification technology that is now deployed at GoBiGas. This facility is still running today, operating for around 7,000 hours annually, although the gas produced is used to generate electricity for district heating rather than biogas.

Despite Repotec’s reference plant, the technology has never before been used at such scale and Göteborg Energi was prepared to encounter difficulties along

the way. ‘It is the first time in the world that this has been done,’ says Tengberg, ‘and we were therefore not surprised to find challenges around every corner.’

He continues: ‘One hurdle that we had to overcome was the unexpected content of heavy hydrocarbons (tar) that started to fill up the heat exchangers and prevented them from functioning properly.

We worked for several months on reducing the tar content and increasing the equipment’s tolerance to it.

‘A second challenge came when feeding the biomass into the gasifier, which is done with a screw conveyor.

Due to the extreme heat coming from the gasifier, we found that gasification actually started to take place within the screw conveyor.’

Once the biomass has been gasified, it is then cleaned and converted into methane to increase its methane content from 10% to 95%. Finally, before it can be injected into gas and district heating grids, the pressure of the gas is brought up to 35bars as required by the natural gas grid.

GoBiGas generates enough biogas to supply around 15,000 cars — or 400 buses — a year with renewable transport fuel. ‘The gas can be used in all sorts of vehicles,’ explains Tengberg. ‘There are gas stations all over Sweden and it is common to have gasfuelled vehicles, including heavy trucks, buses and cars.’

Two phases GoBiGas cost SEK1.5 billion (€160 million) to build,

Bioenergy Insight

profile Bioenergy

GoBiGas consists of two main parts: gasification and methanation

including the new fuel handling unit. Around SEK225 million of this was provided

by the Swedish Energy Agency as a subsidy, while Göteborg Energi financed the rest.

There is also a second phase in the pipeline following the evaluation of phase one.

‘There is a plan to expand GoBiGas. Potentially, phase two will have an additional capacity of four to five times that of phase one,’ Tengberg says.

He reveals that phase one will provide the basis for the implementation of phase two, as well as provide invaluable knowledge and experience going forwards. A decision to proceed with the second phase is dependent on proof of the technology of phase one, as well as having financing in place. The latter, in turn, is dependent on whether the market conditions are such that the investment will be profitable.

While the plant, in its existing state, has a production capacity of 20MW, phase two is a commercial plant with an output of 80-100MW. l

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www.williamscrusher.com January/February 2015 • 29

Bioenergy renewable energy in Europe Big questions surround Europe’s biomass pellet prospects for 2015, despite long-term sector strength

A solid sector?

by Colin Ley

P

lunging oil prices, the return of EU deflation and the continued slow march of energy policy formulation in many EU member states looks set to create a challenging environment for Europe’s biomass pellet industry in 2015.

It would be easy to portray the coming 12 months as a pressured period for European business investors and developers. Before drawing that conclusion, however, it is important to consider the immense progress made by the pellet industry in Europe since investors first began to commit serious development funding to biomass projects around 2000, giving birth to an EU28 structure which today consumes more than 18 million tonnes of biomass pellets a year out of a global consumption of around 25 million tonnes.

Many argue, therefore, that while the challenges of 2015 may result in significant points of concern at certain times and cause some individual operators to, at best, pause

or, at worst, depart the industry altogether, the core of the biomass pellet sector in Europe is solid and secure and will continue to grow strongly in the years ahead.

Taking the counter view, there is even a case for suggesting that 2015 may prove to be the impetus for a speeding up of growth.

Factors such as the formation of the European Energy Union and the United Nations Climate Change Conference due to take place in Paris at the end of 2015 may generate the sort of political achievement incentives which could finally turn fine words into tangible actions.

The 12 months ahead will inevitably contain the usual mix of positives and negatives for business leaders and investors to ponder as they press forward with new projects or put existing developments on hold in the hope that greater clarity will emerge later in the year.

Optimism To assess the balance of contrasting issues which

may influence Europe’s biomass pellet market this year, Bioenergy Insight talks to Gilles Gauthier and Fanny-Pomme Langue of the European Biomass Association (AEBIOM), which has recently published its Statistical Report 2014, charting the progress of the industry over the last decade, while also addressing Europe’s biomass aspirations for 2020 and beyond. Fiona McDermott of the London-based forest products consultancy Hawkins Wright also provides her assessment of the extent to which European biomass will impact on the EU28’s future energy and heating solutions.

‘There are clearly many issues pressing in on the energy sector, especially so for renewables, which is still relatively new in terms of the modern technologies we are using,’ says Gauthier, AEBIOM’s bioenergy specialist. ‘It’s important, therefore, to begin any assessment of the future with an appreciation of what has already been achieved, particularly in Europe.

‘Biomass pellet production, for example, only really

started in the year 2000 with less than 2 million tonnes being produced each year between Europe and North America. The fact that we now have a global pellet industry of more than 24 million tonnes a year, with 50% of that being produced in Europe, and around 75% being consumed in Europe, shows how remarkably quickly the industry has grown. With our industrial and heating sectors sharing 18 million tonnes of pellets a year, Europe is clearly the driving force of the international marketplace, a status which is set to continue for the foreseeable future, irrespective of rising pellet use elsewhere in the world.’

He continues: ‘There is certainly more optimism than pessimism evident within the pellet industry as we embark on another year.

Many challenges obviously exist but the opportunities for further growth and development also continue to be part of our industry’s potential for progress.’

AEBIOM policy director, Langue, agrees, acknowledging that while it

Forest resources THE EUROPEAN Union’s forestry stock, available for wood supply, is currently increasing by 289 million m3 a year due to only 62% of annual new growth being harvested, according to Eurostat information presented in the recent European Biomass Association (AEBIOM) statistical report.

EU28 had a stock of living trees of 24 billion m3 in 2010 (Eurostat), a total which has kept increasing since 1990.

Not all of this increasing potential is available

30 • January/February 2015

for biomass usage of course as, for example, part of the EU forest area is inaccessible due to its location or position within conservation zones.

‘Even with these different considerations, there is an important woody biomass potential in Europe,’ explains Fanny Pomme Langue, AEBIOM’s policy director. ‘The big challenge lies, in fact, in the mobilisation of this potential for all uses of wood and the EU industry needs to focus its attention and work on this challenge.’

Bioenergy Insight

renewable energy in Europe Bioenergy Mixed picture for European biogas THE EUROPEAN Biogas

Association’s (EBA) 2014 report, published in December, was both a celebration of expansion for the sector and a warning of policy-inflicted ‘stagnation’ in some key EU member states.

On the upside, EBA commented that the combined amount of electrical and thermal energy produced today from biogas in Europe was equivalent to the annual consumption of Belgium

was difficult to predict how the oil price will evolve in 2015 and, therefore what the impacts will be on the biomass industry, the foundation for developments remain strong. ‘Wood pellets provide competitive heating solutions in several EU countries, compared with other fuel sources,’ she says.

‘There could be considerable scope for further growth in pellet-based consumption.

This will, among other things, depend on the evolution of fossil fuel prices.’

One important question, according to Langue, concerns the cost of investment in wood heating technologies: ‘Enabling consumers to switch from fossil fuels to efficient wood-based systems can require policy action by member states in terms of information and support to investment,’ she comments, stressing the need for renewed political willingness to allow such policies to be brought forward.

According to the latest available figures (2013), global biomass pellet consumption is based on a heating usage of just over 17 million tonnes a year (industrial and domestic) and a power usage of 7 million. For the EU28 biomass pellet market, the split is about 12.5 million for heating (household and industrial)

Bioenergy Insight

and Slovenia put together, a production level sufficient to replace 15 coal power plants with an average capacity of 500MWel. On the downside, the association commented that stagnation was being observed in some of the EU’s biggest biogas contributors, particularly Germany and Italy. It also said that forecasts were not good for the rest of Europe either, a conclusion drawn largely as a result of current or planned

support scheme changes.

Despite such comments, the EBA report highlighted the remarkable success of Europe’s biogas development, revealing that there are now more than 14,500 European biogas plants, a total which is still rising.

The recent centre of attention for plant growth has been in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, where an increase of 18% in the number of biogas plants was recorded in 2013 with the UK, France and Sweden,

and 6.5-7 million for power.

Against this background, McDermott reveals that assessing the oil price impact on the pellet business in Europe is more relevant for those operating on the heating side of the industry than for those in the power sector.

‘Compared to when oil prices have dipped in the past, the impact on the renewable energy market this time should be less severe,’ she says. ‘This is because a significant share of the renewable energy industry focuses on electricity generation and there is no longer a direct correlation between oil and power prices.’

As a result there is now a clear disconnect between oil and electricity, certainly far more so than used to be the case.

‘An oil-related impact might be felt this year, however, in the renewable heating market where wood products are obviously the dominant fuel,’ McDermott adds, noting that Europe was already beginning to experience a decrease in the growth rate for new pellet boiler installations, at least in some key EU heating markets. ‘The main reason for this slowing is probably that these markets are becoming more mature,

although diminishing oil prices will also have an impact.’

Europe’s dependence on imported energy makes this another obvious focus point for 2015, potentially pushing the issue closer to the top of the political agenda in response to current EU/ Russian sensitivities and the approach of the Paris climate conference.

EC president During his candidature for the presidency of the European Commission, JeanClaude Juncker declared: ‘Europe relies too heavily on fuel and gas imports. I therefore want to reform and reorganise Europe’s energy policy into a new European Energy Union. We need to pool our resources, combine our infrastructures and unite our negotiating power vis-à-vis third countries.’

While pre-election statements and the subsequent operating programmes of successful candidates do not always stay the same, the EC president’s energy platform appears pretty clear.

‘I want to keep our European energy market open to our neighbours,’ Juncker said. ‘However, if the price for energy from the East becomes too expensive, either

continuing to show steady long-term development.

EBA’s key 2015 concern, therefore, is focused mainly on support scheme reductions across Europe. The Czech Republic and Cyprus have already ended support for biogas plants, with a similar development in the pipeline for plant owners in Germany and Austria.

‘The biogas industry is facing tremendous policy changes,’ says EBA president, Jan Štambaský.

in commercial or in political terms, Europe should be able to switch very swiftly to other supply channels. We need to be able to reverse energy flows when necessary.’

Such switching of dependence includes renewables, of course, with Juncker committing his administration to ‘strengthen the share of renewable energies on our continent’: ‘I strongly believe in the potential of green growth,’ he said, adding that he wanted Europe’s Energy Union to become the ‘world number one in renewable energies’.

‘I also want the EU to lead the fight against global warming ahead of the United Nations Paris meeting in 2015 and beyond,’ he said. ‘We owe this to future generations.’

All of which makes this year a period of considerable policy promise for the energy sector, especially with Paris creating a deadline against which the EU will want to display its progress.

Langue says: ‘We are expecting some important steps to be taken at an EU level this year that concern renewable energy development. This will include the definition of the EU energy union, the continuing discussion on EU energy security and the next steps of the EU 2030 Climate

January/February 2015 • 31

Bioenergy renewable energy in Europe Danish plants face new food crop limit DENMARK HAS joined

Germany and France in seeking to limit the volume of biogas produced from food crops, in preference for gearing the industry towards an increased focus on processed waste.

According to the European Biogas Association (EBA),

and Energy package (including the definition of Governance).

Hopefully, the policy decisions which are taken in relation to energy will be addressed on a long-term basis, laying a foundation for the continuous development of renewables as an increasing part of our energy mix.’

Whatever happens at Commission level in 2015, from a commercial perspective, the real point of action will continue to centre on how member states enact EU policies and respond to their own climate change targets.

Here again, the Paris conference may add a sharpened political edge to the year’s implementation timetables in different EU countries, an environment which investors and developers may be able to employ to their advantage.

While governments are not going to change direction purely because of Paris 2015, some items may be moved up the agenda, to score an international plus point or two.

Investor impact ‘The big pressure in Paris is actually more likely to focus on other governments worldwide, rather than on the EU,’ McDermott believes, although the benefits which flow from debate in the French capital during the endof-year event will still have a direct and significant impact on European market investors.

32 • January/February 2015

Danish legislation, restricting energy crops to 25% of a plant’s feedstock are due to start in August this year with the limit being further reduced to 12% in August 2018.

‘The decision to limit energy crops comes from a political drive mirrored across Europe, to move biogas production

‘I would expect the Paris debate to focus more on the 2030 package, which has already gained EU agreement, than anything more short-term,’ she says. ‘There could be some important new commitments from other governments worldwide, however, with India in particular likely to come under pressure to respond to climate change proposals already made by the US and China. From an EU perspective, this will probably have a positive impact on investor confidence. The more governments which declare a global commitment to decarbonisation, the more investors will see opportunities opening up for them in the years ahead.’

While reluctant to disclose the precise details of Hawkins Wright’s longer term forecasts, McDermott’s comments on recent policy changes in the UK, the Netherlands and Denmark served to highlight the continued and almost constant fluidity of the renewable energy market in Europe, highlighting the challenges likely to be faced by investors and developers this year, and the rewards which may be available for those who get it right.

‘In the UK, for example, recent changes concerning the Renewables Obligation (RO) have served to increase the uncertainty about some biomass projects going forward,’ she said, referring to a December 2014

away from crops that can be used for food to processing waste,’ the EBA comments.

‘Germany, for example, has completely cut subsidies for energy crops, while France is also introducing legislation.

‘The crops affected mainly include food varieties such as corn, beets and artichokes.

announcement by the UK Department of Energy and Climate (DECC) which ended RO support for generators carrying out new conversions from coal to biomass. The announcement introduced questions for investors which are still to be fully answered.

‘While we are reassessing our forecasts for industrial biomass demand within the UK due to this change, we don’t expect there to be an immediate substantial impact on the market outlook,’ McDermott continues.

‘However, there is no doubt that the announcement is having an impact on UK investor confidence.’

UK election The UK, with an EU-dominant annual biomass pellet usage in excess of 3.5 million tonnes, is also facing a general election this year, an event which looks pretty neutral in overall renewable energy terms, but which will inevitably give rise to some short-term issues as the various political parties move closer to the polling date of 7 May 2015.

‘While there is cross-party support for the UK’s CfD scheme, and for renewable energy as a whole, any election always introduces a degree of uncertainty,’ says McDermott. ‘For the time being we don’t expect any dramatic changes to renewable energy policy to take place, certainly not in the short term, irrespective of which government comes into

Specifically, the rules apply to crops harvested as a whole for biogas use and therefore exclude waste from agricultural processes.

Grass and clover is excluded as long as the land it is from has not been ploughed for a five-year period or is farmed organically.’

power. Until we get closer to 7 May, however, and there is more clarity on pre-election campaign promises, it’s impossible to be more specific on what new challenges, or indeed opportunities, may arise later in the year.’

Turning to biomass developments in the Netherlands, meanwhile, the good news is that the latest revision of the Dutch government-backed SDE+ subsidy scheme for sustainable energy production is now open to co-firing biomass in coal-fuelled plants.

‘The fact that the scheme took longer to be finalised than expected, however, means that we now envisage a slightly slower increase in biomass demand in the Netherlands than the dramatic shortterm rise we had previously forecast,’ says McDermott.

‘The country’s 2020 forecast still looks secure though.’

For Germany, with its emphasis on the use of biomass for heating, the Hawkins Wright summary is that there are ‘some signs of slower growth’ than in the past.

‘We believe this is mainly due to the market maturing, although there remains further market potential to be exploited,’ McDermott explains. ‘We may also be seeing some indications of the development of a ceiling on local supply capacity, although it’s too soon to take a firm view on that point.’ l

Bioenergy Insight

plant update Bioenergy

Plant update — Europe

Dong Energy Thermal Power Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition

Designer / builder

Belgian Eco Energy

Producer Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Designer / builder

Project start date

Belgian Eco Energy Ghent, Belgium Renewable heat and power 100MW heat, 215MW power Woodchips, agro-residues Construction of ‘the largest commercial-scale biomass-fired power plant in the world’ Abengoa will be responsible for the engineering, design and construction of the plant November 2014 (announced)

Eqtec Iberia Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition

Project start date Completion date

Investment Comment

Plovdiv province, Bulgaria Biopower 5MW Syngas derived from straw and woodchips Construction of the Karlovo renewable plant, which includes integrated biomass gasification technology September 2014 Phase one (2MW) will be operational shortly. The remaining 3MW second installation phase is expected to be come online later this year €20 million The plant will help Bulgaria produce 16% of its energy demand from renewable sources ­— a target which must be met by 2020

Project start date Completion date Investment

Envo Biogas Tønder Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Designer / builder

Project start date Completion date Investment

Energoklastr CTT Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock

Designer / builder Completion date

Velké Meziříčí, Czech Republic Renewable heat 999kW Biogas from corn silage, cattle slurry and manure, and sugar beet pulp EnviTec Biogas Began operations in December 2013

BC Energy Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Designer / builder Completion date

Bioenergy Insight

Velká Bíteš, Czech Republic Renewable fuel 999kW Cow slurry and manure EnviTec Biogas Began operations in December 2013

Fredericia, Denmark Renewable heat and power 280MWth Woodchips, other biomass residue Construction of the Skærbækværket CHP plant, consisting of two 140MW biomassfired boilers B&W Vølund are responsible for the design, manufacture, supply, construction and commissioning of the plant’s boiler system July 2014 (announced) April 2017 B&W was awarded a contract exceeding $80 million (€60 million)

Tønder, Denmark Biogas 65 million m3 of biogas per year Cow manure, other organic material Construction of a biogas plant on a 12-hectare site Per Aarsleff will carry out the civil engineering work, including earthwork and concrete work. The technical installation contract, comprising electricity, pipe work and processing plant, is to be carried out by the subsidiary Wicotec Kirkebjerg. The process technology will be supplied by the German collaborative partner LimnoSun July 2014 2016 The contract value of the plant is approximately DKK300 million (€40 million). There is also an option to build a similar plant in Aabenraa town, bringing the total investment to DKK600 million

Akermin Location Alternative fuel

Construction / expansion / acquisition

Completion date Investment Comment

Copenhagen, Denmark This project will use Akermin’s industrial biocatalyst to remove CO2 from the biogas to produce up to 2.6 million m3 per year of grid quality biomethane Construction of the demonstration project, located at the Biofos wastewater treatment plant 2015 DKK 42 million (€5.6 million) The project is scheduled to operate for two years as a demonstration unit and thereafter on a commercial basis

January/February 2015 • 33

Bioenergy plant update Turun Seudun Energiantuotanto (TSE) Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock

Construction / expansion / acquisition Project start date Completion date Investment Comment

Naantali, Finland Renewable heat and power 244MW heat, 142MW electricity It initially will be able to handle a combination of biomass, recycled waste and coal, before eventually switching to 100% biomass Construction Late 2014 2017 €260 million Energy company Fortum will invest €40 million in the plant.

The project will be funded by shareholders and external financing. Fortum has a 49.5% interest in TSE

Aurivo Location Alternative fuel Feedstock Completion date Investment Comment

Foyle Food Group Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion /

Véolia Propreté Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Designer / builder

Completion date Comment

Plessis-Gassot, France Biopower 17.3MW Landfill gas Clarke Energy, GRS Valtech and Dalkia implemented the design, construction and operation of the repowering project on behalf of Véolia Propreté. Specifically, Dalkia is leading the operation of the new Electr’od power plant. Clarke Energy engineered, installed and will maintain the facility, while GRS Valtech provided the equipment for the landfill gas pretreatment process June 2014 In addition to electricity, the cogeneration facility also produces 30,000MWh per year of thermal energy

Ballaghadareen, Ireland Renewable heat and power 30,000 tonnes per year of woodchips May 2014 €5.25 million The facility will operate as a CHP plant, with Aurivo expecting to begin selling on excess energy to the national grid by 2016

acquisition Designer / builder Completion date

Londonderry, Northern Ireland Biogas 500kW Abattoir waste Construction of the plant, which features a 3,000m3 stainless steel digester. Weltec also integrated a hygienisation unit, a 530m3 digestate storage unit and its MultiMix input system Weltec 2014

Eneco Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Designer / builder Completion date

Comment

Farmsum Delfzijl, the Netherlands Biopower 49.9MW Waste wood Areva, Ballast Nedam Industriebouw and Mesto Power The Bio Golden Raand biomass power plant began operations in November 2013 but was inaugurated in February 2014 Bio Golden Raand is the largest biomass-fired power station in the Benelux. AkzoNobel Industrial Chemicals is a major customer, taking half of the electricity generated

Methalandes of France Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Designer / builder

Project start date Completion date

Hagetmau, France Biopower 37.8 million kWh Waste products from the agricultural and food sectors Construction of France’s largest anaerobic digestion plant The construction contract for the new project has been awarded to Xergi; the company’s fifth order in France in three years 2014 2015

34 • January/February 2015

Egger Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Completion date Investment Comment

Radauti, Romania Biopower 83MW Waste wood Construction October 2013, following 13 months of construction €35 million The biomass facility is said to be Romania’s largest to date

Bioenergy Insight

plant update Bioenergy Fraddon Biogas Plant Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Designer / builder Project start date Completion date Investment

Location Alternative fuel Capacity

FLI Energy May 2014 Late 2014 £7 million (€8.5 million)

Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Project start date Completion date

Glenmont Partners Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Designer / builder

Completion date

Derby City and Derbyshire County Councils

Cornwall, UK Biomethane 1,000m3 biogas per hour Agricultural and local food waste, landfill waste Construction

Sleaford, UK Renewable heat and power 38MW Straw The plant was built by a consortium of Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor and Burmeister and Wain Energy Operations at the renewable energy plant commenced in September 2014

Investment Comment

Derby, UK Biogas The project will recycle over 35,000 tonnes of materials per year and divert over 170kt/year of waste from landfill, generating enough electricity to power 14,000 homes Household waste Construction, with a gasification plant supplied by Energos September 2014 32 months from initial construction date £195 million (€248.5 million) The project is being developed by Derby City and Derbyshire County Councils, alongside sponsors Interserve and Shanks Group.

GIB will provide long-term loan financing alongside Germany’s Bayerische Landesbank and Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, with each bank providing a third of the loan funding

*This list contains major plant projects in Europe, including the information available at the time of printing. If you would like to update or list any additional plants in future issues please email keeley@horseshoemedia.com

AET deliver biomass-fired boilers and combined heat and power or power plants between the sizes of 25 – 170MWth. Our plants are characterized by: l High fuel flexibility l High availability (+99 %) l High boiler efficiency (+92 %) l Very low maintenance costs High fuel flexibility The AET Combustion System enables the use of many biomass fuels – separate or in combination. The biomass fuels can originate from forestry, agriculture, residual products from process industries or is based on industrial waste.

Aalborg Energie Technik a/s Alfred Nobels Vej 21 F, DK-9220 Aalborg Oe. Telephone: +45 96 32 86 00, fsl@aet-biomass.com, The Helius-CoRDe-Rabobank biomass CHP plant in Scotland burns wood and distillers grain

Bioenergy Insight

www.aet-biomass.com

January/February 2015 • 35

Bioenergy bioenergy in the UK Dr Dan Wright from the European Bioenergy Research Institute (EBRI) at Aston University looks at what 2015 holds for bioenergy in the UK

Peering into the crystal ball

T

Dr Dan Wright, EBRI

he majority of people, even now, still think of the bioenergy sector as ‘one thing’. Yet it ranges from huge cofired coal power stations all the way down to domestic systems, transport fuels or biochemicals, which makes it extremely difficult for policy to adequately cover all these different dimensions.

It is a multi-faceted sector, but the current UK government’s actions do not fully recognise its potential.

What we do know, as we enter election year, is the UK continues to have the largest increase required of all EU member states to meet the 15% renewable energy target by 2020 — we are currently at 5%. Recent statistics also show the national grid has approximately 4% spare electrical generation capacity

36 • January/February 2015

compared with 17% in 2011.

These are worrying figures, but present an opportunity to look at increasing the generating capacity of energy from renewable sources.

Bioenergy should not be compared to solar, wind or tidal power — the more commonly known forms of renewable energy. Much attention has focused on renewable electricity production but it is only bioenergy that has the potential to generate the large gains required in renewable heat. Globally it is hard to ignore the decline in fossil fuel prices and, if this continues in 2015, it could harm the bioenergy sector in its current form. Margins are quite low on producing electricity and heat for your typical virgin bioenergy system and only really stacks up with true government fiscal support. Any investment decision requires squaring up to the ‘old kid’ on the block: fossil fuel-derived energy.

An important role to play It is not all bad news though.

As a sector we are more resilient than most in the face of increasing competition.

Higher cost materials such as virgin wood pellets or wood chips for a biomass boiler or a small-to-medium size CHP system will need to address efficiency issues around heat use and distribution. The often overlooked, locally produced biomass residues — for example, biological municipal waste — will quickly improve the economics of a bioenergy

scheme by reducing the largest operational expense.

It is an interesting time for the bioenergy sector; it will tease out new initiatives and different feedstocks that will lead to more innovation and better margins for industry.

There is an important role for bioenergy across the electricity, heating, transport and chemical sectors. However, this needs to be done sustainably, especially in relation to the choice of biomass feedstocks. It is getting better but is probably not as stringently controlled in some areas as others. The wood pellet market has an industry-led sustainability plan that has allowed developments to progress whilst the liquid fuels equivalent appears harder to implement.

One of the big changes in the past 12-18 months is that there are now very few large-scale wood-only power stations. A few years ago there was about 30 planning applications in progress but, partly due to a favouring of coal-to-biomass conversions, these have fallen by the wayside. A similar hiatus now seems to exist for waste incineration projects that are held up due to uncertainty around the future of the technology, the resource and the introduction of new more efficient conversion methods and management techniques.

the transition to a broader ‘biobased’ economy. This means that we will aim to extract maximum value from biomass by transforming it into highervalue products such as platform chemicals, solvents and fuels.

This approach mirrors the development of the oil industry where refineries have been developed to convert crude oil into a range of products.

The development of biorefineries that can replicate this approach for biomass is a logical path but has its own characteristics and challenges.

Research funding streams such as Horizon 2020 and initiatives through Innovate UK confirm this shift in the way biomass is being viewed.

Working to get the most we can from it is at the very forefront of our focus at EBRI. At a European level bioenergy is becoming more accepted as a mainstream renewable energy source.

On the electricity supply side bioenergy provides a much less intermittent and more dispatchable form of renewable energy than wind or solar and, along with energy storage at both grid and consumer levels, can play a key role in balancing supply and demand without using higher carbon emitting energy sources.

Bio-based future

In the UK, most of our policy drivers are set at a European level, so it is difficult to consider one without the other.

A good example of this is the Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-

I believe the future for the bioenergy sector — at a global level, and whether in 2015 or perhaps a little later — will be

Support is needed

Bioenergy Insight

bioenergy in the UK Bioenergy ETS) which, having floundered over the past few years, could quickly support renewables in light of falling fossil fuel prices.

There is support for more advanced forms of bioenergy in the UK, such as pyrolysis and gasification. However, through our research in other European countries, such as France, we see that there are no incentives for these technologies. Across Europe there should be more support for advanced technologies to push innovation from research to market. In the UK we would also definitely welcome a clear renewables roadmap and low carbon targets based on European law.

In the coming year, we will see ever increasing interest in organic residues, especially refuse derived fuel (RDF) and RDF gasification projects. Under the new Contracts for Difference energy legislation aimed at larger scale renewables, gasification of biomass is well supported for the first two years and then that support drops off slightly, I suspect because the government thinks it will be commercially viable by 2017.

We will see a lot of action on new proposals in 2015-16.

There is a lot of interest in gasification; it is certainly a hot topic at the moment but comes with significant market and technical challenges.

With the upcoming election, it is important for the sector that all the political parties fully support renewables and bioenergy, especially in the areas of heat and transport.

In particular, the incoming government needs to do two things. Firstly, it should seek to reassure the market that it remains committed to transforming the UK’s energy sector. An element of uncertainty has crept into the market as investors are cautious about the mediumto long-term commitment of the government to bioenergy and other renewables.

All renewables rely upon incentive and subsidy schemes to become economically

Bioenergy Insight

return to the drawing board.

Positive contribution

EBRI’s new Pyroformer generates cost-effective heat and power from various waste sources

viable, as they have had to pass through an accelerated R&D phase due to the pressing need to offer low carbon alternatives for energy generation and to compete against fossil-fuelled generators where carbon emissions are incurred as externalities to the business.

Changes within the market, including the main production incentive, and scepticism towards carbon reduction targets from parts of the current government have eaten away at investor confidence.

Secondly, the government should seek to raise the profile of advanced bioenergy technologies and to more directly support biorefinery uptake. Whereas wind, solar and nuclear power are often regarded as being at the cutting edge of UK research and innovation, bioenergy and energy-from-waste are very much a ‘Cinderella’ sector that is seen to lack the glamour or excitement

of other technologies. Too often the discussion about bioenergy is focused on mass burn incinerators or food waste anaerobic digestion plants which do not present a great public image. We need to raise the profile of the more advanced pyrolysis and gasification technologies that show the sector in a better light.

Whenever you listen to the energy sector, or indeed any sector, talking about the potential for change through an evolution of government the message tends to be they generally don’t want change.

The industry has just spent four years getting its act together under the current government and this has included the biggest electricity market reform ever seen. As the policy mechanisms get more mature they increase in complexity. There are no winners when the changes of the previous government get scrapped in favour of a

So how is EBRI contributing to this picture? We are the catalyst for the transfer of emerging bioenergy research and technologies to commercial application. One of our ‘flagship’ innovations is our new technology — a Pyroformer — which generates cost-effective heat and power from its use of multiple waste sources. The technology has been trialled in the UK, Germany and India and can benefit forwardthinking businesses serving a range of sectors, including: construction, consultancy, engineering, financial services, investment, land and property management, utilities and waste management.

Through our European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) backed programme we have equipped nearly 100 businesses with the skills and knowledge to respond to opportunities around bioenergy and provide free support services for qualifying micro-sized or SME companies to leading multinationals.

We transfer our knowledge around bioenergy to businesses, assisting and collaborating with them, and making sure that the organisations are, firstly, aware of the vast potential of the bioenergy market regardless of their own sector; and, secondly, that they are taking advantage of the commercial opportunities.

This includes specific R&D services around gasification modelling, pyrolysis testing, biofuels analysis, biofuels upgrading and engine testing.

Interestingly, through our work with businesses in the sector and those considering the benefits of bioenergy, we find that our discussions are rarely about bioenergy being a ‘nice if you’ve got the money’ option but an economical and competitive solution to the status quo. l For more information: Visit: www.aston.ac.uk

January/February 2015 • 37

Bioenergy pellet quality The ENplus certification scheme ensures the production of high quality, sustainable wood pellets

The seal of approval

O

ver the past 15 years, the wood pellet industry has stood out among other renewable energy sectors as one of the fastest growing sources for sustainable heat and electricity available to today’s consumer.

As renewables grew rapidly in importance and their necessity in our energy mix was further realised during this period, the demand for secure and sustainable energy sources became increasingly more pronounced.

This increased demand saw world pellet production grow from the modest figure of just 1.7 million tonnes in 2000 to reach an estimated 25 million tonnes in 2014, representing almost a 15-fold increase.

Today, the impressive rate of growth continues; production in Europe alone was at more than 12 million tonnes in 2014, and recent years have seen new players enter the fray as the significant potential of the international market becomes more and more apparent. North and South America, Russia and East Asia have quickly responded to the opportunities presented by high levels of demand at residential and non-residential scale and their pellet production has risen accordingly.

The European market offers particularly good opportunities for foreign producers and traders. With demand in the EU greatly outweighing its indigenous supply, it has become a net importer and rising imports to satisfy the demand has brought an array of pellets with widely varying origins into today’s market. In such a situation, the need to ensure quality and sustainability is clear.

38 • January/February 2015

As supply chains become more and more complex with the constant introduction of new actors to the market, pellet producers and traders find themselves in a position in which they need to prove the quality of the pellets they offer to their buyer. Consumers need to be fully confident in their supplier’s promise that the pellets they buy are sustainable and of excellent quality, both to ensure a high heating value and, crucially, to ensure that the pellets used will have no detrimental effects on their combustion appliance. This is where ENplus comes in.

Ensuring quality and sustainability in the market

Originally launched in Germany in 2010, ENplus is a certification scheme managed today by the European Pellet Council (EPC), which ensures the consistent high quality and sustainability of certified wood pellets. The scheme ensures quality at the production stage but also controls every intermediary between production and delivery to the end consumer, ensuring adequate transport and storage conditions along the way, and ensuring that the entire process is sustainable.

ENplus was based on the EN 14961-2 standards for solid biomass fuels which included a standard for wood pellets1.

ENplus ensures that the requirements for a number of vital parameters are met before completing the certification process. Among others, these parameters include fines, bulk density, net calorific value, mechanical durability and ash content.

To ensure that the highest quality levels are reached, ENplus goes beyond what is

prescribed in the standards upon which it was originally based on certain aspects. For example, unlike the standard, it places strict, mandatory requirements on the ash melting behaviour of pellets.

To ensure the integrity and neutrality of the system, inspections and tests, along with the issuing of certificates, are carried out by independent bodies that are accredited to manage the certification process. Companies apply to EPC or the relevant national licenser (EPC members that have been established as the ENplus management body in certain countries2) who handle the administration of the process, while the independent bodies ensure that the requirements are met.

Once conformity is confirmed, the ENplus license is issued by EPC or the national licenser.

Expansion

Following the successful introduction of ENplus into the German market by DEPV (German Energy Wood and Wood Pellet Association), the potential for the scheme to expand beyond the borders of its country of origin were clear. With this goal in mind, the PellCert project (European Pellet Quality Certification) began in May 2011 and set about working to improve the wood pellet quality for small and large scale users and to secure sustainability. The project was supported by the European Commission’s Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) programme.

The PellCert consortium was led by the European Biomass Association (AEBIOM).

As a result, ENplus grew continuously throughout

duration of the PellCert project, reaching the significant milestone of 6 million certified tonnes of pellets 2014, with this figure reaching 6.2 million tonnes by the project’s end.

2014 saw the system achieve its strongest year of growth to date. At the time of writing, there are producers certified in 26 different countries. The 6.5 million tonnes reported in 2014 will represent an increase in certified production of around 58% on 2013’s total and EPC expects these figures to increase further in 2015.

Germany continues to lead the way and should have surpassed the significant milestone of 2 million tonnes of certified production, up around 16% on 2013, as of the end of 2014. Austria comes next when ranked by tonnes certified, increasing its certified production in 2014 by almost 21% compared to 2013 and edging closer to the 1 million tonne milestone.

Both Austria and Germany now certify over 90% of their domestic production.

Numerous producers have also moved to capitalise on the benefits that the ENplus seal provides them with.

Following the certification of the first US producers in 2013, last year saw the growth in the production of ENplus pellets accelerate and spread to new plants all across the southeast as producers moved to capitalise on the growing European heat market. US certified production is expected to have exceeded 550,000 tonnes by the end of 2014.

This past year also saw ENplus reach east toward Eastern Europe with ENplus certified pellets being produced in Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina for

Bioenergy Insight

pellet quality Bioenergy References

the first time. Add this to the further increase in certified production in the Baltic States and Romania, and the situation in Eastern Europe is certainly a healthy one.

1 This standard has since become obsolete and has been replaced by the new standard ISO 17225-2 (published in 2014). The ENplus management team have recognised the need to adapt the system to this change and hence the ISO 17225-2 standard will be integrated through the publication of the new ENplus Handbook 3.0, which is currently in the process of being drafted.

System fraud With the strong growth and expansion of the system, fraudulent activity related to the scheme has also increased. In recent months, EPC has moved to counter the fraudulent use of the ENplus trademark by stepping up its efforts to eliminate fraud and dedicating additional resources to ensure that this issue is kept under control.

Fraudulent activities are considered to be any attempts by a company to present noncertified products as being ENplus certified. Fraudulent cases can be reported on the relevant section of the ENplus website3.

Bioenergy Insight

2 National licensers are listed here: http://www.enplus-pellets.eu/ production/certification-procedure/. For counties without a national licenser, the process is managed centrally by EPC.

ENplus certified production in Europe 2014

The importance of the ENplus scheme has grown in tandem with the recent growth in importance of the international pellet market. As the sector grows larger and more diverse, the need to ensure the quality and sustainability of the pellets on the market becomes more and more pressing.

As the scheme continues to

grow, there will be challenges, not least the expectation that more fraudulent cases will present themselves.

EPC will work hard to ensure the integrity and reliability of its flagship scheme and continue on its goal towards a strong, healthy and sustainable pellet market in Europe and beyond. l

3 All certified companies are listed centrally on the EPC website (www. enplus-pellets.eu). If a company claims to be ENplus certified, it is strongly advised that you to refer to the relevant pages (for Producers and Traders) to ensure that this is indeed the case.

When you have doubts, or indeed, believe that you are dealing with fraudulent company, please contact EPC. A new online page for the reporting of fraud can be found here. This chart can offer some guidance on whether you should report a case or not.

For more information:

This article was written by Niall Goodwin of the European Pellet Council. Visit: www.pelletcouncil.eu

January/February 2015 • 39

Bioenergy biomass handling at the port A look at the engineering challenges of building a biomass handling facility at the Port of Hull

British engineering excellence

In February 2014, following a 10-month programme of works, Hull, UK-based engineering company Spencer Group handed over the new biomass handling facilities at the Port of Hull to port operators Associated British Ports (ABP).

It is the first project to be completed as part of a £100 million (€131 million) investment in biomass handling operations at the Humber Ports. Along with a similar but larger development at Immingham, the Hull facility will enable the delivery of millions of tonnes of sustainable biomass to Drax Power Station, which it requires to become a predominantly biomass-fuelled generator.

The biomass pellets are imported by sea from Europe, mainly Portugal and Latvia, and transferred from ship to warehouse before being delivered by truck to the new biomass handling facility close to Hedon Road in Hull.

From here the pellets are tipped into ground reception hoppers which transfer the material onto an enclosed 250m long conveyor to the top of the 50m high silo tower.

This silo can store up to 1,800 tonnes of wood pellets.

The final 30 miles from Hull to Drax requires sophisticated technology that has been specially developed by Spencer Group for the project.

40 • January/February 2015

New approach to loading

Coal is transported to power stations in open-topped train wagons, which are often loaded manually rather than using an automatic system. This can result in uneven loading or heaps of material protruding above the top of the wagon.

Biomass pellets, on the other hand, must be kept dry as they decompose quickly if exposed to the weather.

To address this, Drax developed its own patented railway cars with doors on the top to keep the rain out and the pellets inside. These biomass railway cars demand a totally new approach to loading compared with open topped coal wagons: if they are overfilled or the load is not level, the doors on the top of the wagon are unable to close. This triggers a safety mechanism on the train that prevents the brakes from being released and the whole process grinds to a halt.

To overcome these issues, and other inherent differences between coal and biomass, several modifications to the loading system had to be made: • To ensure that the biomass stayed dry, the loading facility had to be fully enclosed, with space for three rail wagons undercover at any one time — one with its doors opening,

one being loaded, and one with its doors closing.

• The loading chutes were adapted from coal loading chutes produced by US firm Pebco. Spencer became sole agents for the Pebco chute in Europe and adapted the design to better cope with the biomass. Due to the free-flowing properties of biomass, a smaller chute proved to be more controllable. The high flowrate of the biomass out of the chute was also found to act like a plunger, compressing the air beneath the material flow and displacing it away from the loading point. This displaced air contained fugitive dust, therefore requiring the careful design of extraction systems that enclose the wagon being loaded and

vent the chute as well.

• Due to the tight tolerances when it comes to fill accuracy and profile, the loading of the wagons is fully automatic and carried out whilst the train is moving at 0.5 mph.

This movement, coupled with the specially adapted chutes, means each 25-wagon train can be loaded to between 9095% by volume with a level surface in just 45 minutes.

• As the wagon fills, the weight of the biomass causes it to sink on its suspension.

The loading chute has to follow this drop in height to ensure that the wagon does not overfill. A combination of laser photocells and radar sensors are used to monitor the position and height of each wagon during loading in order to achieve the required fill profile.

A Drax train is loaded with biomass as it passes through the facility designed and constructed by Spencer Group

Bioenergy Insight

biomass handling at the port Bioenergy Fugitive dust As well as being susceptible to the weather, biomass is also much dustier than coal. Controlling the dust emissions is important for two reasons. Firstly, the dust created by biomass wood pellets is highly combustible so fall under ATEX and DSEAR regulations. Secondly, there are risks associated with human inhalation which fall under environmental health regulations.

As well as designing the loading system to limit the amount of dust created in the first place, Spencer Group also developed containment strategies to minimise the amount of dust released to the atmosphere. These include chute seals and the creation of areas of negative pressure within the loading facility that extract fugitive dust

Biomass by numbers

• The silo at the new biomass handling facility can store 1,800 tonnes of biomass pellets.

• It takes 65-70 truckloads of biomass pellets to fill the silo.

• It takes 3 hours to load the silo, at a rate of 600 tonnes per hour.

• The facility can accommodate up to 4 trains a day heading for Drax Power Station.

• There are 25 wagons on each train.

• Each rail wagon carries a minimum of 60 tonnes of biomass.

• 0.5 miles an hour is the speed that the train continues to travel during loading.

• 5,450m3 is the instantaneous loading rate of the biomass into the rail wagons (at this rate you could fill the equivalent of an Olympic size swimming pool in around half an hour).

• 100 jobs have been created during the construction of these new terminals, with an additional 100 jobs created once all the facilities become fully operational.

emissions from the area.

The dust-laden air is filtered using a fan assisted, reverse jet cleaned bag filter. The clean air is released to the atmosphere

whilst the filtered dust is blown back into the loading silo.

HSE guidance advises the workplace exposure limit (WEL) for hard and soft wood

dust should be less than 5mg/ m3 calculated over an eight hour time weighted average period. The systems put in place by Spencer Group have resulted in measurements of less than 1mg/m3 of dust in the atmosphere in all areas of the facility.

‘The Humber Ports are becoming a major gateway for biomass shipments into the UK and a strategic asset driving the growth of green energy industries along the estuary,’ says Gary Thornton, Spencer Group’s chief operating officer. ‘The facility we have constructed at the Port of Hull is both a showcase for Spencer Group’s multi-disciplinary engineering capability and a beacon for the Humber’s growing reputation as the UK’s renewables region.’ l For more information:

Visit: www.thespencergroup.co.uk

Argus European Biomass Trading 14-16 April 2015 Hilton Park Lane London, UK

Bioenergy illuminating the markets argusmedia.com/euro-biomass Bioenergy Insight

Market Reporting Consulting Events

January/February 2015 • 41

Bioenergy anaerobic digestion A guide to successfully specifying AD storage tank solutions

A lot to consider

S

electing a storage tank manufacturer for an anaerobic digestion (AD) project is not merely about choosing a tank. Such a decision requires consideration of supply chain performance, health and safety (H&S) credentials and financial security.

As the global AD markets open up and make a significant contribution to renewable energy targets, there are opportunities for manufacturing companies to establish sustainable working relationships that will contribute positively to business growth in the years ahead.

The process of realising and maximising that potential, however, can be a long and arduous journey which requires a partnership approach between the customer and supply chain. The AD sector is unique in its demands on the supply chain with a great deal of front-end work required to establish the most efficient and cost effective solutions. Very often, the work that is carried out prior to the construction process can make or break the realisation of an AD project.

Driving value Reputable tank manufacturers focus on what drives value in the industry and how they can support clients through each stage of the AD project life cycle.

In the early stages of that cycle, there is a strong focus on product selection related to project requirements.

These cover design, planning, cost and operational factors, and each one of those areas carries significant importance.

For instance, project planning may require the storage

42 • January/February 2015

Balmoral efusion epoxy coated steel tanks and post tension concrete tanks in wastewater/AD project

tanks to be a certain colour; achieving compliance on that specific point could be reached by using more than one solution, and subsequently at more than one price.

Another example may lie within the cost versus actual value debate of an AD project itself. The industry has a desire to get the ‘best value’ at each stage of the project, but what is best value? Is best value purely a monetary decision within the scope of the overall project budget or should it have a wider perspective?

Key issues, such as H&S compliance and design/product support are also important factors to consider at the early stages of the project.

Most importantly, clients must work closely with the tank manufacturer to ensure all drivers of value are addressed and understood without the interference of a third party.

Competitiveness will always be a major factor, but it should be assessed against all criteria associated with

the project. This is why it is important to understand what drives value in the project.

Clients need to ensure they are working as close to source as they can when selecting supply chain partners. The true test of a relationship and service promise comes when issues arise during the project cycle. A solid, sensible relationship should be in place to ensure the correct outcome is achieved quickly.

In the AD industry, the need for a strong partnering relationship between clients and their supply chain is paramount. All too often, ‘buck passing’ of an issue takes place instead of the issue being addressed quickly.

This wastes time, costs money but, most importantly, damages the relationship between client, supplier and the source supplier.

The next point to consider is product options. Very often, a project specification is written and submitted for tender based on a desktop view of

what is needed. This should be understood and viewed as the opening opportunity for the project supply chain to evaluate what the client requirement actually is.

Innovation and design solutions More significantly, it should be viewed as an opportunity to advise clients about any innovations that may suit their project or of alternative design solutions that will achieve the same goal at lower cost. This is what is known as ‘value engineering’.

This should not be seen as an exercise that focuses on reducing cost at the expense of quality. An important component of Balmoral Tanks’ operation lies in providing a comprehensive product range for the AD sector, covering concrete, coated steel and glass reinforced plastic (GRP) storage tanks, complemented by roofs, access steelwork, tank bases, etc. More effort should be made to provide

Bioenergy Insight

anaerobic digestion Bioenergy clients with complete, value engineered solutions.

The partnership approach drives product innovation, R&D, and creates greater momentum for the manufacturing industry to play a leading role as global markets develop. If this twoway dialogue exists, and if we are ready to investigate and accept design and product innovation as beneficial to all, then the AD industry will be part of a greater economic recovery within the manufacturing sector.

In addition to supply chain relationships and the requirement for a broad product portfolio, what other factors drive value?

Balmoral believes there are two more key issues that should be on the agenda.

As an experienced design, manufacture and build contractor, Balmoral’s business has a major focus on H&S, both in its own operations and on behalf of clients. Any shortfall in adherence to H&S regulations and requirements could have a significant effect on the entire industry.

The key to adherence is ensuring that the necessary H&S requirements are fully understood and that all parties involved in the project have the correct experience and

resource levels to deliver to specification. Balmoral views this as ‘cultural’ within a company, a part of the business DNA, and not something that should be adopted when the situation demands it.

Similar to project budget analysis that focuses purely on numbers, a desire to build projects within very condensed timescales is frequently requested. This desire is understandable given the changing horizon on Feed-in Tariffs. Clients need tank installers to be on and off site as quickly as possible as the tanks usually form the heart of an AD plant and there are many other parties waiting to access the site once the tanks are in place.

In the face of such pressure, it is critical that H&S is not compromised or even perceived to be compromised. It is unacceptable to say that an installation can be completed in a week if it will take three weeks to do safely. We are all too aware that an incident on site with a H&S origin could result in human and capital costs which will far exceed the perceived upfront savings.

Clearly, care and caution should be administered to a project at each stage. The benefits of working with a tank

specialist that fully understands H&S will protect a client’s reputation, ensure on-time project delivery and standards that are never compromised.

Financial security A final and fundamental factor to consider when selecting a tank contractor has to be financial stability. Upon being selected for a project, the costs clock starts ticking.

Design time, site meetings and supplier engagement are just some of the initial outlays that need to be considered.

Project cycles for most AD plants will run beyond 12 months and the ability of the contractor to ‘finance’ material purchases necessary to commence tank manufacture should not be underestimated. Staged payment dates, therefore, have to be mutually agreeable.

There are many ways to protect title of ownership as staged payments are made between the client and the supplier, most commonly a vesting agreement that allows the title of the manufactured goods to pass to the client upon cleared funds. All of this can be managed successfully even if the preferred supplier is facing credit challenges.

A major factor to consider regarding financial stability is when the project and plant will actually be built. With the operational criteria of the AD process being highly demanding on storage tanks, there must be a strong focus on how secure product warranties are, given these could be for as long as 12 years under the latent defects of a contract.

No one has a crystal ball.

There are, however, measures available that can protect against significant problems that may arise should a chosen supplier suffer prohibitive financial difficulties during, or after, their involvement in a project. Specifiers should carry out a detailed review of the supplier’s current and past financial performance and take objective references from their supply chain to get a picture of payment performance. Most importantly, challenge the structure of the companies chosen to create the security required.

The AD industry should be working hard to rationalise the financial histories of clients and suppliers to ensure that all business is done on a solid foundation. If this is not dealt with appropriately, investors may become apprehensive which, in turn, could affect future business opportunities.

Carry out due diligence upfront to avoid unnecessary problems down the line.

Choosing a tank supplier is a decision that must consider potential working relationships, performance history, H&S commitment and financial stability. If these four key points are addressed and satisfied, a successful conclusion to the installation phase of the project will be achieved. l

For more information:

Balmoral Digestore ‘cast in-situ’ concrete tanks installed at flagship UK AD project

Bioenergy Insight

This article was written by Jonathan Smith of Balmoral Tanks.

Visit www.balmoraltanks.com or contact j.smith@balmoral.co.uk

January/February 2015 • 43

Bioenergy agitation The installation of a new digester mixing system at Biogas Energy’s North State Rendering AD plant is helping cut maintenance costs and reduce energy consumption

Rendered useful

T

he rendering business is not known for its glamour or its cutting edge technology, but in North America’s first project of its kind, that is all about to change for an industry that is positioned for growth.

US-based Biogas Energy, a full service anaerobic digestion (AD) construction company, has built an AD plant at North State Rendering in Oroville, California that is already paying dividends; it produces an uninterrupted supply of biogas for generating electricity, fuelling trucks and powering boilers. The economics stack up, not to mention the significant reduction in carbon footprint.

‘For a rendering plant, biogas is a natural fit,’ explains Brian Gannon of Biogas Energy. ‘North State Rendering was looking for ways to cut costs, secure new waste supply contracts, and improve wastewater treatment, so creating its own on-site biogas facility was a wise move. Fuel and energy are a significant operational cost for the business, so investing in technology that eliminates electricity bills, slashes diesel costs and reduces natural gas imports all makes sense.

Modifying the AD process to integrate with a rendering plant took some fine tuning, including a very positive modification to the digester’s mixing system, but now, we see how we got it right.’

Waste reception and pre-processing Grease trap waste and food waste from kitchens, restaurants, and food manufacturers is expensive to render, so by diverting

44 • January/February 2015

Biogas Energy’s AD plant installed at North State Rendering

this material to the digester, North State Rendering reduces costs and frees up rendering capacity for

added to the mix. North State Rendering can also add dead stock to the digester during warmer months

“Submersible digester mixing systems cause serious process interruptions and safety issues” Brian Gannon, Biogas Energy

higher-value materials.

The waste reception equipment prepares highsolids feedstocks for the digester, whilst a grease trap reception system separates out contaminants such as plastic and metals.

With this flexible reception facility configuration, the digester can process a wide variety of materials, from food and yard waste to high-liquid grease trap material. Wastewater from the rendering process is also

when rendering can become problematic due to extreme degradation of the material.

AD tanks From the reception area, the material is pumped into two tanks (40ft in diameter and 24ft high), where the first acid-forming phase of the biogas production process takes place.

These heated tanks contain bacteria that break down the material and prepare it for

the main digester tank, which stands 64ft tall. When the material is ready, it is pumped into the main digester where biogas-producing bacteria get to work.

Gannon continues: ‘We had been using submersible propeller mixers inside our main digester, but with our re-design of the tank, we switched to a new system that meets all of our needs.

One of the main issues with submersible digester mixing systems is that the equipment is inside the tank which, from a maintenance point of view, is a nightmare. The downtime caused by having to open the digester to lift the mixers out for repairs and maintenance caused serious process interruptions and safety issues.

‘We now have a Landia digester mixing system, which is mounted externally, so maintenance is much easier.

Even during commissioning when the AD biology was at

Bioenergy Insight

agitation Bioenergy

The externally mounted Landia GasMix system

a delicate stage, we were able to carry out some tweaks without any interruption whatsoever to the biogas production process. With submersible mixers we would have had to start over again, which would have been very expensive and labour intensive.’

In addition to its ease of maintenance, Gannon also points out that Landia’s patent-pending GasMix System is able to agitate the entire digester tank, whereas other units often cannot prevent a

crust from forming on the top level of the tank’s contents.

‘The AD facility is designed to process a wide range of feedstock,’ he says, ‘so its pumps and mixers have to cope. The Landia chopper pumps just keep on working.’

Comprising two 30-HP chopper pumps and a selfaspirating system that reduces solids to produce more methane in a much shorter time period, Landia’s GasMix (designed specifically for AD/ biogas) is easy to regulate and also offers significant energy

savings because it only has to run for a maximum of 30% of the installed capacity.

As Gannon highlights, the anaerobic digester is not only producing biogas, but also processing wastewater to improve water quality.

The bacteria creating biogas digest is the material that causes elevated chemical oxygen demand (COD) in wastewater. Hence, the digester also acts as a small wastewater treatment plant, improving the quality of wastewater and enabling reductions in discharge fees.

‘We generate enough electricity to power the entire North State Rendering plant,’ Gannon says. ‘Heat from the generator is also used to heat the digesters, so we’re able to optimise energy efficiency.’

Energy and fuel production Biogas Energy estimates that North State Rendering will reduce diesel costs by 75% by introducing a gascleaning skid to create a pipeline-quality biomethane that is then compressed in a CNG fueling station.

As the biogas-to-CNG upgrade system produces pipeline-quality natural

gas, producers can inject the gas into the pipeline to sell to other customers.

Finally, any surplus biogas is fed to a boiler at the rendering plant to reduce the need to purchase natural gas. With a diverse use for the biogas, North State Rendering will maximise revenue and hedge against price increases in electricity, diesel, and natural gas.

Sources of facility funding For its new anaerobic digester, North State Rendering was able to take advantage of grants from the California Energy Commission’s Alternative and Renewable Fuel Vehicle Technology Program.

State and federal inducements can also include tax incentives, sales tax exemption, grants for renewable energy project and truck conversion costs, and incentivised electricity production pricing.

Gannon concludes: ‘Renderers have a big headstart over other companies trying to develop new wasteto-energy facilities. Unlike newcomers, renderers already have the necessary permits in place to process waste material. They also have the trucks to collect waste, and the energy consumption that biogas facilities can help fuel.

‘As energy and fuel prices climb and wastewater discharge fees escalate, waste processors can turn waste into an asset. For Biogas Energy, our experience at North State Rendering and the introduction of Landia’s GasMix digester mixing system means that we can help our clients generate renewable energy with a system that maximises production while facilitating operations and maintenance.’ l

For more information: The GasMix system is able to agitate the 64ft tall digester tank

Bioenergy Insight

Visit: www.landiainc.com and www.biogas-energy.com

January/February 2015 • 45

Bioenergy biomass to power

46 • January/February 2015

Bioenergy Insight

biomass to power Bioenergy Mark Döing of ecoprog discusses the potential of biomass-based power around the world

On the rise

E

lectricity generation from solid biomass continues to increase internationally. In late 2013, around 2,650 operational power plants worldwide were using solid biomass only, or very large shares of this fuel. These plants had an electricity generation capacity of about 42GWel. Additionally, around 350 fossil power plants were co-incinerating biomass. In 10 years, there will be approximately 4,100 active plants with a capacity of around 67GWel. In 2014 alone, approximately 170 new power plants with electricity generation capacities of around 3.6GWel were constructed.

Until 10 to 15 years ago, biomass accounted for only a very minor share of fuels used for power production.

When compared to other fuels, especially coal, biomass was considered a ‘poor fuel’.

Coal has a calorific value of about 7kWh per kg, while wood — the most common biomass used energetically — may reach 4.2kWh per kg if it is processed into a preferable form, such as dried sawdust. And biomass, in many cases, does even worse. Coal is also much more advantageous when it comes to density. While hard coal reaches a density of 1,200-1,400kg per m3, wood usually reaches less than 200kg. Transporting biomass is therefore often not profitable for the energy business.

As a result, the energetic use and the power production from biomass was limited to a smaller number of industry locations with certain characteristics, including plants that produce large

Bioenergy Insight

Development of number of plants worldwide

amounts of biomass as a waste stream, while the industrial production at these plants also requires heat and power.

Pulp factories and sugar plants are the most common amongst such locations.

Showing support This trend began to change when countries started to implement financial incentives for those generating power from biomass. While encouraging the production of renewable energy in a bid to fight climate change was the major reason for these financial incentives, using locally produced biomass for energy in countries such as China and India helped them limit their dependency on energy imports from abroad.

According to the

International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), by early 2014, 144 countries had adopted legislation supporting renewable energies. The vast majority of these laws focus on electricity generation.

Further policies also support biofuels and renewable heat.

IRENA estimates the number of countries offering financial compensation schemes for electricity from biomass amounts to around 70. However, many of these systems do not know a specific status for electricity from solid biomass but sum it up in one category with other types of electricity generation from biomass — especially biogas, landfill gas, sewage gas and waste incineration. According to Germany-based consulting firm ecoprog, there are around 40 countries with Feed-in

Age of plants and electricity generation capacities in North America

Tariffs (FITs) for electricity generation from solid biomass.

The financial incentive schemes for biomassbased power have resulted in a global boom for renewable electricity.

Almost 50% of the 2,650 plants that use solid biomass as their main fuel are located in Europe. This large share reflects the political subsidisation of electricity generation from biomass in the form of FITs. There are different systems for these FITs, e.g. in the form of quantitative systems (as in Poland), fixed FITs (Italy) or auctions (France).

Worldwide development It is difficult to unambiguously differentiate between monoand co-incinerators in some countries, as complementing fuels (especially coal) are sometimes used temporarily.

In some countries, e.g. Italy, the figures in this article do not take into account very small plants with a capacity of less than 1MWel. When taking a closer look at Europe, the types of existing plants have changed along with the political support of electricity generation from biomass. Many systems primarily subsidised smallscale plants for reasons of ecological sustainability, meaning that European plants are on average smaller.

However, it remains difficult to provide averages on European activity as the market is very fragmented.

Almost all of the 31 states of the European Economic Area have subsidised electricity generation from biomass in one way or another over the past 15 years. The type

January/February 2015 • 47

Bioenergy biomass to power and extent of electricity generation from biomass therefore varies by country and may vary significantly in terms of plant sizes, fuels or number of plants.

An average biomass monoincinerator in Finland has a power generation capacity of more than 30MWel, whereas in Austria it is less than 2.7MWel. In Poland, most power generation from biomass takes place in former or current coal power plants that mainly use wood pellets. In Germany, waste wood is a major fuel, while in Denmark, many plants use straws due to the national incentive scheme.

In Asia, about 80% of the existing biomass power plants are located in China and India. Apart from their size, these two states are amongst those subsidising electricity generation from biomass for some years, despite introducing different schemes.

Brazil dominates the biomass market in South and Central America and is the world’s largest producer of electricity from biomass.

The country’s unique subsidisation scheme for fuel ethanol production can also be attributed to its large number of plants.

The biomass power plants of North America are installed in the US and Canada, where the subsidisation systems of both countries are rather young and less distinct than the ones in Europe. For that reason, plants continued to be installed at favourable locations where they were not dependent on subsidies, such as the paper and wood industries. The number of plants being built across North America, and their capacities, have only accelerated over the last five years as a result of the intensified renewable energies subsidisation of individual Canadian provinces and US states.

In an international comparison, the North American plants still have a large average electricity

48 • January/February 2015

generation capacity, which is due to the strong focus on many industrial enterprises.

An average plant in North America has an electricity generation capacity of around 28MWel, followed by South America with over 22MWel, Asia with only 14MWel, and Europe with 13MWel. Ecoprog expects the number of biomass (mono-incineration) power plants throughout the world to continue to increase.

Its forecast predicts around 4,100 biomass power plants with a capacity of around 67.2GWel to be online by the end of 2023. This means that, according to ecoprog’s estimation, the worldwide plant portfolio will increase by around 1,500 power plants and 25GWel respectively.

These figures show that the worldwide development of electricity generation from biomass will continue.

However, the situation is quite different from country to country.

What does the future hold? ecoprog assumes the markets of the countries that were the first ones to implement renewable energy schemes, such as Germany, to be saturated.

FITs in these regions have resulted in the development of many favourable locations, for example in the wood industry. With the granting of subsidies continuing, however, the number of available favourable locations has declined.

Such a saturation effect will

also occur in many countries that are currently booming and are therefore part of the ‘second development wave’. This affects countries such as the UK and France, but also China. And as there are countries that are just beginning to introduce support schemes for electricity generation from biomass, a ‘third development wave’ is also expected.

Within the next five years, Europe will remain the most important market in the world. In late 2013 it had around 1,200 active biomass power plants.

This number will increase to approximately 1,750 by late 2023. Additionally, European projects lead to high investments due to high specific investment costs per kW of electrical capacity. This mainly results from the large average gross heat production of these facilities. Due to the existing funding schemes, the majority of European plants are designed as combined heat and power (CHP) facilities.

In the Asian market, the commissioning of biomass power plants will boom in the next three to four years as China’s market continues to grow. Other Asian regions will also start to develop biomass-based power.

In South and Central America, the next few years will see stronger market growth. In Brazil, the individual support of electricity generation from biomass will result in higher state subsidies, while other countries such as Argentina

and Chile will introduce FITs for biomass electricity.

The market in North America remains on a high level, even though the number of commissioned plants, which will be high between 2013 and 2016, will decrease in the medium- to long-term. Future prospects are considerably more difficult to assess than in other parts of the world, which is due to political circumstances. There are two different developments occurring simultaneously, especially in the US: 1. On the one hand, criticism of electricity generation from biomass increases in some states and funding schemes have been reduced. Additionally, fossil energy prices decrease as a result of the ‘fracking revolution’.

2. On the other hand, subsidisation of renewable energies could increase to unprecedented extents in light of the goal to reduce the CO2 emissions of the energy industry by 30% by 2030, as was announced by the Obama Administration. So far it is not clear to what extent this goal can be implemented and what effects this initiative will have on power production from solid biomass.

Elsewhere, ecoprog forecasts that electricity generation from biomass in Africa will grow due to its large biomass potential and undeveloped market.

However, when compared to the established market regions, the volume of this growth will be small. l

For more information:

Visit: www.ecoprog.com

Age of plants and electricity generation capacities worldwide

All figures, estimations and forecasts are contents of Ecoprog’s report ‘Biomass-to-Power’. The information is based on the evaluation of detailed data on around 3,350 treatment lines in more than 2,700 biomass power plants and 350 biomass coincinerators worldwide, as well as on the description and evaluation of more than 900 projects worldwide.

Bioenergy Insight

event preview Bioenergy

On 27 January 2015, the 24th Biogas International Convention and Trade Fair will return to Germany. To be held at the Bremen Exhibition Centre across three days, the event is set to welcome thousands of industry specialists and visitors, who will meet to discuss the latest market trends for biogas plants. Here are just a few of those that will be exhibiting…

Biogas comes to Bremen Agraferm Technologies, with its headquarters in Pfaffenhofen, Germany, develops and builds biogas, biomethane and waste treatment plants. Alongside project planning and construction, its other services include technical and biological servicing for its own and other companies’ plants.

In a market where feedstock is becoming scarcer and regulations regarding types of feedstock stricter, Agraferm helps its customers make use of feedstocks that other plants are unable to handle, or can only make limited use of. Its technology allows for a full gas yield from a small container volume (2MW­ el from two containers), and efficiently processes energy plants such as maize, grass and whole grain plant

Bioenergy Insight

Agraferm specialises in biogas, biomethane and waste management plants

silage, as well as agricultural waste and by-products from the food industry.

Agraferm Technologies operates internationally, in particular Italy, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and the UK, where it is one of the market leaders in the biogas industry. l Agraferm will be exhibiting in hall 5, stand 104.

Balmoral Industrial Tanks, formerly known as Galglass, is Europe’s foremost design, manufacture and build specialist of anaerobic digestion (AD) and biogas tanks.

Its product range covers all aspects of AD tank specification, including tank walls, bases, roofs, insulation, and access steelwork.

Benefitting from decades of design and installation experience, the company’s engineering, projects, production and installation teams operate to the highest and safest of standards and are fully accredited to the most demanding international criteria.

Balmoral’s AD tank products include: efusion steel digester tanks This steel tank product range, which represents the latest developments in steel tank coating technology, is designed to service a wide range of applications. Balmoral delivers tailored solutions which are suitable for all types of anaerobic digestion systems.

Compared to traditional tank coatings such as glass, epoxy coated steel tanks provide

January/February 2015 • 49

Bioenergy event preview

Balmoral’s AD products include steel and concrete digester tanks

More than 45 biogas plants have been designed according to the BTA Process

higher durability to installation and operational loads, lower cost manufacturing, lower carbon footprint and more efficient design principles.

process and allows for industrial biogas production.

The local production of renewable energies is becoming increasingly important and offers tremendous future perspectives. In addition, biogas can be used in many applications: as a power and heating source for regional supply, for feeding into the public grid, and as a replacement of natural gas. l Discover more about BDI BioEnergy’s technology in hall 5, stand 416.

digestore concrete digester tanks The Balmoral digestore is a reinforced concrete, posttensioned digester tank offering the following benefits: · OSHAS 18001, 14001 and 5-star British Safety Council accreditations · Leak-free structure using post-tensioning technology · Unique design and build process offers a tank with low carbon footprint · Lifecycle more than twice that of steel tanks (60 years compared to a 25 year lifecycle for steel tanks) · Experienced and trained construction teams · Dedicated design team headed up by chartered civil engineer with more than 30 years of experience · Established track record with high levels of customer satisfaction and repeat business · Experienced contracts team.

Balmoral is the industry’s first choice for large scale reinforced concrete digester tanks. Company personnel have completed many demanding construction projects of this type since the early 2000s. l For more information, visit Balmoral Industrial Tanks in hall 5, stand 211.

Established in 1996, BDI BioEnergy International builds tailor-made biodiesel

50 • January/February 2015

plants based on the patented ‘Multi-Feedstock’ process that it developed in-house.

This technology enables biodiesel to be produced from different raw materials, such as vegetable oils, used cooking oils and animal fats, with a high efficiency. Implementing BDI’s retrofit programme in existing plants increases the flexibility of raw materials and improves biodiesel quality.

BDI also offers ‘waste-tovalue’ plant concepts for the production of biogas from industrial and municipal wastes, with its ‘BioGas’ technology designed for industrial and municipal users.

A wide range of raw materials such as organic waste or by-products from the food or biofuel industry may be used.

Compact in size, the system uses a stable biotechnology

BDI BioEnergy’s biogas plant in Turkey

BTA International is a specialist in the wet mechanical pretreatment of different kinds of waste, and the subsequent anaerobic digestion of their organic fraction. Founded in 1984, the company offers engineering services based

on 30 years of experience, patented pre-treatment systems, and turnkey plants based on the BTA Process.

The BTA Process is a combination of the BTA Hydromechanical Pretreatment with an anaerobic digestion step for the utilisation of the cleaned organics and therefore the largest fraction of the waste stream from municipal, commercial and agricultural sources.

The efficient removal of impurities is the key for the successful digestion of biowaste, food waste, commercial waste and the organic fraction from municipal solid waste. BTA Hydromechanical Pretreatment is able to handle a variety of substrates and removes impurities from the organic suspension. This allows for improved operation reliability, lower disposal costs, higher biogas yield and high quality digestate.

BTA International became part of the Agraferm Technologies Group in 2007.

Since then, more than 45 plants have been designed according to the BTA Process, or with key components from the wet mechanical pre-treatment, with a total capacity of approximately 1.2 million tonnes per year.

Today, BTA plant produced more than 110 million Nm³ of biogas annually – the energy equivalent of approximately 70 million Nm³ of natural gas. l Visit BTA International in hall 5, stand 104.

Bioenergy Insight

event preview Bioenergy

Biogas plants from BTS Biogas range in size from 25kW to 1.5MW

Italy-based BTS Biogas is one of the leading players in the biogas industry. It specialises in the design, engineering, construction, and maintenance of modular biogas power plants, which range in production capacity from 25kW to 1.5MW and above. In addition to the construction works and engineering, BTS also focuses on plant optimisation, and technical and biological support.

To date BTS has built more than 178 plants across Europe, totalling more than 140MW of installed electrical power.

The company’s products include the BIOaccelerator and BIOdry, which increase and optimise the productivity and profitability of biogas plants. It also offers biological assistance and consulting, and has developed software to computerise the management of plants. Its laboratory,

MetanLab, in Porto Mantovano, Italy, is equipped with sophisticated apparatus, which allows the company to perform detailed analysis.

BTS’s technical team and biological assistance staff carry out daily monitoring of the biogas power plants, with the aim of optimising seeding, harvests, ensilage, drawing and the biological management of the facilities.

The company offers a full range of solutions for the production of gas from biomass, and for use as electrical energy, thermal energy and biomethane.

BTS is headquartered in Brunico, South Tyrol, with subsidiaries in the UK, Germany, France, and Japan. l Visit BTS Biogas in hall 5, stand 424.

Chevron Lubricants provides products for industrial, commercial and consumer

applications. Around the world, the Chevron, Caltex and Texaco brands are recognised for a legacy of technological innovation, operational reliability, system performance and protection.

Gas engine reliability can be key to business profitability. Texaco lubricants are consolidated under the Chevron HDAX brand of highly resilient Group II base oil formulations. HDAX products offer high performance component protection with the oxidation stability and resistance required for reliable, low maintenance keep-clean engine performance and optimum system uptime.

HDAX Extended Life Coolant XLC is a high performance extended life engine coolant concentrate. Fleet tested for in excess of 40,000 hours, it offers protection against freezing, boiling and cooling system corrosion including

Schmack Biogas UK Ltd. · Tel. +44 (0) 870870 3058 · info@schmack-biogas.com

From bio-waste to bio-methane – everything from a single source

The Viessmann Group biogas competence brands are among the leading suppliers of biogas technologies with the experience that comes from building over 400 plants. We offer dry and wet anaerobic digestion solutions ranging from 50 kWel to 20 MWgas and provide professional support of all biogas related issues: ■ Plant design, construction and commissioning ■ Key biogas plant components ■ Gas-upgrading technology for bio-methane production

Visit us from January 27th–29th at the 24th BIOGAS in Bremen, Germany.

Stand number 5-409, hall 5.

■ Energy from waste via dry digestion or IVC (In-Vessel-Composting) ■ Technical services and biological support More information at www.schmack-biogas.co.uk

Bioenergy Insight

January/February 2015 • 51

Bioenergy event preview high temperature corrosion in modern aluminium engines.

Oil analysis can play a central role in ensuring machinery and equipment runs to optimum levels with minimum downtime. Chevron Lubricants offers a Europewide proprietary oil analysis programme, LubeWatch.

As well as identifying the lubricant-related needs of specific equipment, the online tracking system gives a clear picture of the changing environment within the equipment, allowing for precise scheduling of maintenance work and minimising the risk of unexpected down time.

Chevron’s unique online Reliability based Lubrication (RbL) programme is designed to provide a structured and easy-to-follow method to improve customer’s lubrication programmes.

RbL offers online access to

When you need a CHP package, what are you looking for: • High reliability?

• Attractive pricing?

• Stress-free service?

• Bespoke design?

Our customers value: • Up to 99 % availability • Excellent efficiency throughout the lifespan of the CHP • Reliable service and aftercare 24/7 • Competitive and transparent pricing • Easy-to-service open-style design • Project management from idea to start-up • Flexible modular concept, not just “off-the-shelf”

a vast range of presentation materials, profitability calculators and detailed product information and has been developed over the last two-years by Chevron Lubricants sector experts. By ensuring the correct alignment of products and understanding equipment usage, operating conditions and maintenance practices, RbL allows Chevron to maximise the value of the products it recommends as well as allowing customers to close lubrication program gaps. l Visit hall 5, stand 526 for more information about Chevron Lubricants’ products.

ERT Refrigeration Technology, based in Hamburg, Germany, has been a specialist in industrial and process cooling since 1987. It supplies a range of cooling equipment and provides engineering, project planning and

Dreyer & Bosse have been working with the biogas industry for over 15 years and more than 750 Dreyer & Bosse CHPs are already installed worldwide.

We offer CHP packages for biogas or natural gas ranging from 75KW to 2MW.

Please contact us with your requirements or to find out about current projects: Dreyer & Bosse Kraftwerke GmbH, Germany Represented by Konduit Ltd 01926 623 280, info@konduit.co.uk www.dreyer-bosse.com

52 • January/February 2015

Schema of ERT Refrigeration Technology’s methane liquefaction technology

construction services, including turnkey plant building.

Solutions for processing methane from biogas plants and the natural gas grid are one of ERT’s core competencies.

The company offers modular systems comprising methane purification, liquefaction, tank storage and LBG/ LNG fuelling stations. The capacity of its systems ranges from 0.25 tonnes per day to 50 tonnes per day.

For biogas plants ERT also provides waste heat recovery solutions which further economise methane liquefaction. Low temperature absorption chillers can recover waste heat energy from 50kW up to approximately 1,000kW for cooling.

The European Commission has obliged EU member states to build up an extensive infrastructure of liquid methane fuelling stations starting out from the main corridors of the Trans-European Network of Transport.

High energy density, ready availability and easy handling make liquid methane a sustainable alternative fuel for conventional diesel powered trucks, ships, public transport vehicles and heavy equipment for farming or construction.

With zero particle and sulfur oxide (SOx) emissions, 90% lower nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions and 90% less carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (with LBG) methane fuel safely meets even the strictest environmental standards such as EURO 6 (road transport) and

ECAS regulations (shipping).

Liquid methane fuel for the transport sector is becoming a substantial market for the operators of biogas plants wherever cogeneration falls back behind expectations commercially. The process of building the infrastructure of fuelling stations is commencing already in the UK and the Netherlands.

ERT liquid methane fuel systems can be adapted to a wide range of bio and fossil gas qualities. Ready scalability enables investors to keep pace with growing demand. l To find out more about ERT Refrigeration Technology’s equipment and services, visit hall 5, stand 712.

In autumn 2012, actors from the spheres of hunting, nature conservation, beekeeping and the power supply industry joined together to form the Field Habitat Network.

Together, they work to outline ways of bringing energy generation from biomass into closer alignment with species and nature protection.

The network‘s purpose is to establish high yield mixes of blossom-rich annual and perennial indigenous, wild, and cultivated species as an ecologically necessary and economically sustainable alternative to conventional energy plants used in agriculture. However, it will only be possible to achieve this objective in a process of best practice sharing with the farmers.

Bioenergy Insight

event preview Bioenergy

K&F provides full design and consulting services for biogas plant projects

The participating farmers and operators of biogas facilities will be advised intensively by the project partners. This will allow a determination of the yield potential under practical conditions and the development of medium-term planting and processing recommendations for increased yield.

The project places emphasis on targeted public relations work and political commitment in order to establish wild plants as an alternative to conventional energy plants in agricultural practices. l Visit hall 5, stand 507 for more information on the Field Habitat Network.

Hydrogen sulphide (H2S), as an anaerobic reaction product of organic and inorganic sulphur compounds, is an unwanted substance in biogas.

Besides the smell like rotten eggs, H2S has a toxic impact on the bacteria, causes corrosion of the facilities and equipment, and could put personnel at risk if there is a leakage at the plant.

In order to reduce those risks and effects, there are several desulphurisation technologies available for biogas plants.

These include the internal chemical precipitation reaction in the digester, or the external desulphurisation by adsorption in gas filter tanks. One of the most popular solutions is the chemical precipitation with iron(III)-hydroxide.

German company HeGo Biotec offers this product under the name of the product family, FerroSorp DG, and can deliver the agent in a variety of powders and sludge. Application is

Bioenergy Insight

easy and convenient with a high price/performance ratio, and it is harmless to the environment, making it easy to store. The use of FerroSorp can achieve H2S levels of 50-100 ppm (parts per million) without the negative effects of air injection.

Should the H2S concentration in the gas need to be lowered further, like in the case of a H2S-sensitive turbine or combined heat and power (CHP) plant, or an additional gas post-treatment with a catalyst is used, HeGo Biotec offers the iron(III)-hydroxide based gas purification compound FerroSorp S. This can be used in most existing external gas filter tanks. In recent years FerroSorp S has been used in more and more biogas plants, wastewater treatment plants and landfills, and has become an attractive alternative to the known activated carbons. l For more information about these products and their benefits, visit HeGo Biotec in hall 4, stand 413.

Krieg & Fischer Ingenieure (K&F) is an engineering company boasting more than 25 years of experience in biogas technology, covering the areas of process and civil engineering, energy, and agricultural technology.

With 20 employees, 15 of which are experienced engineers, K&F provides full design and consulting services for biogas plant projects. It has experience in planning and building biogas plants, offering engineering services such as conception, cost calculation, permit, planning, construction management, commissioning,

and optimisation.

The company also provides expert reports and carries out technical and economic studies, prepares preliminary planning and site plans, and carries out cost assessments and detailed planning.

Once the office work is complete, it is responsible for construction, site supervision, and commissioning of the plants. It also optimises existing fermentation and biogas plants.

In order to best cater to clients’ individual requirements, K&F collaborates internationally with experienced and reliable partners, who can take care of needs locally.

K&F’s work spans from simple farm-scale biogas plants to complex, multistage, industrial fermentation technologies for food industry waste, kitchen waste fermentation or residual waste fermentation plants. l Visit hall 4, stand 320 to find out more about K&F’s services.

Austrian shredding specialist Lindner-Recyclingtech (LRT) has been developing, manufacturing, selling and installing shredders for over 65 years.

With the new impact crusher, Limator, L-RT reacts to the requirements of the biogas industry. The versatile and modular machine is used for the processing of renewable resources, waste material and

The Limator impact crusher is suitable for processing materials in biogas plants

expired foodstuffs for biogas plants. It extends the useable spectrum of substrates for fermentation and optimally breaks up the material with its fast-running, movably mounted multi-tools and crusher plates. A higher gas yield becomes possible, even with difficult materials.

A satisfied user of the Limator is Switzerland-based biogas plant owner Peter Schürch. The plant processes solely manure from horses, chicken and pigs, with the addition of 100 litres per minute of slurry. The Limator processed 2,500 tonnes of material over a three month period. Prior to installing the Limator, Schürch had to activate the stirring units after 20 minutes each time and run them for 30 minutes. Now, with the Limator, the stirring units only have to run for 10 minutes every three hours.

‘I have noted more than 4% savings in electricity and hardly ever have to stir anymore,’ says Schürch. ‘Floating layers and pumps clogged by coarse parts are history.’

L-RT has also taken steps to branch out into the shredding of materials with special preconditions, for example medical waste, and files and data storage hardware, which requires shredding to distinct specifications. l To learn more about L-RT’s shredding technology, visit hall 5, stand 515.

Biogas construction company North-Tec Biogas has added to its already extensive portfolio with a central control room, which provides plant monitoring and analysis on a 24-hour basis.

In connection with NorthTec’s online database, the control room will provide important key data such as combined heat and power (CHP) utilisation or substrate usage, which is then displayed in diagrams.

The company offers bespoke contract options for each

January/February 2015 • 53

Bioenergy event preview respective plant. These comprise of four contract options: Self, Eco, Basic or Complete. In addition, North-Tec Biogas offers independent biological advice for each biogas plant.

North-Tec Biogas takes a number of measures to ensure operational safety including GasCam examination, revision of tanks, replacement of agitators below filling level, and the implementation and monitoring of periodic inspections in accordance with Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health (BetrSichV).

The integration of the direct marketing module in the manufacturer-independent operation software NT Biogas Power makes it possible to participate in the balancing energy market and creates the possibility to receive the market premium.

NT Biogas Power also offers the opportunity to integrate energy generation systems such as photovoltaic, small wind turbines or own electricity cogeneration into a plant’s operations. l Visit hall 5, stand 427 to find out more.

Remmers is an independent, family-run company that has been established for 65 years.

Today, with more than 1,400 employees, the company is a leading European supplier of chemical construction products, and paints and lacquers for wood. l Remmers will be exhibiting at the Biogas International Trade Fair in hall 4, stand 514.

During the Biogas International Trade Fair, UTS Biogastechnik will

be exhibiting its S.M.A.Rt mixing system, which has been awarded with a DLG silver medal.

The UTS S.M.A.Rt mixing system monitors and controls operating parameters of substrate, changes in the viscosity and gas saturation in a biogas plant during operation.

The automatic mixing control optimises the mixer’s performance according to changing operation modes.

Depending on the priorities set (operation modes such as ‘mixing in fresh substrate’, ‘mixing the fermenter content’ or ‘controlled gas desorption from lower tank areas’), the system takes care of the most efficient operation of the mixer based on the permanent collection of measuring data via the fully automated

control unit. This results in significant reductions in costs for maintenance and energy consumption of mixers, as well as an increase in operation safety and reliability.

This unique product enables biogas plant owners to fully exploit the potential of their plant with regards to flexibility, both regarding modification in substrate intake (e.g. biomass to wastes) as well as energy production (flexible power input).

Additionally, UTS also launched a new chopper mixing pump with active degasification, known as the UTS HVP-FDU, as well as a new agriculture separator, UTS Separator FSP-B. l To find out about UTS’s entire product range, visit hall 4, stand 317. l

Biogas International Convention & Trade Fair 27-29 January - Bremen, Germany Visit us in Hall 5, Stand 5-424

DISCOVER OUR FULLY INTEGRATED SYSTEM

and its individual components which maximise efficiency • MODULAR CONSTRUCTION - 25 kWel - 1.5 MWel modules available • THE WIDEST FEEDING OPPORTUNITIES & MAXIMAL BIOLOGICAL EFFICIENCY Over 85% oDM converted into biogas in reduced time and space using our BIOaccelerator technologies

VISIT OUR WEBSITE and DOWNLOAD OUR APP ON YOUR TABLET

• DIGESTATE SOLUTIONS - Incorporating our drying system and pelletizing technology operating off high grade waste CHP exhaust heat • REPOWERING - Optimise or overhaul your existing biogas power plant to enhance performance • PEACE OF MIND - Full biological & technical support services always on hand; guarantee of 8.000 full load hours per year.

54 • January/February 2015

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Bioenergy event and advert index Bioenergy events Event Mon

Venue Date

Tue

Wed

World Biomass Power Markets 2015

1

2

3

European Pellet Conference 2015

Fri

Thu

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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Sat

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22-24 September 2015

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Bioenergy Insight (ISSN 2046-2476) is publised six times a year by Horseshoe Media Limited, Marshall House, 124 Middleton Road, Morden, Surrey, SM4 6RW, United Kingdom.

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Bioenergy Insight

event preview Bioenergy The Largest Biomass Conference in North America

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January/February 2015 • 57

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