Emerald Biogas Ltd the North East’s first commercial food waste anaerobic digestion facility.
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Transcript of Emerald Biogas Ltd the North East’s first commercial food waste anaerobic digestion facility.
Emerald Biogas Ltd the North East’s first commercial food waste anaerobic digestion facility.
Emerald Biogas – The Overview
Kevin Quigley – Business Development Manager.
The Business
• Formed in 2009
• Partnership between:
• John Warren ABP – Waste Management & Recycling Business
• Agricore – Farming, Land & Resource Management Business
John Warren ABP
• Family-owned and founded in 1946
• Three generations of waste management experience
• Services the entire agricultural sector
• Now offers a food waste collection service for Emerald Biogas
Agricore
• New company derived from J&S Bainbridge
• Three key services:
• plasterboard waste management and recycling facility producing gypsum
• agricultural services including contract farming and land management
• supply and distribution of digestate from Emerald Biogas
Why Anaerobic Digestion?
• Harnessing our proven combined knowledge and experience
• Opportunity to address growing food waste crisis
• Transferring our skills to support the renewable energy agenda
• Long term investment supporting the local economy
The Plant
• The £8m facility is the North East’s first commercial food waste AD plant
• Our specific location will fully optimise the green energy
• Neighbouring businesses will utilise the heat generated
• Overall accessibility enables us to process waste from
• Northumberland to York
• Cumbria to Teesside
Phase 1
• Now fully operational, we will process 50,000 tonnes of food waste annually
• We can collect and recycle waste from:
• food manufacturers
• restaurants & hotels
• leisure & retail outlets
• local authorities & civic amenities
Looking Ahead
• Long-term plan to grow the business creating more jobs
• Planning permission secured to quadruple the site
• Plans to diversify into the residential food waste market
• Increase our activities with local authorities
A Growing Concern
Every year:
• 15m tonnes of food waste is sent to landfill
• £6.9bn of food waste is produced by the UK’s grocery & food manufacturing sector
• £15bn of food is thrown away by UK households
• Our region generates over 800,000 tonnes of food waste
What Can We Do?
Traditional disposal methods:
• Food waste is not segregated = larger waste volumes for the collector
• Collection charges are based on weight = very high
• Waste is typically taken to landfill, a MRF or an incinerator
• No opportunity to convert waste into a valuable commodity
What Is The Alternative?
Food waste collection:
• Segregating food waste = reduced weight and reduced cost
• Collection frequency can also be reduced, again reducing cost
• Opportunity to transform the waste into a valuable commodity and new product
The AD Process
• It removes all traces of plastic, glass and metal
• The waste is added to the buffer tank
• Pasteurisation takes place
• The waste is then added to the digestion tank