Requires registration
The exciting prospects of turning waste into energy
by Dan Coatsworth
Waste treatment group Bioganix is to exploit growing interest in anaerobic digestion (AD) among local authorities and supermarkets by teaming up with Swiss renewable energy specialist Kompogas and German engineer Küttner. The three companies have formed a working party to chase UK waste management contracts, converting waste into electricity and fertiliser.
Bioganix has first option on future tenders in the UK to use Kompagas’ AD systems. It plans to build, own and operate the plants. The procedure is similar to Bioganix’s own in-vessel composting facilities, where it takes food waste from local councils and converts it to a high-quality compost. AD has the added advantage of generating gas that can be converted into electricity.
Benefits of waste
The procedure is relatively scarce in the UK compared with mainland Europe because of high capital costs. Switzerland, for example, has been using AD for over ten years and plants receive large subsidies for treating agricultural waste. The UK has been slow to realise the benefits of treating waste and creating renewable energy, but incentives are now being given. Defra is offering new grant schemes and energy produced from anaerobic digestion of waste is likely to be eligible for double renewable obligation certificates (ROCs).
Bioganix’s new composting plant in Sharpness, which opens this week, cost £4.3 million. Managing director Nick Helme says it would cost a similar amount to add on AD technology. ‘It is possible to bolt-on the systems, but you need at least 20,000 tonnes of waste a year to make the combined facility economical,’ he explains.
‘If we get a ten to 15 year AD contract with a local authority, it’s not a bad place to be. We get secure funding to take in material, put through technology with a guarantee of service from an established Swiss company, with the opportunity to secure a long-term sale of electricity at the end. The note of caution is the return on capital.’
Bioganix has historically sold its fertiliser end-product at a loss, with this negative more than offset by fees it charges customers to deliver waste. Helme reveals that the gap is narrowing as farmers realise they have failed to use enough fertiliser to boost crop growth. It has already sold eight months’ forward production from the new Sharpness facility. ‘We are seeing more demand and while profit from fertiliser is an aspiration, it won’t happen overnight,’ he says.