UK-based company launches biogas upgrading plant
Biogas Products, a UK-based biogas technology maker, has developed a biogas upgrading plant which will enable farms with existing anaerobic digestion (AD) plants to generate biogas to help heat buildings or produce fuel for vehicles.
According to the West Midlands-headquarted company, the plant uses an enhanced water scrubbing technology, eliminating the need for tall scrubbing towers, and providing a financially-viable, low-carbon alternative source of heat or fuel for non-domestic consumers.
Martin Newey, managing director of Biogas Products, said: “Our aim was to provide a cost-effective solution for farm-based AD plants, who seek robust technology and efficient designs, to produce their own heat or vehicle fuel from their raw biogas supply.
“Preliminary trials of our full-scale pilot plant have been extremely promising and have exceeded our initial expectations. Early results have demonstrated that the pilot plant achieves consistent removal of CO2 and produces biomethane with a minimum of 95% CH4 content.”
According to Biogas Products, users can expect to capitalise on government-backed incentives for producers of sustainable energy through the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) funds.
Newey said: “To put this into real terms, 10m3 per hour of biogas contains enough energy to provide heating for 25 houses, electricity for 39 houses or fuel for nine small vehicles.
“This gives on-farm biogas producers the opportunity to decentralise from conventional forms of heating and vehicle power, in order to secure their own energy supply. This is an exciting development which also provides significant CO2 emission savings and improved air quality.”
Biogas Products is now in the process of performing further detailed testing before bringing the new technology to market over the next couple of months.
This story was written by Liz Gyekye, editor of Bioenergy Insight.
