A biogas operator in Devon has become the first ever company to be awarded the PAS 110 certification for the biofertiliser it produces from its anaerobic digestion process.
AnDigestion this week (March 16) revealed it was awarded the standard last month for the digestate produced at its Holsworthy anaerobic digestion plant in West Devon, an achievement it said would benefit both the companies and councils supplying the facility with waste and the farmers using its outputs.
The PAS 110 was published in February 2010 with the aim of assuring companies using digestate as a biofertiliser or soil improver that the product is of a consistent quality and fit for the purpose (see letsrecycle.com story).
As such, it has a key role to play in helping to encourage the government-endorsed uptake of AD technology by removing barriers to the use of the outputs of the anaerobic digestion process alongside the Quality Protocol on Anaerobic Digestate.
AnDigestion said that achieving the PAS 110 accreditation would benefit those involved in every stage of its processes including the councils and companies supplying it with waste for processing, the farmers using the digestate as biofertiliser and AnDigestion itself.
Jake Prior, operations director at AnDigestion, said: Certification will bring benefits to the company in allowing increased flexibility in their fertiliser supply operations, to farmers both in terms of security of the quality of the material and in their negotiations with supermarkets or processors.
He added that the standard would also benefit companies and councils that supply waste to Holsworthy who can be sure the waste is recycled in the most professional and efficient manner possible.
The PAS-110 places controls on the input materials used in the AD process, as well as outlining a minimum quality level for digestate, separated fibre and separated liquor. The standard also sets out the information that must be supplied to digestate recipients.
WRAP confirmed to letsrecycle.com that AnDigestion is the first firm to receive accreditation under the PAS-110 scheme.
Operations
AnDigestion currently operates a 60,000 tonne-a-year capacity anaerobic digestion facility in West Devon.
The plant has an electrical capacity of 3.9MW after having undergone extensive planning changes in September 2008 in order to help boost its electrical production capacity (see letsrecycle.com story).
Further to this, the plant was recently extended to include a third digester, a depackaging building, a fourth combined heat and power engine and extra digestate processing equipment.
The company said that the scale of its operations had enabled it to invest in the technologies necessary to produce fertilisers of the standard to meet the PAS 110 requirements.
The PAS 110 is sponsored by WRAP and Renewables East. It was been developed in conjunction with the Renewable Energy Association and the Association for Organics Recycling in collaboration with the British Standards Institution (BSI).
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