Work to begin on commercial food waste AD

Plans for the North Easts first-ever commercial food waste anaerobic digestion facility have taken a major step forward with the news that Emerald Biogas has secured an 850,000 loan from WRAP.

The North East currently creates around 800,000 tonnes of food waste but the area lacks organics processing facilities and the additional financial support from the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) anaerobic digestion loan fund (ADLF) will help boost Emeralds development plans.

In addition to the WRAP loan, Emerald Biogas has also secured finance of 3.3m from HSBC, and a Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) grant of 1.86m.

The first phase of the project, which begins later this month, will deliver 53,000 tonnes of food waste processing capacity. The plant will be built on the Newton Aycliffe Industrial Estate in County Durham, with potential customers nearby to receive the heat output which the facility will generate. The plant will also generate 1.4 megawatts of electricity, enough to power up to 2,000 homes. A second phase of development should see the plant able to process 70,000 tonnes of food waste, with the output rising to 2.5 megawatts.

Digestate

As well as producing heat and electricity, the new plant will also produce almost 47,000 tonnes of digestate, a bi-product from the AD process, and this will be used as a biofertiliser for agricultural land.

WRAP director Marcus Gover said: The north east has a strong food manufacturing sector but the food waste it currently produces is sent to landfill or for rendering which is an energy intensive measure.

Were delighted that the ADLF will be able to help Emerald Biogas build and commission a new, much-needed facility to serve this region.

Emerald

Ian Bainbridge, from Emerald Biogas, said: Emerald Biogas is the first commercial plant of this size in the region and we are delighted to have secured the funding and support to realise the project.

By harnessing our knowledge of the food waste, agricultural and renewable energy industries and our proven track record in terms of collection and recycling it was a natural progression for John Warren ABP and Agricore to diversify and use our expertise to create an AD facility capable of not only providing renewable energy but also digestate which can be utilised by the agricultural community.

Emerald Biogas is the second company to benefit from the WRAP ADLF. In January this year, Malaby Biogas received an 800,000 loan towards its AD project in Wiltshire.

WRAPs 10m ADLF was launched in July 2011 to support the development of a strong and vibrant AD industry and to address the gaps in infrastructure that currently exist.

Information about the loan fund and how to apply can be found here.