to read the full report - Ecolateral by Peter Jones

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Evaluation of Opportunities for Converting Indigenous UK Wastes to Wastes and Energy
AEA/ED45551/Issue 1
electricity and 1MW of heat. Meanwhile a 75,000 tonnes per annum site has planning permission in
Beddington for processing kitchen waste and the organic component of the systems already on the site,
generating 2MW of electricity a year.
A demonstrator site run by Organic Power in Somerset has been working to convert food, animal and
other organic wastes to biomethane through AD for use as a transport fuel for a number of years. The
biomethane is converted to CNG (compressed natural gas) with the addition of a small amount of
biohydrogen to ensure optimum combustion in CNG vehicles. 244
International Situation
One exemplar example of the use of large scale use of AD for MSW is the Brecht II facility in Belgium,
which began operation in 2000 with a capacity of 50,000 tonnes per annum. The feedstock for the plant
is mainly organics such as garden, kitchen and food waste to which nappies, non-recyclable paper or
cardboard can be added. The facility processes the waste from the municipalities around the city of
Antwerp. During 2005, 7.4 million m 3 of biogas was produced, used to generate 9.1 GWh of electricity.
The plant also produces 20,000 tonnes of compost which meets the Flemish regulations for high quality
soil amendment.
9.1.2 Anaerobic Digestion of Commercial Waste
Many food producers, including the major supermarket chains, have stated their wish to use waste
diversion methods for their food wastes. Although there are only two strictly commercial food waste sites
operational at the moment (and one of these is a demonstrator project), it is likely that this number will
increase in the very near future, due to the significant rise in interest in this process.
The demonstration scale anaerobic digestion facility exists at Waterbeach, Cambridge Research Park,
near Cambridge. Trials of commercial waste materials such as agricultural, biodegradable industrial,
kitchen and animal by-product wastes are being conducted at the site which can handle up to 17 tonnes
of material per day. 245
The Twinwoods Biogen Greenfinch site in Milton Earnest north of Bedford accepts up to 42,000 tonnes of
commercial food waste combined with 12,000 tonnes of pig slurry each year and converts it to 1MW of
electricity, 1.65MW of heat energy which is largely consumed by the process itself, and 32,000 tonnes of
bio-fertiliser.
A further commercial food waste site is at Westwood, Bedford, Northamptonshire, to be operated by
Biogen Greenfinch. It is due to be operational in 2009 and will be able to process 45,000 tonnes of food
waste each year, generating 1.5MW of electricity and 35,000 of biofertiliser. The supermarket company
Sainsbury’s recently announced that they were investing in his facility, with the intention that
supermarkets close to the site and its nearby distribution centre will use the process. 207
Another potential AD site in Doncaster has been granted permission, this site will process 45,000 tonnes
of food waste each year for Prosper De Mulder (PDM), a commercial food waste firm and Sainsbury’s has
already expressed a strong interest. It is expected to generate 2MW of electricity.
Drinks firm Diageo has announced its plans to construct an AD facility at its Cameronbridge distillery in
Fife. 238
244 Organic Power Website, http://www.organic-power.co.uk/press_articles.aspx
245 Waterbeach AD Site, http://www.andigestion.co.uk/content/waterbeach