BiogasWorld Weekly Vol 14

By | 2017-07-27

UK government promises electricity revolution

July 14, 2017 – The UK government is promising a revolution in the way electricity is made, used and stored. The announcement comes as the UK government promoted its Industrial Strategy. According to the government, consumers in the UK could save billions of pounds when new rule s come into place to make it easier for people to generate their own power with solar panels, store it in batteries and sell it to the National Grid. It they work, consumers will save £17 billion to £40 billion by 2050, according to government and energy regulator Ofgem. The rules are due to come into effect over the next year.

Read more on Bioenergy Insight

US Department of Energy invests big in bioenergy research

July 19, 2017 – Rick Perry, the US Secretary of Energy, has announced $40 million in Department of Energy (DOE) awards for the creation of four DOE Bioenergy Research Centres (BRCs). Each led by a DOE National Laboratory or a ‘top’ university, the centres are designed to “lay the scientific groundwork for a new bio-based economy that promises to yield a range of important new products and fuels derived directly from non-food biomass,” according to a DOE statement. Initial funding for the four centres will total $40 million for 2018, with five years of funding planned.

Read more on Bioenergy Insight

First sales of AD-based biofertiliser in UK celebrated by ADBA

July 21, 2017 – New research claims that the concentration of ultrafine particles less than 50 nanometres in diameter, which studies have shown to be harmful to human health, increases in the air when motorists switch from ethanol-to-gasoline. Carried out by Franz M Geiger, a professor of chemistry at the National University of Singapore, the research found that when higher ethanol prices pushed drivers in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to switch to gasoline, the number of ultrafine nanoparticles increased by a third.

Read more on Bioenergy Insight

USCG Guides Simultaneous Operations During LNG Fuel Transfer

July 22, 2017 – The United States Coast Guard’s Office of Operating and Environmental Standards (CG-OES) issued a policy letter late June this year, providing guidance for evaluating Simultaneous Operations (SIMOPS) during Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Fuel Transfer Operations at waterfront facilities. The policy letter provides guidance to Coast Guard Captains of the Port (COTPs) considering safety issues associated with SIMOPS while conducting LNG fuel transfer operations.

See the video on NGV Global News

Dagenham digester promises London food waste revolution

24 juillet 2017 – A new state-of-the-art anaerobic digester will turn London food waste into enough gas to power thousands of homes. People who have a conscience about letting uneaten food go to waste will soon be able to sleep a little easier – at least if they live in the London area. That is because the city will soon be served by a state-of-the-art recycling facility just now in the process of being commissioned that will have the capacity to turn 160,000 tonnes per year of waste that would otherwise go to landfill into 14 million cubic metres of biomethane gas that can be fed into the supply grid. According to the company behind the facility, that’s enough to power 12,600 homes for a year.

Read more on The Engineer

Biogas and biomethane in France: what does the future hold?

July 24, 2017 – According to 2016 data, France has 780 operational biogas plants producing over 6TWh of biogas, and 26 biomethane plants. Feedstocks, feed-in tariffs, drivers and barriers to development: we discuss all this with Bruno Deremince of the EBA. Overall, investments by companies and a commitment to research paints a rosy future for the industry.

See the video on Biogas Channel

Pacific NorthWest LNG project in Port Edward, B.C., no longer proceeding

July 25, 2017 – A plan to build a liquid natural gas liquefaction and export facility in Port Edward, B.C., will not go ahead. A release from Pacific NorthWest LNG said the decision to cancel the $36-billion project was made after “a careful and total review of the project amid changes in market conditions.” Pacific NorthWest LNG is majority owned by Petronas, a Malaysian oil and gas company. Anuar Taib, chair of the Pacific NorthWest LNG board, wrote that “prolonged depressed prices and shifts in the energy industry have led us to this decision.”

Read more on CBC News

 

£3 million, the amount that could be saved recycling food waste through AD

July 26, 2017 – Recycling food waste through anaerobic digestion could help save a single county millions of pounds a year, it’s been claimed. If all residents in the county of Surrey, UK, put their food waste in their separate recycling bin instead of the general waste, the county would save more than £3 million. The council claims that it costs half as much to recycle food waste through anaerobic digestion (AD) as it does throwing it in with the general rubbish which has to go through a costly waste disposal process.

Read more on Bioenergy Insight

 

Clearfleau calls for UK government to include biomethane in RTFO

26 juillet 2017 – Biomethane must be included in the UK government’s Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO), according to Clearfleau. An article on the anaerobic digestion specialist’s website argues that bioenergy has a “key” role to play in the further decarbonisation of the UK’s food and beverage sector. It calls for the previously “non-committal” government to provide greater support for the use of onsite bioenergy plants to improve resource use and boost low-carbon manufacturing. “Extracting value from unwanted residues and decentralised energy supplies should be part of the UK’s industrial strategy and the “clean growth plan” due to be published in the autumn,” the article from Clearfleau states.

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