POET installs anaerobic digester at pilot cellulosic ethanol facility

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (June 17, 2009) – A self-sustaining energy cycle for producing cellulosic ethanol is close to reality with the recent startup of an anaerobic digester at POET’s pilot plant in Scotland, S.D.

Corn cobs at Project LIBERTY will not only be used to produce ethanol; the liquid waste will go to an anaerobic digester to power the cellulosic plant and offset natural gas usage at the attached grain ethanol plant as well. That’s renewable energy created at the plant, powering the plant and powering the adjacent facility.

POET installed and fired up its anaerobic digester, which was designed and built by Biothane, on May 20. The digester uses liquid waste created in the process of converting corn cobs to ethanol. That waste is used to produce methane gas, which acts as roughly the equivalent of natural gas.

“This technology will cut fossil fuels out of our cellulosic ethanol production process and further improve the benefits of grain-based ethanol,” POET CEO Jeff Broin said. “Over the long term, POET would like to eliminate the use of fossil fuels at all of our plants through a variety of alternative energy sources.” The alternative energy technologies employed at other POET facilities include a solid waste fuel boiler, landfill gas and cogeneration.

The digester is in the research phase – corn cobs have never been used in this way before. The methane is currently being flared, but once the process is refined, it will be installed as part of Project LIBERTY.

Project LIBERTY is a 25 million gallon-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant, which will be built in Emmetsburg, Iowa. Research and development work is on schedule for the plant to begin production in 2011.

To see a documentary about POET’s pilot cellulosic ethanol plant visit http://www.poet.com/cellulosedocumentary.htm. Media outlets are welcome to link to the documentary in online coverage. Photos are also available for publication at http://www.poet.com/news/releases.asp.

About POET
POET, the largest ethanol producer in the world, is a leader in biorefining through its efficient, vertically integrated approach to production. The 20-year-old company produces more than 1.54 billion gallons of ethanol annually from 26 production facilities nationwide. POET recently started up a pilot-scale cellulosic ethanol plant, which uses corn cobs as feedstock, and will commercialize the process in 2011. For more information, visit http://www.poet.com.

Technology developers Aquafuel Research have come up with a new way to improve the economics of generating electricity from landfill gas, biogas and sewage gas.

The company based in Sittingbourne, Kent, has field tested a cheaper way to protect electricity-generating combustion engines from corrosive contaminants in the methane-rich gas arising from landfilled waste.

It says it can double the life of lubricating oil in engines running on landfill gas, resulting in less downtime and “substantial reductions in operational costs”.

Existing scrubbing technology can remove hydrogen sulphide – the contaminant that attacks engine lubricating oil – from landfill gas, but Aquafuel’s system cleans only the 5% of gas that enters the crankcase part of the engine.

This means shaving off potentially 30% of the running costs for operators compared to conventional scrubbing technology, the company claims.

Aquafuel is now running second-phase trials on the technology, but said it will be commercially available in the third quarter of 2009.

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Key to the 25x’25 renewable energy and carbon initiatives is the developing technology that is advancing anaerobic digestion. The process captures methane that is generated when biomass, usually animal waste, is broken down anaerobically, or without the presence of oxygen. The methane, a potent greenhouse gas (GHG), is often run through a generator to produce electricity. Methane digesters implemented on livestock operations to manage manure create a renewable source of electricity that can be used to help power the operation and, in some cases, sell electricity back to the grid. Digesters are also a proven way to reduce GHG emissions, which can provide offsets that could generate a significant revenue stream for the operation in a cap-and-trade climate change regulatory system.

While EPA estimates there were 111 commercial livestock digesters operating in 2007, the potential for anaerobic digesters to provide financial and environmental benefits to U.S. farms has prompted acceleration in the construction of digesters in recent years.

Successful examples are promoting that acceleration. The Crave Brothers Dairy Farm, a Waterloo. WI, is an operation that includes a regionally renowned cheese-making enterprise and runs a computer-controlled anaerobic digestion system that generates enough electricity to power the farm, cheese factory and 120 area homes. The Twin Birch Dairy is a 1,200-cow operation in Skaneateles, NY, where anaerobic digestion technology on the farm prompted the EPA in 2008 to selected Twin Birch as the northeast U.S. dairy to kick off the agency’s multi-year, manure and air quality study.

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A GROUND breaking project at Scalloway’s NAFC Marine Centre and Newcastle University will research how waste from the aquaculture industry can be turned into renewable energy.

Shetland Islands Council will tomorrow (Thursday) decide whether to give almost £55,000 towards the project, while an application for £61,000 of European LEADER funding will be decided upon later in May.

The project, if it gets the green light, will investigate how at least 2,000 tonnes of material, made up of dead farmed salmon and organic mussel farming waste, could be diverted from landfill.

The EnWRAP project (Energy from Waste – Realising Aquaculture’s Potential) will use standard “off the shelf” biogas equipment, widely used to break down farm slurry, in a laboratory prototype using aquaculture waste.

Alan Bourhill ‘ Huge potential’.NAFC business development officer Alan Bourhill said the project could open up huge future opportunities.

“There is enough material going to landfill to make this a viable opportunity to look at. The future potential for this sort of technology is huge as there is also domestic and agriculture waste that could link in to a combined facility producing biogas,” he said yesterday (Tuesday).

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One of the makers of Marks & Spencers ready meals is to use its own food waste to power its factory in Newport, South Wales.

RF Brookes, part of Premier Foods plc, has
been awarded £500,000 by the Welsh Assembly government towards its own £5 million anaerobic digestion plant at its Rogerstone site.

The facility is expected to be in operation by the end of next year, turning the company’s waste material into biogas, which would be used to generate heat and electricity.

It is expected to produce about 10% of the factory’s power, reducing carbon emissions by about 8,500 tonnes a year.

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Although all food processors have to deal with wastewater generated in their operations, the characteristics of the effluent exiting their facilities can vary greatly, requiring different processing technologies for the most efficient handling of the wastewater.

Ken’s Foods of Marlborough, Massachusetts, a large-volume food manufacturer of salad dressings and marinades, recently upgraded one of its three wastewater treatment facilities to more efficiently process its high-strength organic content wastewater, effluents which contain a high content of fat, oil and grease (FOG) and present serious challenges for waste treatment.

The solution incorporated a unique treatment process called ADI-AnMBR (anaerobic membrane bioreactor), a relatively new form or anaerobic treatment technology developed by ADI Systems, Inc. (ADI) in cooperation with Kubota Corporation of Japan, that utilizes submerged membranes for biomass retention and solids-liquid separation.

The system maximizes biogas production, increases solids digestion and provides a means to easily handle wastewaters with high concentrations of organic matter.

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Ibioenergy network invests in Nanaimo company working with regional landfill.

B.C. Bioenergy Network is investing $400,000 in Nanaimo-based Cedar Road LFG Inc.

The company has built a $3-million facility at the Cedar Road Landfill, which converts methane gas emissions captured from the landfill and uses the gas as fuel for electricity generation.

Methane – a major component of landfill gas – is 21 times worse than carbon dioxide as a contributor to global warming.

B.C. Bioenergy is also partnering with Cedar Road LFG to create a Collaborative Development and Demonstration Centre at the site to test and demonstrate new ideas and technologies that explore further commercial applications of landfill gas.

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Exports of biogas plants more than tripled in value during 2008, reports the German manufacturer EnviTec Biogas AG. The Lohne-based company said that installations increased from 8.2 million Euros to 29.7 million Euros.

After a difficult first half of the year in Germany, due to uncertainty over amendments to the German Renewable Energy resources Act, the second half finished strongly. Total sales amounted to 101 million confirming the company’s position as a leading manufacturer of biogas plants. It now predicts double digit growth to 150-200 million Euros in 2009.

EnviTec is optimistic about the future. “Although project financing has become more difficult, many countries subsidise forward-looking technologies, especially in times of crisis,” commented Olaf von Lehmden, CEO of EnviTec Biogas.

Interest in biogas as an environmentally-friendly alternative to fossil fuels for energy production remains high and he believes the company will benefit from this.

In addition to Germany, the company sees the greatest potential for growth in Belgium, Italy, the UK, Spain and India.

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With increasing pressure to find alternatives to the landfill disposal of waste, in a new development, one UK water company is using Advanced Anaerobic Digestion in its wastewater treatment process to generate biogas and is using this in an on-site CHP unit. Graham Neave reports on the project.
At a time of heightened concerns about waste, climate change and the need for cleaner energy, it is worth pointing out that not all the news is bad. Technologies are redressing the balance – and one of these is Advanced Anaerobic Digestion (AAD).

AAD will not turn muck into brass, or gold, but it does offer the potential to transform the sewage treatment process from a simple clean-up to one that recovers significant quantities of energy.

In the Northumbrian Water region, in the north-east of England, there are more than 400 (437 to be exact) sewage treatment works that all produce varying amounts of sludge. This material has to be removed from every works but, inevitably, it is difficult to handle and, to say the least, rather smelly.

To make this sludge stable to further degradation and (nearly) odour free, Northumbrian Water Ltd (NWL) has long employed anaerobic digestion techniques for about 10% of its total sludge.

Renewable Energy World

VEGREVILLE, Alta. — Two huge tanks with rounded, mushroom lids loom above the snowdrifts, the first glimpse of Alberta’s oddest-looking electricity plant and also its greenest.

About one megawatt of power flows out on the wires — enough power to run the next-door feedlot and turn on the lights in 700 homes in Vegreville and Two Hills.

Two more gigantic tanks are under construction, and beside them, the site is cleared for the final installation, an ethanol plant, the greenest in Canada, thanks to homegrown, Alberta inventions.

In the land of big oil, a fledgling alternative energy economy is taking shape down on the farm and it’s based on that most plentiful of Alberta resources — a smelly, endless supply of cattle poop. That and the inventiveness of two sets of farmer brothers and a scientist from China who made Edmonton her home.

Canada.com