Anaerobic Digestion
What is it?
Anaerobic digestion harnesses the natural
process of organic materials (such as agricultural manure, slurry,
food waste, miscanthus or maize crops) being broken down by
bacteria.
How does it work?
Organic matter is broken down by bacteria
in the absence of oxygen in a closed vessel. This process
produces biogas that can be used to generate both heat and
power.
The biogas can be refined further with carbon
dioxide and other impurities being taken out to produce biomethane
which can be used to fuel transport, or injected into the natural
gas grid network.
The residue from the process is known as
digestate and can be used as a liquid fertiliser, or separated into
a fibre and sold for soil conditioning, and the liquor can be
applied to farmland as a low grade fertiliser.
Is it suitable?
Anaerobic Digestion can be carried out
in a small scale system, for example located on a farm and operated
by farmers, or serve businesses (or clusters of businesses) that
have access to a large amount of food waste.
Alternatively it can be carried out in
large centralised systems, for example to treat municipal food
waste being diverted from landfill by local authorities.
If the biodegradable material fed into an
anaerobic digester is a waste (i.e. manure, slurry, food waste),
the resultant digestate (residue) is subject to waste regulation
controls.
What are the benefits?
Anaerobic digestion is a well proven renewable
energy and waste management technology.
It provides an environmentally safe waste
management/ disposal method and generates clean power.
It reduces the amount of greenhouse gas
emissions by capturing methane from decomposing organic
materials.
An additional income can be gained from the
sale of the digestate.
Systems installed by an accredited contractor
(MCS approved) can earn you money from the Government’s Feed in Tariff Scheme (FITs).
Contact Us
Climate Change Officer
Property, Leisure and Waste
Management
White Cliffs Business Park
Dover
Kent CT16 3PJ
Email: energy@dover.gov.uk
