EnviTec Biogas UK shows AD on a growth curve at Energy Now

High performance plant, a commitment to technology and innovation, a highly-trained service team operating nationwide and a strong balance sheet are just some of the factors that have helped ensure EnviTec Biogas UK’s industry-leading reputation.

A comprehensive pipeline of forthcoming projects, the introduction of smaller scale units and the positive climate for tariffs also underpin the Staffordshire-based company’s show of strength in the industry.

A key driver in the success of EnviTec UK’s biogas plants is their long-term performance.

Careful servicing, maintenance and quality feedstocks can all help to achieve high performance figures from AD units.

The operator’s skill in running the plant, scheduled maintenance and servicing and can also all pay dividends.

In North Yorkshire an AD plant designed, supplied and installed by EnviTec Biogas UK in 2012 illustrates the benefits of a joined-up approach to good practice.

Melrose Pigs in North Yorkshire invested in a 500kW biogas unit to cut costs, increase revenues and simplify slurry management.

Recently, the 499 kw plant has been operating at a 99.1 per cent running time, and reaching 97 per cent of theoretical capability.

Along with operator’s skill, maintenance and servicing Melrose also bundles different types of servicing together - a process that keeps downtime to a minimum and results in reduced financial costs. Working together with EnviTec Biogas UK’s in-house servicing team enables this scheduling to join together, for the best outcome.

Other factors include agitator inspection panels, fitted as standard on every EnviTec Biogas UK plant, which enable inspection of the agitator by opening the panel, without the need to take the whole roof off. This in turn means that service costs are lower.

EnviTec Biogas UK’s support package also includes the services of their biology team, who monitor the plant, looking for dips in performance – a process that can pinpoint potential problems before they escalate.

Advances in technology are also vital to the AD industry’s long-term success. EnviTec Biogas UK’s strong balance sheet and financial performance enable it to make investment in new initiatives including biomethane ‘gas to grid’ plant, which offers a cost-effective renewable energy source.

Mike McLaughlin, a director of EnviTec Biogas UK, says that while farmers and landowners have in the past shied away from such ‘gas to grid’ technology due to its size and scale, the reduced footprint of the plant now makes it a compelling source of energy in these environments.

Mike said: “New technology has moved forward, and it is meaning that new smaller gas to grid plants are now on the market, which can still deliver significant returns.

“It’s perfectly reasonable to have a gas to grid plant on a farm without it being out of place.”

Biomethane is derived from biogas. Anaerobic digestion fermentation produces a gas mixture of methane and carbon dioxide, as well as small amounts of hydrogen, hydrogen sulphide and, in some cases, ammonia.

The higher the content of methane, the higher the energy content of the gas. In the process of upgrading biogas to biomethane of natural gas quality, the crude gas is first cleaned and compressed. Then the most important process follows - the thorough separation of CO2 and water vapour by means of a highly selective hollow-fibre-membrane.

A major benefit of biomethane gas is that it can be used in the same flexible manner as natural gas - and in the process move away from fossil fuel dependence towards more sustained and stable pricing in the energy market.

Another attraction is that biomethane’s storability is much better than that of other forms of energy and it can be deployed in a decentralised manner, enabling it to be easily fed into a conventional natural gas grid.

“The Feed in Tariffs help with revenues, and because they’re set for the long term it helps with business planning.

“Market prices have always fluctuated, so the more predictability we can build in the easier it is to make sensible investment decisions.”

EnviTec Biogas will be on stand 37 at Energy Now 2015.