Focus on biogas plants

To meet the domestic fuel and bio-fertiliser needs, 3,680 biogas plants are planned to be set up in rural areas by June 2012, according to Pakistan Centre for Renewable Technologies. 

The Centre says that over 2,100 family-size biogas plants — against the target of 2,500 — have already been set up throughout the country.

The programme, supported by NGOs, farmers’ bodies and the rural support programme netwok, is being implemented by Pakistan Biogas Development Enterprise.

The construction of 30,000 biogas installations planned for next four years will be funded by the four provinces including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with an investment of Rs2.7 billion. A sum of Rs244 million will be disbursed as investment rebate support to households.
Often animal waste is usually not used productively. In Landhi alone, a suburb of Karachi city, around 0.35 million cattle heads are kept in a three kilometre area that produces thousands of tons of waste but 80-90 per cent of it is thrown into the sea. A Canadian firm Highmark Renewables and the KESC jointly intend to set up a biogas plant at a cost of around $70 million which would produce 30 megawatts of electricity besides 400 tons of residue bio-fertiliser.

Read more : http://www.dawn.com/2011/09/26/agriculture-and-technology-focus-on-biogas-plants.html

Air Force And Navy Turn To Biofuels

The Pentagon's hunt for an alternative to petroleum has turned a lowly weed and animal fat into something indistinguishable from jet fuel, and now the military is trying to kick-start a new biofuel industry.

"To flip the line from Field of Dreams, if the Navy comes, they will build it," Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in a recent speech.

The Air Force and the Navy have been busy testing their aircraft — everything from fighter jets to unmanned spy planes — on jet biofuel. Together with the Departments of Energy and Agriculture, the Navy has launched a project to invest up to half a billion dollars in biofuel refineries.
Mabus says he is committed to getting 50 percent of the Navy's fuel for aircraft and surface ships from renewable sources by 2020 because dependence on foreign oil makes the U.S. military vulnerable.

Read more:
http://www.npr.org/2011/09/26/140702387/air-force-and-navy-turn-to-bio-fuels

Waste to Energy Must Prove Itself to Take Off in U.S.

An aversion of debt investors to 'technology risks', combined with public reticence to provide capital or financial guarantees is holding up development of Waste to Energy projects in the U.S.

According to a recent report published by Renewable Waste Intelligence - Waste Conversion Technology: A Progress Report North America - this situation is exacerbated by the fact that most waste to energy projects have yet to achieve commercialisation.

However, in the report, John May, managing director at the invest¬ment bank Stern Brothers, explains that "the rating agencies have said to us that properly structured insurance can lead to a better rating on a piece of debt".

In terms of equity investment, as opposed to taking on debt, May goes on to add that while equity investors are prepared to take greater risks, the return they are looking for is typically in the region of 15% to 20%. 


Read more : http://www.waste-management-world.com/index/display/article-display/6371794524/articles/waste-management-world/waste-to-energy/2011/09/Waste_to_Energy_Must_Prove_Itself_to_Take_Off_in_U_S_.html

Waste to Energy Appeal Approved in Gloucestershire

The secretary of state has approved SITA UK's appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, against the refusal of planning permission for the Severnside Energy Recovery Centre (SERC).

The company submitted its original proposals for the waste to energy facility to South Gloucestershire Council in November 2009 and it was subsequently refused by the Council's Development Control West Committee in June 2010.

In November 2010, SITA UK submitted an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.

According to the company, the proposed facility, located on a site approximately five miles north of Avonmouth, would be capable of diverting up to 400,000 tonnes of non-recycled commercial and industrial waste per year.

The facility is expected to generate up to 32 MW of electricity - enough to power approximately of 50,000 homes. SITA claim it would also help local businesses by relieving a multi-million pound landfill tax burden. 

Read more  : http://www.waste-management-world.com/index/display/article-display/0741157947/articles/waste-management-world/waste-to-energy/2011/09/Waste_to_Energy_Appeal_Approved_in_Gloucestershire.html

Wastecon 2011

Several panelists at a session on waste-to-energy (WTE) at Wastecon 2011, the annual convention of SWANA (the Solid Waste Association of North America), had seen earlier version of waste-to-energy as a growing trend within the industry.

For the most part, the panelists were encouraged that solid waste districts could learn from earlier booms and create systems that are better able to serve their communities well for decades to come.

Paul Stoller of the Boston area’s Stoller Consulting said that a document prepared for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the 1970s remained a good road map for districts and consultants embarking on a WTE project today.

The EPA Resource Recovery Management Model, said Stoller, “provides a comprehensive description of all the activities necessary to complete a project.”

The “comprehensive” part may be intimidating, said Stoller, but it is important. “Many projects have been [derailed] because of shortcuts,” he remarked. The EPA document calls for putting the hardest steps, such as site selection, first, so a project’s feasibility can be determined upfront.


Read more : http://www.recyclingtoday.com/wastecon-coverage-2011-old-and-new-in-wte.aspx

Biogas can turn costs to profits

BREWERIES can successfully utilise the biogas from their wastewater treatment plant as an energy source in their operations, saving money as well as minimising waste, according to environmental solutions company Talbot & Talbot.

The company says that the biogas produced from the treatment of wastewater can contribute 10-15 per cent of a brewery's steam requirements, reducing the need to buy increasingly expensive alternative fuels while substituting it with 'green' energy.

Using biogas as a fuel for raising steam in a brewery can definitely be viable, resulting in the treatment plant changing from a cost centre into a profit centre. The value of this energy depends on the cost of the current fuel it replaces, whether coal, gas or electricity.

The author of this article recently presented his experiences and expertise at the IBD Convention (Industrial Brewer and Distilling). The technologies developed by Talbot & Talbot had been successfully applied to breweries over the size of 500,000 hectoliters/annum in Africa and abroad.

Read more : http://www.pacetoday.com.au/news/biogas-can-turn-costs-to-profits

Bientôt six centrales à biogaz en Suisse

 
Energie | La construction d’une centrale à biogaz sur le site des Etablissements pénitentiaires de Bellechasse (EPB) a été lancée mercredi par des représentants de la société Belgaz SA, qui réunit l’Etat de Fribourg et Groupe E Greenwatt SA. 

La construction d’une centrale à biogaz sur le site des Etablissements pénitentiaires de Bellechasse (EPB) a été lancée mercredi par des représentants de la société Belgaz SA, qui réunit l’Etat de Fribourg (actionnaire à 65%) et Groupe E Greenwatt SA (actionnaire à 35%).

Cette installation, devisée à 3,8 millions de francs, devrait fournir 1,1 GWh d’électricité par an, soit l’équivalent de la consommation domestique annuelle (5000 kWh/an) de quelque 220 ménages. Elle produira également de la chaleur pour le réseau de chauffage du site.

Deuxième domaine agricole de Suisse
Deuxième plus grand domaine agricole de Suisse, les EPB veulent les 11’500 tonnes de lisiers et fumiers produits annuellement par leurs quelque 200 vaches, 100 génisses, 200 veaux, 800 porcs, 300 dindes, 300 poules, 300 moutons et 60 chevaux. Les déjections de ces animaux, ainsi que d’autres déchets organiques, serviront à produire du biogaz qui sera à son tour transformé en chaleur et en électricité.

Lire la suite :  http://www.24heures.ch/bientot-centrales-biogaz-suisse-2011-05-11