Using Entec’s globally proven anaerobic digestion technology the 165,000 tonne plant will utilise food waste to generate 8 MW of energy and create a nutrient rich fertiliser.

The facility which has received a WRAP capital grant from the Organics programme will also have a state of the art pre treatment hall that will allow all forms of packaged food waste from supermarkets, food processors, local authorities, restaurants and waste management companies to be processed.

Entec Biogas have recently completed the detailed design of the plant allowing the construction phase to commence shortly.

Shaun Flynn, Business Development Manager, comments:

“We are delighted to have chosen Entec Biogas because of their expertise and experience in building industrial food waste anaerobic digestion plants. It is imperative that we have a technology partner who mirrors our vision of building high quality facilities, as we look to roll out a network of anaerobic digestion plants in the UK. This will enable us to provide a high level of service and long term solution for our customers.”

Bernhard Schultz, CEO for Entec Biogas, comments:

“After having successfully realised AD plants for food waste in Japan and Germany, we are very happy to set up a milestone in the UK market with the largest AD plant for food waste. We see high potential for these type of plants during the next few years in the UK market, and we are looking forward to realising more projects together with Selby Renewable Energy Park.

In general, these type of biogas plants for food waste are trendsetting for the whole European market. Just like in France, where we will put into operation our first food waste AD plant in May of this year.”

The amount of food we throw away is a major contributor to the production of greenhouse gases in the UK, currently most of our food waste is going to landfill sites. Once in landfill, food breakdown produces methane – a greenhouse gas 21 times more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide. The sealed process used in anaerobic digestion captures the methane produced through food breakdown and converts it to renewable energy and heat.

Selby Renewable Energy Park which has a £1.7 million WRAP organics programme capital grant, will have capacity to divert 165,000 tonnes of food waste away from landfill, and provide producers of packaged food waste with a solution to help them move towards zero waste to landfill and meet their coporate social responsibility objectives.

The area that Selby Renewable Energy Park occupies (10 acres) is unaffected and construction of the UK’s largest food waste anaerobic digestion plant will commence shortly. Once this plant is operational it will have the capacity to treat liquid waste as well as packaged food waste.

Selby Renewable Energy Park will receive £1.7 million from WRAP through its Organics Capital Grant Fund. The fund aims to significantly increase the available processing capacity for source-segregated food waste which would otherwise be disposed of to landfill.

Future Energy Yorkshire, which is funded by Yorkshire Forward has supported the Selby plant, through its Grid Connected Renewables funding stream with an investment of £750,000.  This funding was committed early to the project, enabling other sources of investment to be secured.

Jemma Benson, Funding Manager, Future Energy Yorkshire comments

“Future Energy Yorkshire sees the Selby Renewable Energy Park as an important development for the region.  Through generating renewable electricity it will contribute to carbon emission reduction targets, create new jobs and divert waste from landfill.  With this in mind it was an ideal project for us to invest in.”

“The first stage of the anaerobic digester will save nearly 20,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, significantly contributing to regional greenhouse gas emission targets, while also helping to meet the remit of Future Energy Yorkshire.”

The repayment of the investment will enable more renewable energy projects to be supported in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

FEY have been involved in the project from initial concept, in particular identifying the Selby site as prime for development of an AD plant.   This service is available for other renewable energy developers looking to locate in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

Shaun Flynn, Business Development Manager for Selby Renewable Energy Park comments:

“The funding from both WRAP and Future Energy Yorkshire has been essential to us in enabling this project to get the go ahead. Without this support it would have been difficult to secure the investment given the current economic climate. Once the FEY monies have been repaid the support can be made available to other projects.”

Jim Farmery, Assistant Director of Yorkshire Forward commented:

“Yorkshire Forward funds Future Energy Yorkshire to support energy projects that will deliver significant greenhouse gas savings and economic benefits to the region and the anaerobic digester at Selby Renewable Energy Park is an excellent example of this.”

Speaking at the AD In the City event (April 30), senior consultant Dr Adrian Gibbs said that using AD to process food waste collected separately could work out cheaper than processing commingled food and green waste together in an in vessel composting plant.

Dr Gibbs explained that a report by Eunomia had found that sending food waste to AD and green waste to windrow composting cost councils £9.50 in gate fees per household per year whereas sending commingled green and food waste to IVC cost £10.80 per household. He also said that just collecting food waste alone and sending it to AD cost £5.50 per household over the same period.

Dr Gibbs admitted that average gate fees for AD facilities – around £55 per tonne – were higher than IVC, which he quoted as £45 per tonne, but said that “overall AD is cheaper”.

He also claimed that separate food waste collections also worked out cheaper than mixed collections and said that the number of local authorities which were implementing separate collections had risen from 11 in 2007 to 54 in 2008.

He told the London borough council officers who attended the event, which was set up to explore ways to introduce more AD capacity in London, that: “AD is better than IVC, it’s the way to go and it is the one I would watch.”

Anaerobic digestion treats food waste in an oxygen-free environment and produces biogas – which can be converted into energy – and a nutrient rich digestate which can be used on farmland. It also has the potential to provide combined heat and power (CHP).

IVC treats green and/or food waste and sometimes card in an enclosed but oxygenated and aerated environment and produces compost. It does not generate energy.

A number of strengths and weaknesses were highlighted for both separate and mixed collection. The plus side to mixed collections included; only needing to use one vehicle; only one bin required; and quick and cheap collections.

However, Dr Gibbs explained that the seasons significantly affected what was collected, with garden waste levels dropping significantly in the winter, meaning that feedstock was inconsistent. He also said that the waste had to be processed in and enclosed environment due to Animal By-Product Regulations and this ups the cost of green waste.

Dr Gibbs also pointed out that green waste and food wastes required different collection frequencies. In addition to this, not all homes have gardens and collecting green and food waste together prevented councils charging for green waste collection.

Dr Gibbs claimed that separate AD collection reduced net costs for councils, allowed local authorities to charge for garden waste. He added that there is a large quantity of food waste which could potentially be picked up.

He said AD had a number of strengths including:

• Internationally proven technology
• AD has strong government support in the form of ROCs, a Task Group and feed-in tariffs
• It is a carbon positive technology
• Valuable outputs – biogas and digestate
• Leaves green waste to go through the cheaper windrow process

He said AD’s only weakness was the lack of facilities in the UK, adding: “AD wins hands down for organic waste.”

The amount of food we throw away is a major contributor to the production of greenhouse gases in the UK, currently most of our food waste is going to landfill sites.  Once in landfill, food breakdown produces methane – a greenhouse gas 21 times more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide.  The sealed process used in anaerobic digestion captures the methane produced through food breakdown and converts it to renewable energy and heat.

Selby Renewable Energy Park will have capacity to divert 165,000 tonnes of food waste away from landfill and provide producers of packaged food waste with a solution to help them move towards zero waste to landfill and meet their coporate social responsibility objectives.