Anaerobic Digesters

You would have to feed waste, utilise a big proportion of the CHP heat to good effect and utilise the electricity on site for best value. Even then it would probably be marginal.
I almost thought as much before I clicked post, but you don’t know if you don’t ask!
 

sjt01

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
North Norfolk
I almost thought as much before I clicked post, but you don’t know if you don’t ask!
If I was in the position I was 15 years ago, before we put our digester in, I would probably go for a home-brew system based on a second hand milk silo, feed it slurry and top of silage clamp waste, and run a biogas boiler for our heat. With more cows I would run a small CHP if one could be found for a sensible price.
 
Very much depends on what you want the end goal to be..
a 0.5MW based on the business model of renting ground for forage crops funded by an investment company at a ridiculous APR%.. you would seriously be better to do a 9-5 shift standing at your local bookies. If you picked this model there will currently be a queue of investment companies looking to sign you up as there is only one winner in this situation.

Thinking outside the box with waste feedstocks, fully utilizing the gas/heat/electricity is the only way for any sort of long term viability. There is a future in cleaning gas for vehicle usage or by use in other standalone engine's, I do think in the near future that many more large factories/schools/hospitals etc will have their own CHP's on-site that will need to be fueled by importing cleaned gas but whether the return will ever match the substantial set up costs is still somewhat uncertain.
 

sjt01

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
North Norfolk
Very much depends on what you want the end goal to be..
a 0.5MW based on the business model of renting ground for forage crops funded by an investment company at a ridiculous APR%.. you would seriously be better to do a 9-5 shift standing at your local bookies. If you picked this model there will currently be a queue of investment companies looking to sign you up as there is only one winner in this situation.

Thinking outside the box with waste feedstocks, fully utilizing the gas/heat/electricity is the only way for any sort of long term viability. There is a future in cleaning gas for vehicle usage or by use in other standalone engine's, I do think in the near future that many more large factories/schools/hospitals etc will have their own CHP's on-site that will need to be fueled by importing cleaned gas but whether the return will ever match the substantial set up costs is still somewhat uncertain.
We looked at biogas to biomethane upgrading for tractor use, about 6 years ago. It was cost effective against white diesel, but not against red.
 
We looked at biogas to biomethane upgrading for tractor use, about 6 years ago. It was cost effective against white diesel, but not against red.
I think more will look at this as white will have to be the fuel of choice for any AD activities.

Very interesting one over here that a large haulier has started running their lorries on biomethane from their own plant, IIRC they are planning to fuel at least 40 lorries from their plant which is fed by using waste products from their own cold store and other outside contracts, it does give them a very interesting low carbon footprint angle for haulage and vastly reduce their trucking costs over the long term.
 

The Son

Member
Location
Herefordshire
A guy that does some work on my plant is off up to Scotland to fit the kit to put the methane into lorries. IIRC its a dairy that has there own AD plant on site, they are not going to convert the lorries but all replacements will be running on bio methane.
What tax if any do you pay on bio methane for road use?
 

Sheep

Member
Location
Northern Ireland
If I was in the position I was 15 years ago, before we put our digester in, I would probably go for a home-brew system based on a second hand milk silo, feed it slurry and top of silage clamp waste, and run a biogas boiler for our heat. With more cows I would run a small CHP if one could be found for a sensible price.

Very interesting. At what size (amount of feedstock) would you see this viable for domestic house to have its heating run? How clean does the gas have to be to run such a boiler?
 

Ffermer Bach

Member
Livestock Farmer
Very interesting. At what size (amount of feedstock) would you see this viable for domestic house to have its heating run? How clean does the gas have to be to run such a boiler?
I wonder when it will be viable to put in a hydroelectric generator, of course the rules of the environment agency (or the Welsh equivalent) will probably put a stop to this.

I would like to see every small stream having its own micro generation scheme, I think that would be so good for alleviating fossil fuel use.
 

sjt01

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
North Norfolk
Very interesting. At what size (amount of feedstock) would you see this viable for domestic house to have its heating run? How clean does the gas have to be to run such a boiler?
Cattle slurry from around 50 cows should run a boiler without issues for a house, and keep itself warm. That is a bit of a guess, Michael Chesshire has more experience with small digesters - see the Food Waste section in his website https://lutra.eu/#consultancy, the other person with experience I know is Angie Bywater https://www.southampton.ac.uk/engineering/about/staff/amb1a13.page
The boiler we have is a very simple natural draft cast iron heat exchanger type, which is pretty indifferent to gas quality. I would suspect something like a modern combi or condensing boiler would have a more delicate heat exchanger.
 

renewablejohn

Member
Location
lancs
I wonder when it will be viable to put in a hydroelectric generator, of course the rules of the environment agency (or the Welsh equivalent) will probably put a stop to this.

I would like to see every small stream having its own micro generation scheme, I think that would be so good for alleviating fossil fuel use.
Surprising what a 700w 24/7 with battery bank will power and small enough to run in stealth mode.
 

Sheep

Member
Location
Northern Ireland
Cattle slurry from around 50 cows should run a boiler without issues for a house, and keep itself warm. That is a bit of a guess, Michael Chesshire has more experience with small digesters - see the Food Waste section in his website https://lutra.eu/#consultancy, the other person with experience I know is Angie Bywater https://www.southampton.ac.uk/engineering/about/staff/amb1a13.page
The boiler we have is a very simple natural draft cast iron heat exchanger type, which is pretty indifferent to gas quality. I would suspect something like a modern combi or condensing boiler would have a more delicate heat exchanger.

Thanks for that. I see Michael Chessire is the same chap in the video which RenewableJohn posted.

I will check the links out, thank you.

We are in a similar situation in that we have waste from feed troughs, top of silo + several hundred housed sheep and 60 cattle. Just exploring possibilities for a small digester; perhaps a heated greenhouse or domestic heating.
 

renewablejohn

Member
Location
lancs
Thanks for that. I see Michael Chessire is the same chap in the video which RenewableJohn posted.

I will check the links out, thank you.

We are in a similar situation in that we have waste from feed troughs, top of silo + several hundred housed sheep and 60 cattle. Just exploring possibilities for a small digester; perhaps a heated greenhouse or domestic heating.
Do check out. By the time I was ready to seriously enquire about the system in the video the Co had seemed to have gone bust according to Co House.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 77 43.0%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 62 34.6%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.8%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 4 2.2%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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