15th October 2009
South Wales to set the standard for organic waste treatment in the UK
A Welsh entrepreneur has sealed a deal which could lead to the development of one of the UK's most advanced organic waste treatment facilities at Stormydown near Bridgend.
Martyn Popham, Managing Director of Anagest, which uses anaerobic digestion (AD) to create energy from waste, has signed an agreement with organic waste solutions provider, TEG, to develop a co-located AD and in-vessel composting (IVC) facility at the site.
Anagest is part of the Cenin Group, an award winning cement replacement manufacturing facility which is supported by the Welsh Assembly Government's 'Knowledge Bank for Business (KB4B)' programme.
Subject to funding, planning and Board approval from both companies, Anagest and TEG plan to develop the site into one of the most advanced organic waste treatment facilities in the UK. The AD facility will process food waste along with energy crops grown on adjacent land as feedstock for the AD plant. Co-located IVC capacity, using TEG's own IVC technology will ensure that the facility offers cost-effective landfill diversion for materials, such as biobags and green waste, which are less suitable as AD feedstock. The AD technology will be supplied by German AD specialists UTS Biogas, who have built more than 80 turnkey AD facilities across Europe. TEG will construct the waste reception facilities and take responsibility for project delivery as well as securing all waste supply contracts. If all approvals proceed as planned, work on the site should start early next year.
For Anagest, the collaboration means that the company now has a waste management partner capable of turning ground-breaking plans into reality. We are very pleased to have entered into this agreement with TEG and the support we have received from the Welsh Assembly Government, via its KB4B high-growth potential initiative, has been immense in helping us reach this stage of development," said Martyn Popham, Managing Director of Anagest and Cenin. "Developing AD to process food waste and energy crops will provide our sister company, Cenin, with the heat and power it requires and is a substantial step towards delivering the first 'Zero-CO2' cement replacement manufacturing facility."
TEG's Commercial Director, Jayne Pierre, explained the significance of the site's location: "The geographical location, on the M4 corridor, allows ready access for waste streams and helps to keep the environmental impact of waste collection low. The site is close to extensive farm land where compost and digestate products will be used to grow energy crops, so the carbon impact of product management is also very low. In addition to power generation, the site also has a low carbon cement replacement manufacturing facility which will be able to utilise heat produced from the AD plant, ensuring that the maximum possible value will be recovered from the waste. This integrated co-operation between TEG-Anagest-Cenin generates an exemplar site in Europe, which will demonstrate in practice how all of the Welsh Assembly Government?s environmental initiatives can be joined up for the benefit of everyone.
"This is a very exciting development for TEG, which will allow us to offer a value for money organic waste solution with minimal carbon impact to Councils and other waste producers in South Wales. This facility is moving organic waste treatment to new levels in the UK and we are very excited to be in the vanguard of such an important development," she added.
Ends
Further information from:
Ann Gronback
Solus Public Relations
Tel: 01565 755713 / Mobile 07768 885468
E-mail: ann@soluspr.co.uk
Editor's Notes
Anagest-Cenin
Anagest is part of the Cenin Group, which has pioneered low carbon manufacturing with its cement replacement processes. Anagest uses anaerobic digestion to create renewable energy. Anagest will be managed day to day by an environmental award winning, family-run farming business operated by Richard and Lyn Anthony. Richard will manage the digestate as part of the farming enterprise and Lyn will control the biological processes of the AD plant.
KB4B
KB4B is The Welsh Assembly Government's 'Knowledge Bank for Business' programme, which provides close, priority support to approximately 100 of the highest growth-potential businesses in Wales that have already established solid foundations.
TEG
TEG provides an in-vessel composting technology, which is one of the few approved technologies capable of treating animal by-product (ABP) waste, and is now providing an anaerobic digestion (AD) technology to produce energy from food waste. Plant economics are predominantly driven by the gate fees charged, rather than the value of the end product (digestate). The AD plants also benefit from the sales of power and heat generated and from Renewable Obligations Certificates ("ROCS"). TEG owns its composting technology and has an agreement with UTS Biogastechnik GmbH ("UTS") for the provision of AD technology into the UK waste markets. The TEG processes are an economic alternative to landfill.
Customers include local authorities, waste management companies, food processors, farmers and landowners. The Company's expanding market is driven by increasingly stringent EU and UK legislation regulating the treatment and disposal of organic waste. Statutory targets for the diversion of waste from landfill increase annually through to 2020, increasing TEG's market opportunity year on year. The Waste Resource Action Programme estimates that 450 composting plants will be needed by 2020 to satisfy local authority requirements alone, and there is increasing demand from the private sector driven by ABP legislation.
The TEG Silo Cage System
The Silo Cage system, one of the few technologies in Europe capable of treating this waste, is a natural process producing compost as an end product. The compost is an excellent soil conditioner that fertilises, retains moisture, provides structure and reduces the incidence of plant disease. TEG's Silo-Cages are housed in self-contained buildings, are not unsightly and are environmentally friendly.
UTS
Having supplied equipment to more than 1,500 equipped biogas plants, UTS Biogastechnik GmbH is one of the world's leading biogas companies. The UTS group of companies offers services in the planning, construction, delivery and installation of biogas plants and their key components. The company has its own production facilities and service shops, technical design and development departments as well as mobile mechanical and biological customer service technicians to support the international client base. UTS also develops and sells specialized mixers, pumps and a variety of solid/liquid separating devices related to the biogas and agro/food markets. The company is headquartered near Munich, Germany with subsidiaries in Italy, Hungary, Spain, the Czech Republic and now a rapidly developing company UTS Biogas Limited has been created to service the United Kingdom & Ireland markets.
