120,000 TPA Food Waste to Biogas for Grid Injection Plant Opened in Widnes, UK

Doncaster, UK based food waste processing firm, SARIA has opened a 120,000 tonne per year anaerobic digestion plant that will inject biogas into the national gas grid in Widnes, Northern of England. The company, a subsidiary of the German firm Rethmann Group, said that the facility is the largest gas-to-grid plant of its kind and is the second AD plant it has opened under the ReFood brand. Through its SARIA Group Rethmann Group, that also owns German waste management firm Remondis, recently acquired a majority shareholding in the PDM Group, which itself rebranded under the SARIA name prior to completing this project. The opening ceremony was attended by a variety of local and industry stakeholders, alongside Norbert Rethmann, honorary chairman of Rethmann Group, who officially opened the plant by unveiling a plaque and tipping the first bin. The company explained that the facility will recycle 120,000 tonnes of commercial and domestic food waste and liquids and will generate up to 180 million KWh of biomethane each year which will be transported directly to the national gas grid where it will provide enough energy for 10,000 homes. The move to gas-to-grid is a new development for ReFood, which said that the Widnes plant is the first gas-to-grid AD plant in its European portfolio of 11 plants. ReFood added that the new facility offers integrated food waste collection and recycling services for businesses in a 50 mile radius including hotels, restaurants, cafes, bars, local authorities and retailers. According to the company, the unique element to its offering is its sanitised bin swap service, which sees a full bin swapped for a clean one. As a result, businesses don’t have to clean their own bins and the sanitised ReFood bin can be used in a kitchen environment, enabling food waste to be separated at source. According to the company the new plant has provided 35 jobs for the local area across sales, administration, transportation and operations. “As our first gas-to-grid AD plant it will operate as a showcase plant for both the ReFood brand and also the AD industry as a whole in both the UK and Europe,” explained Andy Smith, CEO of SARIA. “AD lends itself perfectly to a localised model due to the transportation of both the food waste and the fertiliser by-product. As the North West is an important hub for both food production and distribution, Widnes is the perfect location alongside our existing food chain by-product processing facilities,” he continued. The company added that its £20 million ReFood plant in Dagenham, East London is also due to begin construction soon and be operational in late 2015. Read More UK Government Action to Build Waste Based Bioeconomy Following Lords Report The UK government has recommended that a BIS Minister be given responsibility for developing a waste-based, high value bioeconomy, in response to a House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee report. Judicial Review Granted for Viridor’s 26 MW Beddington Waste to Energy Plant in London Campaigners battling to stop Viridor's 26 MW waste to energy facility in South London have been granted permission by a High Court Judge to take the case to judicial review. Anaerobic Digestion & Hazardous Waste Treatment Important for Oman Jeroen Vincent, chief operating officer at Averda has called for anaerobic digestion to be part of an integrated waste management system in Oman, according to a recent report by the Oman Tribue.