Presentation given at the Conference of the European Biogas Association 2014.

1. Review of the reference documents
on best available techniques (BREF)
for waste treatment AD plants
Dipl.- Ing. David Wilken
German Biogas Association
Department: Waste, Fertilisation and Hygiene
Conference of the European Biogas Association 2014
September 30 – October 2
Alkmaar region, The Netherlands

2. Overview
• German Biogas Association
• Industrial Emission Directive (IED)
• Review of the WT-BREF
• Conclusion

3. Structure of the German Biogas Association
Headquarters in Freising
23 employees, organised in 10
departments
Steering Committee
7 members, elected for a 4-year-period
Board of Trustees
Elected honorary spokesmen of regional groups, working groups
and advisory boards
Berlin Office
5 employees
Regional offices (North,
South, East, West and
Editorial Office Biogas
Journal
5 employees
Advisory Boards, Working Groups
Advisory boards of plant operators, companies, the legal profession,
funders; Working groups for the areas permissions, safety, feeding-in
of biogas, environment, heat, waste and fertiliser law
over 400 honorary experts
23 Regional groups in Germany
4.800 Members
Operators of biogas plants
Research Institutions
Interested private individuals
Companies and manufacturers
Lawyers
Corporate finance
Public authorities
Providers of feedstock
Planners, advisers, laboratories
Member of the European Biogas Association
(EBA)

4. German Biogas Association – Objectives

5. Overview
• German Biogas Association
• Industrial Emission Directive (IED)
• Review of the WT-BREF
• Conclusion

6. Industrial Emission Directive (IED) 2010/75/EU
• Lays down rules on integrated prevention and control of pollution
arising from industrial activities (Successor of the IPPC Directive)
• Prevent or reduce emissions into air, water, land and the generation
of waste to achieve a high level of protection of the environment
• Transposition into national legislation until 7th January 2013
• Obligation to hold a permit for industrial activities
• Permit conditions should be set on basis of best available techniques
• e. g. Associated Emission Levels (BAT-AEL)

7. Capacity threshold for IED activities
• Maximum capacity to which the installation is limited technically or
legally during operation of 24 hours a day.
• 5.3 (a) (i) Disposal of non-hazardous waste with a capacity exceeding
• 50 tonnes per day (biological treatment)
• 5.3 (b) (i) Recovery of non-hazardous waste with a capacity exceeding
• 75 tonnes per day (Biological Treatment in general)
• 100 tonnes per day (Anaerobic Digestion)

8. Reference Document on Best Available Techniques (BREF)
for Waste Treatment (WT) Industries (August 2006)
1 General information
1.2 Installations for the treatment of waste
- Biological treatment of waste
- Physico-chemical treatment of waste waters
- Treatment of combustion ashes and flue-gas cleaning residues
- Treatment of waste contaminated with PCBs
- Treatment of waste oil
- Treatment of waste solvent
- Treatment of waste catalysts, waste from pollution abatement and
other inorganic waste
- Treatment of activated carbon and resins
- Treatment of waste acids and bases
- Treatment of contaminated wood
- Treatment of contaminated refractory ceramics
- Preparation of waste to be used as fuel

9. WT-BREF (August 2006)
1 General information
2 Applied processes and techniques
2.2 Biological treatment of waste
2.2.1 Anaerobic digestion
2.2.2 Mechanical biological treatments
2.2.3 Biological treatments applied to contaminated soil
3 Current consumption and emission levels
4 Techniques to consider in the determination of BAT
5 Best available techniques
6 Emerging techniques
7 Concluding remarks

10. Overview
• German Biogas Association
• Industrial Emission Directive (IED)
• Review of the WT-BREF
• Conclusion

11. Review WT BREF “Sevilla Process”
• June 2013: EIPPC Bureau reactivated technical working group (TWG)
• September 2013: Initial positions of TWG members “wish list”
• 25th – 28th November 2013: TWG-Kick-off meeting, Seville
• scope, definitions, activities, key environmental issues, data collection
• Set up of TWG subgroups
• to support the development of the questionnaire
• on biological treatment
• on mechanical treatment
• on physico-chemical treatment

12. Subgroup on biological treatment
• Coalition of European organisations for biological treatment
• European Compost Network (ECN)
• European Biogas Association (EBA)
• European Federation of Waste Management and Environmental
Services (FEAD)
• Municipal Waste Europe (MWE)
• European Environmental Bureau (EEB)
• Subgroup members: Coaltion and MS
• AT, BE, ES, DE, DK, FR, IE, IT, NL, PL, UK, SE
• Text proposals to for EIPPC-Bureau
• BAT Information System (BATIS)

13. Preliminary survey on IED biological treatment plants

14. Structure proposal: Biological treatment
Source separated Biowaste & sewage
sludge
Bio-Drying
Biological
Composting Stabilisation
SRF
Energy
Recovery
AD (if used) AD (if used)
Landfilling
complying
with national
stability
criteria
Biological Treatment
Composting
Mixed waste
Open/outdoor
Composting
Indoor/
Encapsulated
Composting 2)
AD
Wet
Digestion
Dry
Digestion
Without post
composting
of digestate
2) or in a
combination with
indoor/outdoor
Application on land according
to national and European
legislation
Composting:
indoor/
Encapsulated alone
or combined with
outdoor maturation
Application on
land according
to national
legislation
Purpose
Composting:
indoor/
Encapsulated alone
or combined with
outdoor maturation
indoor/
Encapsulated
Bio-Drying of
sewage
sludge
Incineration
with energy
recovery
AD
With post
composting
of digestate
without post-composting
Landfilling etc.
complying
with nat.
criteria

15. Applied processes and techniques (Chapter 2)
• Purpose
• Principle of operation
• Feed and output streams
• Process description
• Users

16. Current consumption and emission levels (Chapter 3)
Anaerobic Digestion

17. BREF-Questionnaire
• sent to 568 WT plant across Europe
• 66 composting plants
• 53 Anaerobic digestion plants
• 38 Mechanical-biological treatment plants
• for collecting plant-specific data for the review of the WT-BREF
• Waste treatment activity: input and output
• Storage and process
• Emission to air and water
• Water, energy and raw material consumption
• Very complex, no specific questionnaire for different WT activity
• Feedback important for future requirements on key environmental issues

18. AD technologies
Wet digestion Dry continuous digestion Dry batch digestion
< 15 % dm 15 – 30 % dm > 30 % dm
Thermophilic Thermophilic Thermophilic
Mesophilic Mesophilic Mesophilic

19. Techniques to consider (Chapter 4)
• Description
• Achieved environmental benefits
• Cross-media effects
• Operational data
• Applicability
• Economics
• Driving force for implementation
• Example plants
• Reference literature

20. BAT Conclusions for AD (Chapter 5)
• Waste acceptance procedures
• Storage & handling of incoming waste
• Preparation of wastes for AD process
• Process monitoring & control specific to AD
• Emissions to water
• Emissions to air
• Measures of energy efficiency and reduction of raw material consumption
• Product preparation and storage

21. Further development
• Data collection until end of October
• Working document on BREF structure and first draft in autumn 2014
• On basis of collected data and information
• Comments on first draft until spring 2015
• Assessment of need for second draft?
• If needed, estimated for September 2015
• Final TWG meeting
• Tentatively 1st quarter 2016

22. Overview
• German Biogas Association
• Industrial Emission Directive (IED)
• Review of the WT-BREF
• Conclusion

23. Conclusion
• Review of WT-BREF can lead to
• better understanding and establishment of the AD technology
• higher environmental requirements for biological treatment plants
• Essential to describe the process and performance well enough
• Important to participate to draw a realistic picture as
• member state, industry and NGO to provide adequate information
• plant operator filling the questionnaire

24. … and visit us in Bremen on our
Annual Biogas Convention and
Trade Fair on 27th – 29th January
• Know-How transfer
• International panel on development
and emerging countries
• Biogas basics
• Best practice on waste digestion
• Technical plant visit on 30th January