1.
#adrdforum @adbioresources
DR RAFFAELLA VILLA
SENIOR LECTURER IN BIOPRESS TECHNOLOGY, BIOENERGY AND RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT CENTRE, SCHOOL OF ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND AGRIFOOD (SEEA),
CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY
RED: SUPPORTING SMES
IN ANAEROBIC DIGESTION

2.
Bio-Thermal RED:
Supporting SMEs on Renewable
Energy
15th April 2015
Dr Raffaella VILLA

3.
Bio-Thermal RED
• Biological & Thermal Renewable Energy Demonstrator
• European Regional Development Fund Project
• > £800,000 value (40% from ERDF – 60% from Cranfield
University)
@BioThermalRED

4.
Facilities Available
@BioThermalRED

5.
AD Pilot Plant
Control Panel
Feedstock
Storage
Digester Gas Bag

6.
CHP Grid
Transport
Post -
Treatment
Biogas
Storage
Anaerobic
Digester
Feed
Material
Pre-
Treatment
Output
Material
750L 1500L 500L
AD Pilot Plant
Each cubic meter (m3) has a
calorific value of around 6
kWh. When converted to
electricity about 2 kWh of
useable electricity.
@ 130 m3 biogas
/tonne of waste =
1300 m3
biogas/year
(780 m3
methane/year)
210 kg/week = 30
kg/day
10 tonne of organic
waste /year
2600 kWh from our
food waste

7.
AD Pilot Plant
Plug & Play example applications
– Upscaling small-scale research outcomes
– Identifying optimal feedstock mixing
– Testing the effectivity of feedstock pre-treatments
– Optimising gas upgrading technologies

8.
Bio-Thermal RED
@BioThermalRED

9.
SMEs receiving support
• 40 companies
• Range of activities
• Spread throughout the EoE
10km

10.
Workshops Delivered
Number of workshop attendees: 29 attendees (21 companies)

11.
Project Based Support
• Similar to TSB innovation vouchers.
• £1000-£5000 average grants.
• Business support from Cranfield technical & academic staff
funded 100%.
• Capital investment & consumables are SME funded.
@BioThermalRED

12.
Project Based Support
18 projects have been approved to
receive Bio-Thermal RED project
based support

13.
Small-Scale Power & Heat
Bradshaw Sustainable Technology Ltd.
Design a small-scale power & heat plant
(200kW – 1MW) using organic waste as an energy source
•AD from food waste
•AD frommanure
•AD brewery effluent
•Gasification of straw residues
4 Scenarios
•Process diagram/Equipment
•Energy balance
•Feedstock & product clean-up
•Economic analysis
Outputs
1 2
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
OPEX
Digestate
Heat
Electricty
£peryear
Revenues+Savings OPEX
CAPEX £750k
Profits £141,950/yr
Payback Time 8 yrs

14.
Development of a Best Practice
Guide for silage systems in AD
Silage-makingEnergy loss
minimisation
DM losses
minimisation
Silo design
Fermentation
profile
Quality
parameters
Silo
management
Energy
crops
What are the Main Causes of Losses?
Key Factors
• Moisture content
• Particle size
• Proper management

15.
Low Carbon KEEP
Farm Renewables Ltd.
• Development of a cost effective farm scale anaerobic digester system
• Modular components to allow technical adaptation to locally available
waste quantities
• Emphasis of development on easy maintenance and operation of the AD
plant
• Flexible system to allow the digestion of carious waste streams (e.g. food
waste, manure, energy crops)
• Spatial efficiency [LCH4 / m-3] needs to be
determined
• For this comparably small AD system,
special attention has to be directed
towards energy efficiency (pumping,
mixing, heating…)

16.
Thank You
@BioThermalRED
r.villa@cranfield.ac.uk
+44(0)1234 750111 ext. 2320
uk.linkedin.com/in/raffaellavilla/