To develop new knowledge and expertise in microbial management providing optimised performance of the High Throughput Anaerobic Digestion system, development of the next generation product and access to new markets.

The project involves understanding hydrolysis of biomass sources. The requirement is to determine the kinetic rate of hydrolysis for a microbial community structure. This will enable robust performance for the commercial digester and for future reference to evolve effective hydrolysis fermentation approaches. Such approaches require the latest knowledge of molecular biology diagnostic techniques, expertise which is not available from a commercial supplier.

Rapidly increasing populations, environmental pressures and rising energy demand are converging to create the precursors to a catastrophe. Global food production needs to increase by 70 percent by 2050 in order to feed an additional 2.3 billion people (OECD – FAO Agricultural Outlook 2011-2020), and all these new individuals will be requiring their share of the world’s resources. Most current production and consumption methods, particularly in the developed world, are based on the assumption of infinite resource availability, and are consequently wasteful and environmentally unsustainable. There is no single solution to this approaching crisis, however we believe that a combination of existing and emerging technologies can be devised that will provide a toolkit for sustainability that can be combined, modified and scaled to suit local challenges and needs; providing Energy Generation, Food Production, Nutrient Retention and Water Conservation anywhere in the World.

Current commercial Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plants are inefficient, low-tech and large scale, only capable of reliable operation within a very narrow range of operating conditions. New Generation Biogas Ltd is exploiting research into AD and modern process control technology to develop a High Throughput Anaerobic Digester (HTAD). A significant increase in biogas productivity will radically change the economics of small Anaerobic Digesters and realise an unfulfilled need for Single Farm AD plants and cost effective sewage processing by Water Companies. A payback period for most inputs of the order of 5 years or less is predicted, significantly less for higher energy feedstocks. The results of research and feasibility studies will be applied to the development of a preproduction prototype HTAD plant and to conduct a trials programme. The objectives of the latter are to: refine the HTAD design and measure performance, reduce costs, test performance with a range of feed stocks, refine the control system to make the HTAD easy for customers to use and to generate marketing data for future sales. The outputs of the development project will be used to build and market a range of modular HTAD. Benefits to the UK will arise from the establishment of a new research based, manufacturing industry with varied, home and export markets and very sound long term prospects in an area with very limited manufacturing industry. The HTAD has the capability to make a significant contribution to the Government’s Climate Change agenda as AD reduces Greenhouse Gases (GHG) by capturing methane from animal manure, food waste and organic industrial waste; it also reduces nitrous oxide emissions.

As the world’s population grows in number and wealth the demand for animal protein will outstrip the sustainable supply. Global food production needs to increase by 70 percent by 2050 in order to feed an additional 2.3 billion people. The UK government’s Foresight Project Global Food and Farming Futures explored the increasing pressures on the global food system between now and 2050, highlighting the need for urgent action and for a redesign of the global food system to meet the challenge of feeding the world. Grazing land and cropland producing animal feed represents almost 80% of all agricultural land and about 8 % of global water use, primarily for irrigation. World demand for animal protein is rising sharply but the resources to feed significantly greater numbers of livestock are insufficient. There is an emerging opportunity to find new methods of increasing the production of animal feed from other than natural resources (field cultivation). This project will examine the feasibility of automating the hydroponic growing process to produce animal fodder.

Current commercial Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plants are inefficient, low-tech and large scale, only capable of reliable operation within a very narrow range of operating conditions. New Generation Biogas is exploiting research by North Wyke Research into AD and modern process control technology to develop a high throughput Anaerobic Digester (HTAD). A significant increase in biogas productivity will radically change the economics of small Anaerobic Digesters and realise an unfulfilled need for Single Farm AD plants and cost effective sewage processing by Water Companies. Research strongly indicates that a very significant increase in biogas productivity can be achieved. A payback period for most feedstocks of the order of 5 years or less is predicted, significantly less for higher energy feedstocks. AD takes place primarily in 2 phases: Hydrolysis during which the feedstock is broken down into simpler soluble organic compounds and Methanogenesis during which the hydrolysed feedstock is decomposed and synthesised to produce biogas. Recent laboratory research indicates that significant improvements can be made in the performance of Hydrolysis in small reactors on a range of feedstocks through the use of thermal, mechanical and enzyme pre-treatments. The potential gain in performance arise from operation at lower temperatures leading to lower plant operating costs and at higher rates leading to reduced reactor size and reduced capital costs. These when employed with enhanced methanogenesis will lead to significant gains in biogas productivity. The feasibility study will build on that laboratory research and aim to demonstrate that the Advanced Hydrolysis results can be reproduced at an industrial scale and applied within the environment of a highly controlled, high throughput reactor. A range of pre-treatments will be tested with a variety of feedstocks. The results will be developed and then applied in a commercial High Throughput Anaerobic Digester.

Awaiting Public Summary

The public description for this project has been requested but has not yet been received.