Anaerobic digestion

The Scenario

A farming estate in Cornwall had the potential to invest in an anaerobic digestion plant to be fuelled by food waste from a nearby food processor together with vegetable processing waste from their own operation.  Potentially, there was local significant heat use which could be tapped into.

The Solution

We undertook a feasibility study on behalf of the Estate to identify the capital investment and returns whilst analysing feedstock, potential biogas yields and addressing electricity and heat off-takes together with the use of digestate on the cropped land and the replacement of inorganic fertiliser as well as planning and environmental legislation requirements.

The Result

We identified 500kW electrical output option as the most suitable but the key to the profitability of the whole investment was the sale of the heat; with a payback of 4 to 5 years on an investment of just under £4 million.

The Cost

We charged a flat rate fee of £3,000 to undertake the feasibility study.