First Look Preview at ADBA R&D Forum 2013 Talks

Hosted by CPI and held in partnership with the Environmental Sustainability, Biosciences and Transport KTNs, WRAP and Fera, the Forum will takes place at Gisborough Hall in North Yorkshire and includes a tour of CPI’s Anaerobic Digestion Development Centre.

With a fully packed programme for the Forum focusing on the research landscape for anaerobic digestion in the UK and Europe and a view to the future of this highly promising field, speakers were asked to give us a sneak-peak preview as a taste of what to expect in their talks across the two day event.

Novel uses for Digestates: Brownfield Sites and Protected Horticulture

With Dr Mary Ambrosia, Managing Director, Cambridge Eco Ltd

Mary will be speaking at 13.20 on Day One (Tuesday, 12 November)

Cambridge Eco is researching innovative uses for digestates in the UK. This talk will focus on three WRAP funded feasibility studies to ascertain whether the use of digestates could be expanded to include novel markets, from both an agronomic and economic perspective:

• Making energy from brownfield sites. Growing perennial plants suitable for anaerobic digestion on brownfield sites using digestate as a soil improver
• Bark admixtures: Formulation and testing of novel organic growing media using quality digestates for the production of containerised plants
• Use of digestates from anaerobic digestion as a liquid fertiliser in the commercial production of strawberries

A look at the EU-IEE Biomethane Regions Project

With Dr Sandra Esteves, Principal Lecturer and Director of the Wales Centre of Excellence for AD, University of South Wales

Sandra will be speaking at 13.50 on Day One (Tuesday, 12 November).

Dr Sandra Esteves will present on the R&D work being performed under the EU-IEE Biomethane Regions project which aims at demonstrations at full scale. The work includes R&D at AD plants operating on food wastes as well as sewage sludge and includes evaluations of the microbial profiling within the digesters influenced by the digester contents’ chemical matrices. The presentation will also include the role of active digester operation monitoring and management in order to drive microbial populations and increase biogas production.

The Effects of Length of Storage Time and Storage Temperature on Biogas Production from Cattle Slurry used as Feedstock for Anaerobic Digestion

With Dr James Browne, Agriculture Branch, Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute

James will be speaking at 12.00 on Day One (Tuesday, 12 November)

Anaerobic digestion (AD) of cattle slurry produces biogas and digestate (bio-fertiliser). In Ireland and the UK, slurries collected over winter from housed ruminant livestock comprise over 80% of the manure resource with potential as feedstock for AD. In these regions ruminants are normally outside grazing during the non-housed period (approximately 6 months) and there is no collection of excreta. Therefore, if cattle slurry is to be used as feedstock for year-round biogas production it must be stored for use during the non-housed period. Because there is little scientific information on the effects of storage temperature and storage time on the biogas yields of slurry a laboratory experiment was conducted to provide data on this. Storage at 90C over 26 weeks had little effect on biogas production. Storage at 200C lowered specific biogas production exponentially (74% reduction by week 26), but had little effect on N fractions in digestate.