Fernbrook Bio, Rothwell Lodge, ‘Best AD Project 2012′ winner
The Rothwell Lodge anaerobic digestion facility is a biogas plant located near Kettering. The facility accepts segregated food wastes from homes and businesses in the local areas. Rothwell Lodge won the ‘Best AD Project’ in 2012 at the first UK AD & Biogas Industry 2012 Awards. The plant has been developed in two phases and has the ability to process 30,000 tonnes of biodegradable waste per year. The plant produces digestate that is sold as biofertiliser to surrounding farms. Initially digesters and plant was engineered to accept food waste in order to produce 499 kW of electrical power with a GE Jenbacher JMS 312 GS-BL. It was later expanded to include an additional JMS 320GS-BL 1,067 kWe gas engine. The plant includes gas boosters to increase the pressure to the operating level of the gas engines (80-200 mbar), and dehumidification units to remove moisture from the biogas and to optimise the operation of the gas engines. Surplus heat from the engines is recovered in a cogeneration configuration facilitating combined heat and power for the installation. This heat is used for digester heating and to facilitate pasteurisation of the food waste. Shaun Cherry from Fernbrook Bio says:
The maintenance to our engines is a fundamentally important part of our business. It’s a concept where we get peace of mind knowing that our engines and equipment is being looked after by Clarke Energy with their team of professionally approved engineers supported by the manufacturer.
The gas engines operations are supported by a Clarke Energy maintenance agreement.