
Topic: Improving my plant’s performance
Bio: A Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and winner of the ADBA AD Hero of the year award 2016, Les lives in Magherafelt and has been building anaerobic digesters since 1978. In the early 1980’s, his work on farm waste digestion at the University of Ulster led to N.Ireland’s award winning farm digester and in-vessel composter at Bethlehem Abbey for which he was awarded his Doctorate.. He patented designs for digester components, in-vessel composter technology and the use of gas engines for odour control and built an innovative plant in Warringstown that ran for over 18 years, a local record. Skilled in feedstock preparation from grass to glycerol via MSW and sewage sludge he has a wealth of knowledge on optimising plant up to 25,000 cubic meters in size and in many countries. Now the AD Process Consultant for PROjEN (part of Capita) he is part of the AD Pilot+ optimisation programme. Les is also an experienced Expert Witness with Capita’s Legal department specialising in AD and Waste Water Treatment issues in the UK and the USA