Chesterfield BioGas selected to build UK's largest biomethane to grid project

Chesterfield BioGas (CBG) has announced a new order for its biogas upgraders which will be central to a groundbreaking UK renewable energy project. The Sheffield based company is to supply gas-scrubbing water-wash upgraders and ancillary equipment to a site in the UK.

When commissioned in late 2014, not only will it be the first facility of its kind, it will be the largest of any biogas-to-grid project so far announced or operating in the UK.

Raw biogas – derived from anaerobic digestion (AD) – will be converted into biomethane suitable for injection into the national gas grid.

Such is the anticipated raw biogas input from the AD, upgrading units will need to be coupled in parallel to optimise an output of up to 5,000 cubic metres per hour of 98% pure biomethane. The model being supplied is the Totara + , the largest in the Greenlane® range.

Included in the service elements of the contract are a three year warranty, a guarantee of 98% system availability, and a monthly site visit by a CBG engineer.

The Greenlane water-wash process is proven in operation over the last 20 years and requires no heat and no chemicals. More 75 sites are operating successfully around the world, 30 of which employ the Totara model.

When the project is completed in late 2014, CBG will have six similar systems of various capacities installed in the UK – more than all other types of biogas upgrading units operational in the country put together, and more than any other single supplier.

In August 2013, CBG announced two other orders for upgraders in the same model range. The Widnes site of ReFood UK Ltd will handle commercial food waste and the FLI Energy project at Beccles, Suffolk will use energy crops and vegetable wastes. Together the three projects demonstrate the versatility of the system in processing gas from diverse organic feedstocks.

Stephen McCulloch, Managing Director, CBG, said:

We believe that the order stream we are now experiencing, with diverse customers in different sectors, validates our outlook that creating a successful and sustainable business requires more than financial acumen. Our company places great importance not only on what we do, but how we do it.

CBG – a member company of AIM-listed Pressure Technologies plc – is the sole manufacturer and installer in the UK and Ireland of the range of Greenlane systems.