FAQs

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Q. What is anaerobic digestion?

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is the process of decomposing organic materials such as food waste, manure and animal by-products in an oxygen-free environment to produce biogas and liquid residuals.

Q. What is biogas?

Biogas is a natural by-product of anaerobic digestion and is made up of methane and carbon dioxide. It is a safe, sustainable fuel which can be used for numerous purposes including powering gas turbines, generating electricity and as a heating fuel.

Q. Are there any other by-products of AD?

In addition to biogas, the other by-product of anaerobic digestion is a liquid mixture known as ‘digestate’. This liquid contains the water and minerals from the digested waste. It is an excellent fertiliser and soil conditioner.

Our system, uses a dry fermentation process. Instead of large volumes of digestate the process generates methane from the solid waste form. After being processed the solid form can be composted to produce a soil conditioner.

Q. Is the digestate eco-friendly?

Yes. Anaerobic digestion kills any dangerous pathogens that may be present in the waste. This means that when the digestate is used on the land, no pathogens are passed into the food chain.

Q. What are the benefits of having an AD site?

Apart from the many benefits to the environment, the end products are saleable items – biogas, liquid fertiliser and soil conditioner. There will also be crops produced in the associated greenhouses.

Q. Will an AD site improve our carbon footprint?

Most certainly; for example, a plant saving an equivalent of 28,000 tonnes of CO² emissions every year will have the same impact on the nation’s carbon footprint as taking 11,000 cars off the road.

Q. Will the site be licensed?

Yes we need both planning permission and a permit from the Environment Agency. The Environment Agency will also undertake regular inspections of the facility to ensure we comply with the terms of our licence and other regulations at all times.

We will also be regulated under the Animal Bi-Products legislation. This is controlled and inspected by the State Veterinary Service.

We are currently working with the Environment Agency towards obtaining a licence to handle up to 150,000 tonnes of material per year.

Q. What is biomass?

Biomass is biological material (living and recently dead) including grasses, crops, household waste or other organic matter that is used as fuel or for industrial production.

As biomass comes from living and recently dead matter it is considered to be ‘renewable- - ie, . it can be replaced at the same rate at which it is used. Biomass is used to create renewable energy.

Q. What is bioenergy?

Bioenergy is the energy that is created from biomass. As biomass uses living and recently dead matter, bioenergy is a renewable energy form which also has extremely low emissions.

Q. What is renewable energy?

Renewable energy, as the name suggest, is energy derived from sources that can be renewed,  including wind, rain, sunlight and biomass. Non-renewable energy uses fuels such as oil and coal which cannot be replaced (renewed) once they have been used.

Q. Why do we need renewable energy?

Energy sources such as coal and oil are non-renewable, so there is going to come a point when they run out. Currently everyone relies on these energy sources every day of their lives so if they ever did run out it would make a massive difference to how we live. This is why we need renewable energy, we need to have something which we can use, which will not run out, to replace energy sources that may run out.

In addition, most renewable energy creates little or no greenhouse gas and using renewable energy rather than fossil fuels therefore helps to combat climate change.