Dr. Raffaella Villa discusses the Bio-Thermal RED project at Cranfield University, which provides support to SMEs in anaerobic digestion. The project includes an AD pilot plant facility available to SMEs, as well as workshops and project-based grants of £1000-5000. So far the project has supported 40 companies through workshops and approved funding for 18 projects involving areas like small-scale biogas plants, silage management best practices, and modular farm-scale digesters. The overall goal is to help SMEs develop renewable energy technologies and applications.

1. #adrdforum @adbioresources
DR RAFFAELLA VILLA
SENIOR LECTURER IN BIOPRESS TECHNOLOGY, BIOENERGY AND RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT CENTRE, SCHOOL OF ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND AGRIFOOD (SEEA),
CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY
RED: SUPPORTING SMES
IN ANAEROBIC DIGESTION

2. Bio-Thermal RED:
Supporting SMEs on Renewable
Energy
15th April 2015
Dr Raffaella VILLA

3. Bio-Thermal RED
• Biological & Thermal Renewable Energy Demonstrator
• European Regional Development Fund Project
• > £800,000 value (40% from ERDF – 60% from Cranfield
University)
@BioThermalRED

4. Facilities Available
@BioThermalRED

5. AD Pilot Plant
Control Panel
Feedstock
Storage
Digester Gas Bag

6. CHP Grid
Transport
Post -
Treatment
Biogas
Storage
Anaerobic
Digester
Feed
Material
Pre-
Treatment
Output
Material
750L 1500L 500L
AD Pilot Plant
Each cubic meter (m3) has a
calorific value of around 6
kWh. When converted to
electricity about 2 kWh of
useable electricity.
@ 130 m3 biogas
/tonne of waste =
1300 m3
biogas/year
(780 m3
methane/year)
210 kg/week = 30
kg/day
10 tonne of organic
waste /year
2600 kWh from our
food waste

7. AD Pilot Plant
Plug & Play example applications
– Upscaling small-scale research outcomes
– Identifying optimal feedstock mixing
– Testing the effectivity of feedstock pre-treatments
– Optimising gas upgrading technologies

8. Bio-Thermal RED
@BioThermalRED

9. SMEs receiving support
• 40 companies
• Range of activities
• Spread throughout the EoE
10km

10. Workshops Delivered
Number of workshop attendees: 29 attendees (21 companies)

11. Project Based Support
• Similar to TSB innovation vouchers.
• £1000-£5000 average grants.
• Business support from Cranfield technical & academic staff
funded 100%.
• Capital investment & consumables are SME funded.
@BioThermalRED

12. Project Based Support
18 projects have been approved to
receive Bio-Thermal RED project
based support

13. Small-Scale Power & Heat
Bradshaw Sustainable Technology Ltd.
Design a small-scale power & heat plant
(200kW – 1MW) using organic waste as an energy source
•AD from food waste
•AD frommanure
•AD brewery effluent
•Gasification of straw residues
4 Scenarios
•Process diagram/Equipment
•Energy balance
•Feedstock & product clean-up
•Economic analysis
Outputs
1 2
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
OPEX
Digestate
Heat
Electricty
£peryear
Revenues+Savings OPEX
CAPEX £750k
Profits £141,950/yr
Payback Time 8 yrs

14. Development of a Best Practice
Guide for silage systems in AD
Silage-makingEnergy loss
minimisation
DM losses
minimisation
Silo design
Fermentation
profile
Quality
parameters
Silo
management
Energy
crops
What are the Main Causes of Losses?
Key Factors
• Moisture content
• Particle size
• Proper management

15. Low Carbon KEEP
Farm Renewables Ltd.
• Development of a cost effective farm scale anaerobic digester system
• Modular components to allow technical adaptation to locally available
waste quantities
• Emphasis of development on easy maintenance and operation of the AD
plant
• Flexible system to allow the digestion of carious waste streams (e.g. food
waste, manure, energy crops)
• Spatial efficiency [LCH4 / m-3] needs to be
determined
• For this comparably small AD system,
special attention has to be directed
towards energy efficiency (pumping,
mixing, heating…)

16. Thank You
@BioThermalRED
r.villa@cranfield.ac.uk
+44(0)1234 750111 ext. 2320
uk.linkedin.com/in/raffaellavilla/