The farming family initially got into this as a way of treating pig slurry but it soon became apparent that there is more calorific value and more money to be made in treating food waste.
They got into a good working relationship with the local Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council who set up a system to collect food waste separately, plus they invested in de-packaging equipment to allow them to deal with the plastic wrapped food waste that comes from supermarkets and food manufacturers. The depackaging facility is located off site near Wolverhampton which allows literally lorry loads of waste food from supermarkets to be delivered into the site and mechanically shredded to separate the food from the soiled plastic which has to be disposed of by incineration.
The "clean" food waste is then trucked into the farm and loaded into the AD plant which is further topped up with around 1,000 tonnes of pig slurry and 1,250 tonnes of maize silage each year from the farm on which it is based so that in total they can process 30,000 tonnes and having recently won a new contract to treat food waste collected from homes in Cheshire they are looking to expand the site.
The biogas generated is burnt through a Combined Heat and Power Plant (CHP), which produces equal amounts of heat and power. Approximately 1.3MW per year of power will be supplied to the National Grid.
The nutrient rich biofertiliser, which is an end result of the AD process, will be produced to the national specification - BSI PAS110 and used as a fertiliser on grassland and arable land at Lower Reule Farm and on neighbouring farms.
It was very impressive to see how such a sophisticated piece of technology can be used to help improve the environment and manage waste. A big thank you to the farm for letting us look around.
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