Taking place on Wednesday 6 July – the first night of the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association’s (ADBA) global trade show, UK AD & Biogas 2016 – over 400 industry leaders came together as AD innovation and excellence was honoured across 17 categories, covering the agricultural sector and others including food manufacturing, hospitality and wastewater.
Winners of the AD & Biogas Industry Awards 2016
‘Best on-farm AD plant’ went to Springvale Farm in Nottingham, in conjunction with Edina Group. The judges praised the project’s contribution to farm diversification; the fact that heat from the 1.2 MW plant is used to heat the farm’s rental cottages; and that residual warm water can be used for fish breeding. Also working with Edina Group is Guy & Wright Farm, who triumphed in the category ‘Making the most of biogas’. The Hertfordshire-based tomato growers installed an AD plant on their farm around 10 years ago. Thanks to an innovative CO2 recovery system, CO2 and surplus CHP heat are being used for greenhouse horticulture, displacing fossil fuels. The judges declared this a ‘breakthrough in the use of carbon dioxide at this scale’.
WRAP’s DC-Agri project, which has helped to demonstrate the value of digestate to farmers and growers, won the ‘Research project award’. The report was disseminated to 3,500 people, its robust evidence highlighting the need for digestate to be viewed as a product, rather than something to be disposed of. And malted ingredients company Muntons were declared ‘Best food & drink industry AD project’, for their 499 kW AD plant which turns liquid waste into renewable energy for use on-site and digestate for its network of local growers.
Overseas projects were also recognised at the awards ceremony, which was hosted by Charlotte Smith of BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today. Turkey’s Altaca Energy triumphed in two categories – ‘Making the most of digestate’ and ‘Best international commercial plant’ – for creating three separate fertiliser products from their digestate. The judges commented: “Despite using very difficult inputs, including 50% poultry manure and feedstocks high in lignin, they have converted them into three much needed products (including humic and fulvic fertilisers), creating greatly upgraded fertiliser which can compete with manufactured fertiliser at a massive scale”. #Best international agricultural plant# was won by Denmark’s Xergi, for its project that demonstrates the use of livestock litter to address Danish government restrictions on crop feedstocks.
Charlotte Smith of BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today (left) presented ‘Best on-farm AD plant’ to Springvale Farm in conjunction with Edina Group
FM BioEnergy was pronounced the winner of the Best AD Support (Technical) category. General Manager Tim Elsome received the award: “An inefficient AD plant will be losing its operator money, so getting the right support is crucial. Winning the award for Best AD support (technical) highlights the value of the biological products and services we provide to our AD operator clients, who currently generate over 35% of the UK’s AD output."
ADBA’s Chief Executive, Charlotte Morton, commented: “Anaerobic digestion/biogas is at the heart of the circular economy helping to solve some of the biggest problems facing communities across the world: delivering energy and food security; improving sanitation; recycling inedible food, farm and sewage wastes; decarbonising transport; combating aquatic pollution; making soils richer; and reducing global greenhouse emissions. And of course, it’s also helping farmers to turn energy crops and waste streams into a revenue stream – providing a diversification option, cutting their utility bills, generating income through the sale of energy, reducing their carbon footprint and creating a nutrient rich biofertiliser that can help to restore our depleted soils to grow food for future generations. These awards celebrate those companies at the very top of their game, who are helping to drive the global biogas revolution.”
AD & Biogas Industry Awards 2016 winners
- Innovation in sewage treatment through AD – Symbiona SA
- Best food waste collection system – SWR & Edinburgh Airport
- Best process optimisation – Pentair Haffmans (Highly commended: Eco Sustainable Solutions with Landia)
- Making the most of digestate – Altaca Energy (Highly commended: Vogelsang)
- Making the most of biogas – Edina Group with Guy & Wright Farm (Highly commended: Limejump & Malaby Biogas)
- AD hero of the year – Les Gornall, CAPITA PROjEN
- AD team of the year – Agrivert (Highly commended: Edina Group; Iona Capital)
- Best on-farm AD plant – Edina Group with Springvale Farm (Highly commended: Old Court Farm with AD4Energy)
- Best food waste AD plant – Agrivert
- Best food & drink industry AD project – Muntons (Highly commended: Clearfleau Ltd)
- Best AD support (technical) – FM BioEnergy (Highly commended: CAPITA PROjEN)
- Best AD support (legal/accounting/consulting) – Stephens Scown LLP (Highly commended: Cranfield University)
- Research Project Award – WRAP
- Best international agricultural plant – Xergi A/S (Highly commended: Cooperative la Speranza)
- Best international municipal plant – Host
- Best international commercial plant – Altaca Energy (Highly commended: Landia, Edina, Biodome Asia and Uniflare with Richgro AD plant; Biotrix Asia Company Ltd)
- Best international micro-scale plant – Biogest
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