Potato, chocolate and cereals in Poundbury
Potato, chocolate and cereals in Poundbury
Poundbury was set up to be one of the most modern and self-sufficient towns in the UK. Supported by Prince Charles, who opened the first commercial biogas upgrading plant in Europe in 2012. This plant will produce gas that will provide energy for up to 56,000 homes.
Prince Charles hopes that this project in Poundbury will be an examplethat can be copied to provide a network of plants providing gas to local communities.
Carborex®MS 650
Feedstock: Biogas from agricultural products and food waste
Upgrading 650 Nm³/h
Product: Gas to grid injection
The technology used at the farm in
Poundbury is a process known as anaerobic digestion to break down food waste
from a nearby chocolate factory, a breakfast cereals producer and a potato
processing plant. The anaerobic digester is also fed with maize crops from
local farmers. The biogas produced is not usable as a natural gas source
because the raw biogas contains a lot of H2S and CO2
It needs to be upgraded to pure methane, natural gas quality, with the use of
DMT’s biogas upgrading technology, the CarborexMS. The upgraded biogas is
injected into the gas grid after which it can be used for cooking and heating.
“This is a waste product that would otherwise have been a problem to get rid of, but for us now we see it as a fuel.”
Richard Warneford, Wastewater Director
Poundbury was the first commercial plant in Europe, and the first biogas upgrading plant using membranes. A revolutionary technology that replaced the conventional technologies such as Pressure Water Wash (PWS). Carborex®MS does not use water or toxic chemicals to upgrade biogas to natural gas quality. The plant is easy to operate, has a small footprint, has no high columns and is very reliable.
