The company received the approval on April 4 2012 for digestate produced at its Sandhill anaerobic digestion plant in Driffield, East Yorkshire.
The certification was awarded under the Renewable Energy Associations (REA) Biofertiliser Certification Scheme for three products – separated liquor, separated fibre and whole digestate.
The Biofertiliser Certification Scheme (BCS) is part of the REAs Renewable Energy Assurance Ltd (REAL) scheme. The BCS was created to provide assurance to consumers, farmers, food producers and retailers that the digestate is safe and of a good quality for use. It certifies plants against the PAS110 in Scotland and the PAS110 and Quality Protocol in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for the production and use of Quality Outputs from the anaerobic digestion of source-separated biodegradable waste.
Delighted
Commenting on the achievement, Tom Megginson, director at GWE Biogas, said: We are delighted to have achieved PAS110 certification and it now allows us to close the loop of waste to fertiliser to food by using our valuable biofertiliser on our own land to help reduce the carbon footprint of producing safe, high quality food ingredients such as milling wheat and malting barley. This is true recycling of products to land.
Achieving the standard means that the Sandhill AD plant can now dispatch digestate for use on agricultural land.
Ciaran Burns, renewable schemes manager for REAL, said: Congratulations to GWE Biogas. This is fantastic news. Assuring that digestate from the AD process is safe for humans, plants and animals is vital for the continued development of the industry. The BCS is a sign of best practice within the industry, and its great to see another plant achieve this milestone.
Facility
The Sandhill AD plant processes up to 50,000 tonnes of food waste every year generating 2.1 megawatts of energy. The majority of food waste treated comes from retailers and manufacturing businesses.
The plant uses advanced de-packaging equipment which means it can accept packaged food sources. Once processed, the digestate can be separated into the three different fractions.
GWE Biogas has previously been praised by former energy secretary Chris Huhne following a visit to the facility in January 2012 (see letsrecycle.com story). The minister commended the directors for their forward thinking and contribution to the local economy.
Certified
In January 2012 Staffordshire-based Lower Reule Bioenergys AD plant was awarded PAS110 certification for its digestate and also achieved compliance with the AD Quality Protocol (see letsrecycle.com story).
Other plants certified under the scheme include Devon-based AnDigestion which was awarded the standard in March 2011 for digestate produced at its Holsworthy AD plant in West Devon (see letsrecycle.com story).
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