An economic analysis of anaerobic digestate fuel pellet production: can digestate fuel pellets add value to existing operations?

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dc.contributor.authorCathcart, Ashley
dc.contributor.authorSmyth, Beatrice M.
dc.contributor.authorLyons, Gary
dc.contributor.authorMurray, Simon T.
dc.contributor.authorRooney, David
dc.contributor.authorJohnston, Christopher R.
dc.date.accessioned2021-04-27T12:44:06Z
dc.date.available2021-04-27T12:44:06Z
dc.date.issued2021-04-16
dc.descriptionPublication history: Accepted - 9 April 2021; Published online - 16 April 2021.en_US
dc.description.abstractAnaerobic digestion provides renewable energy through waste valorisation, but the digestate by-product is underutilised and presents a risk to water quality. Mechanical separation partitions phosphorous into the solid fraction and further processing into a fuel pellet can provide an additional source of energy and revenue. Previous economic analyses looked only at aspects of the system (e.g. operational costs solely) and the system requires further investigation to determine viability. In this paper, an economic assessment of digestate fuel pellet production at farm-scale anaerobic digestion plants was carried out. The significance of this work is to provide a comprehensive assessment of the energy, phosphorous, and economic balances involved in digestate fuel pellet production at existing anaerobic digestion plants. The aim of this paper is to determine the financial viability of digestate fuel pellet production with objectives to compare two mechanical separation technologies: screw press, and decanting centrifuge. Economies of scale hold true for digestate pellet production and the available digestate in typical UK farm-based anaerobic digestion plants ( 500 kWe) is insufficient for profitability, with pellet production costing from £176/t (decanting centrifuge) to £215/t (screw press), compared to a typical wood pellet sale price of £185/t. Increasing digestate quantity by collaboration of plant operators can reduce the cost of pellet production to between £95/t and £121/t, improving financial viability and increasing the profit per head of cattle by 9–20% on a typical dairy farm utilising anaerobic digestion. The system has potential to aid rural development while also protecting the environment and contributing to the diversification of energy supply.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipThis project was supported by The Bryden Centre. The Bryden Centre project is supported by the European Union’s INTERREG VA Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB). The views and opinions expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission or the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB). The work was also supported by Queen’s University Belfast and the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute in Northern Ireland.en_US
dc.identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12518/246
dc.identifier.citationCathcart, A., Smyth, B. M., Lyons, G., Murray, S. T., Rooney, D. and Johnston, C. R. (2021) ‘An economic analysis of anaerobic digestate fuel pellet production: can digestate fuel pellets add value to existing operations?’, Cleaner Engineering and Technology. Elsevier BV, 3, p. 100098. doi: 10.1016/j.clet.2021.100098.en_US
dc.identifier.issn2666-7908
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.clet.2021.100098
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherElsevieren_US
dc.rights© 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).en_US
dc.subjectAnaerobic digestionen_US
dc.subjectDigestateen_US
dc.subjectFuel pelleten_US
dc.subjectEconomic analysisen_US
dc.subjectPhosphorousen_US
dc.titleAn economic analysis of anaerobic digestate fuel pellet production: can digestate fuel pellets add value to existing operations?en_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dcterms.dateAccepted2021-04-09
dcterms.dateSubmitted2020-12-16

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