Devon dairy launches anaerobic digestion facility to fuel clotted cream production.

Lord Henley and Gary Jones from Langage Farm

A Devonshire dairy has officially opened a £3.4m anaerobic digestion (AD) facility that will turn food waste from around the county into the energy that will help produce its clotted cream, ice cream crème fraiche and yoghurt.

The facility at Langage Farm, Plymouth, received £1.2m of funding from the Anaerobic Digestion Demonstration Programme and was opened by Lord Henley, Minister for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on Friday 1 July.

By the end of its first year of operation, the AD facility will process 12,000 tonnes of food waste collected from households across the county by local authorities. The facility will also process on-farm dairy wastes, converting these fuels into renewable heat and electricity.

The renewable energy will not only power the dairy products production, but also export surplus energy to the National Grid. In its first five years, the Langage AD facility expects to produce 20,000 MW of energy saving the equivalent of 2,000  tonnes of CO2 per annum on energy bills.

Lord Henley, Gary Jones, Gary Streeter MP, Marcus Gover and James Harvey

Lord Henley said: “The facility at Langage Farm is an excellent working example of how a localised closed loop economy can be created. Food waste that otherwise would have gone to landfill will instead be used to produce the energy that will power much of the production process here on the farm, helping to produce award winning clotted cream, ice cream and yoghurt.”

Marcus Gover, Director of Organics and Energy from Waste at WRAP, believes the market, including investors, developers and end users, should be confident of AD as a reliable, safe and profitable resource efficiency process.

“AD is a growing part of the resource efficiency solution, capable of diverting biodegradable waste from landfill, creating renewable energy, stimulating the green economy and improving the sustainability of commercial agriculture. We really see it as a huge opportunity for the UK.”

A spokesperson for Langage Farm said: “We are proud to be a part of the solution to local waste problems and hope to see an increase in the uptake of this technology in the future, it really makes sense to use waste as a resource in this way.”

The early days of construction.

Langage Farm Anaerobic Digestion Plant will be officially opened by Lord Henley, Parliamentary under Secretary of State, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on July 1^st 2011.

The new plant, which is licensed to process 20,000 tonnes of material per year, received its validation permit in April 2011 and is pleased to announce its official opening. The plant received funding from the Environmental Transformation Fund, a programme to tackle climate change which is administered by WRAP on behalf of DECC and DEFRA. Whilst showcasing innovative technology, Langage AD will satisfy Langage Farm Dairy Products’ heat and electrical energy requirements while aiding in the diversion of 20,000t of organic waste from landfill as well as the generation of 500kW/h of renewable energy. This remarkable technology aims to be a flagship project in the newly emerging UK anaerobic digestion market and further hopes to aid the promotion and use of energy, heat and fertilizer from renewable sources.