One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Biofuels and More.
Most of us eat potatoes in some form or another, whether it is a packet of crisps for a snack; mashed, boiled or roasted potatoes in a Sunday lunch; chips or fries in a fast food meal. My personal favourite is roast potatoes.
Sláinte
Happy New Year. I hope unlike me you’re not suffering from Social Jetlag. http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2015/jan/05/suffering-social-jetlag-tired-lie-ins-christmas
Whisky and Hogmanay go hand in hand. Now, you may have sworn off the hard stuff for January to balance it all out and don’t need reminding. But hear me out.
Syngas & methane fermentation
On Wednesday 16 July, I went to the institute of materials, minerals & mining in London, to attend a SCI conference on ‘opportunities in fuels and chemicals from syngas and methane fermentation’. The location was in a strikingly beautiful and opulent building both inside and out, resting on the back of the mall, just half a mile from Buckingham Palace.
Out and about with Julie and Stella
Some very hot summer weather embraced the Royal Highland Show this year.
Micro Anaerobic Digestion: how wee can it be?
Anaerobic Digestion (AD) technology has been present in Europe from the early nineteen hundreds. It was bought to Europe from India where the first anaerobic digester plant was built in a leper colony in Bombay in 1859.
Plastic Not So Fantastic
On Monday 20 October 2014 a charge will be enforced on single use carrier bags in Scotland. However, carrier bags only account for 3.5-5.3% of total plastics in packaging in the UK (Wrap, 2005). Plastic carrier bags, along with bottles are easily recyclable across the UK. However, what about the plastics we cannot recycle? Crisp/ confectionary packets, bubble wrap, cling film, polystyrene, plastic tubs and pots, garden pots, CD/DVD’s & their cases, to name but a few.
Biomethane to Fuel HGVs
DfT published recently recommendations and considerations from the Low Emission HGV Task Force, centring on the benefits accruing from greater use of methane as a transport fuel. The three main areas examined are vehicle technology, refuelling infrastructure, and gas supply. As such the Task Force considers the whole system rather than any one aspect in isolation, and is well-worth a read as an example of whole system thinking applied to a biofuel opportunity.
Yule Blog
Arguably the biggest annual celebration marks the last year before AD. And a convenient sharing of initials for anno domini and anaerobic digestion offers a cheesy reason to consider the opportunities for biofuels arising from our yearly AD celebration (it’s hard to split Christmas and New Year).
When R&D Meets AD
The questions of technology-readiness and de-risking of research were to the fore at the recent ADBA R&D Forum in Guisborough. The meeting attracted a broad range of speakers to the research agenda, covering an even broader range of research intended to inform and benefit the UK anaerobic digestion industry. There were only a small number of AD plant operators present, and their focus was immediate business efficiency more than process efficiency. So, "lower gate fees for feedstock would be good". Yet other plants are running so reliably well that there is little or no need to improve.