5/23/2018 16 Uses for Biogas Digestate Very Few AD Plant Owners Have Heard of

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16 Uses for Biogas Digestate Very Few AD Plant

Owners Have Heard of
by Radimin on January 20, 2018 in Digestate

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Most anaerobic digestion plant owners consider their digestate (i. e. the solid and liquid AD Plant
output) to be no more useful than for spreading on their fields, so here are 16 real uses for Biogas
Digestate reported by WRAP. Some, such as food waste AD plant operators, may actually see it as a
liability. But, when regulatory compliance and marketing are done right, biogas digestate has far more
uses than you ever imagined.

Market a product for some of these uses for biogas digestate, and we think that there is a BIG
potential for profit. So, keep reading (or watch the video below) this, and tell us if at the end, if you
don’t then agree that biogas digestate is exciting!

Part 1 of 2 – The first 8 Potential Use for Digestate

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16 Uses for Biogas Digestate You Probably Never Heard of- Part …

Now watch Part 2 of our article/ our second video below, for 8 even more surprising, potential
uses for Biogas Digestate.

Part 2 of 2 – The final 8 Potential Use for Digestate

16 Uses of Biogas Digestate You Probably Never Heard of- Part 2…

1 Home garden products

A number of multi-purpose garden composts are available.

Composts produced from separated digestate fibre would provide a use for biogas digestate, which is a
similar source of stabilised organic matter suitable for improving soil properties.

If mixed with woodchips, sawdust or straw the C:N ratio could be optimised, and replace the use of
unsustainable peat-based media. However, some supplementing with added P and K, may be needed.
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2 Horticulture: Landscaping
Co-composted separated fibre would provide an
excellent source of organic matter to use in
manufactured soils for landscaping and is the second
of our uses for biogas digestate.

3 Horticulture: Commercial fruit

and vegetable production
Digestate fibre courtesy Aikan Technology, via YouTube
PAS100 green compost is used for mulching of apple
Creative Commons Licence.
trees. Therefore, composted separated fibre from
digestate could be used for a similar purpose.

4 Horticulture: Compost teas

The use of compost teas in the production of a wide range crops has become popular in the UK. This
involves use of a ‘broth’ of microorganisms such as fungi, nematodes, bacteria and protozoa to improve
soil ecology and hence soil health, productivity and plant health.

Digestate separated fibre could potentially be used as a feedstock for the composting process from
which compost teas are produced. So, for use in making compost teas is another of our listed uses for
biogas digestate.

5 Horticulture: mushroom growing media

Digestate may find it hard to compete with animal manures as the N and C were less available.

However, there is a large market and the mushroom industry may actually be the largest user of
composted organics in the UK.

6 Horticulture: A fertiliser for commercial nurseries and

herbaceous shrubs
Separated liquor would be more suitable than
digestate fibre due to greater ease of infiltration into
the soil giving more efficient use of nutrients.

However, supplemental P and K would be required so

digestate liquor is not ideally suited to this purpose.

7 Forestry

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Digestate fibre courtesy Demand can be anticipated for digestate fertilisers,

Vanderhaak biogas, via YouTube Creative Commons
compost and some mulch in ‘urban forestry’ or tree
Licence.
planting for landscape and amenity purposes, notably
on brownfield land.

8 Use on publicly owned flower beds and green spaces

There is potential for composted separated digestate fibre to be used as a bedding material in publicly
owned parks and gardens and for mulching trees.

Separated liquor may be useful as a turf fertiliser, subject to considerations regarding odour.

This article (and the two videos) are based upon a WRAP Report on digestate, which is available from
WRAP here.

This is the second part of our video and article, so keep reading for the final “8 uses of biogas
digestate which you probably never heard of”, and as stated in the last video, attributions to
companies shown in images and video clips refer to the copyright ownership of the CC content, and
does not indicate endorsement of the content of the video.

9 – Use as fertiliser for organic crops and farms

While use is possible for digestate, this not a likely use, because it is unlikely that fertilisers containing
digestate could be certified as organic, due requirements for the complete absence of non-GM
ingredients.

10 – 1 Nutrient extraction via Struvite Recovery

A number of technologies exist to extract nutrients from digestate, and Struvite Recovery in particular
can be viable, and produces a high-value fertiliser.

10 – 2 Nutrient extraction and fuel production

A Swedish technology developed to treat horse manure can also treat digestate.

This dewatering and nutrient extraction process, produces biomass fuel pellets and biofertiliser pellets.
The value as fuel has been quoted in the £80-£120 per tonne, plus biofertiliser £80-£150 per tonne.

10 – 3 Algal growth for nutrient removal

A potential method of nutrient extraction from organic wastes is the production of proteinaceous biomass
by cultivating algae in engineered ponds.

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Harvested algal biomass is a high-grade protein which can be used as an animal feed, or as a slow-
release fertiliser.

11 Construction material
Researchers at Michegan State University are developing construction materials from dried manure
fibres of anaerobically digested animal manure.

They are working to develop medium density fibreboards (MDF) and wood-plastic composites (WPC).

12 Fuel
12-1 Cellulosic Ethanol Production
Bioethanol is the primary fuel used as a petrol replacement for road transport vehicles and is produced
by sugar formation.

The major source of sugar for bioethanol production has until now been from energy crops, but this use
of crops is being outlawed by EU legislation.

Waste biomass, including digestate fibre, is a source of cellulose, cellulose, and hemicellulose and other
organic materials that can be used as a low cost feedstock for enzymic hydrolysis to produce sugar, for
subsequent fermentation to bioethanol.

Recent research shows digestate is a better biomass source than switchgrass which is a common
feedstock used currently.

12-2 Biodiesel production

While use is possible for digestate, there is little potential to produce biodiesel from digestate.

Digestate would be disadvantaged by its relatively low C:N ratio, as a basic requirement is a high C:N
ratio of about 100, which is not met by digestate.

12-3 Digestate as solid fuel

Digestate fibre dried, and pelletised can be used as a solid fuel.

Dried in a drum-dryer using waste heat from biogas production, to 80-85% dry matter this can be a net
fuel saver, when there is no better use for the AD plant heat.

This might be a useful option for digestate in hot dry climates where digestate can be left to dry in the
summer sun.

13 Biopesticides production

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Yes – even more surprisingly, digestate may be useful to the production of sustainable Biopesticides!

Replacing chemical insecticides with biological agents for pest control is considered desirable to improve
environmental quality, food safety, human and animal health.

Here again digestate may have a role to play as it seems that there may be potential to produce
biopesticides from anaerobically digested food and farm waste.

Conclusion
This article (and the two videos) are based upon a WRAP Report on digestate, which is available from
WRAP here, and WRAP has provided a very thorough report. We hope that by providing these videos
we have helped the broaden the thought process of our readers to see the possibilities that biogas
digestate presents. However, for most of these ideas a substantial amount of further research would be
needed, and for some it would be necessary in investing in pilot studies and prototype designs to prove
the concept.

Probably the easiest digestate sales option has in the past been for biogas plant operators to choose
from options 1 to 3, above, subject to compliance with all regulatory requirements being achieved and
market the AD plant’s products into the home garden, and horticultural (non-food crop use), sectors.

About radimin
View all posts by radimin →

 biogas digestate, Co-composted separated fibre, Compost teas, composted organics in the UK,
digestate fibre, digestate liquor, fertiliser for commercial nurseries, fertiliser for herbaceous shrubs,
fruit and vegetable production, omposted separated digestate fibre, Uses for Biogas Digestate

 3 Reasons Why UK Biomethane Producers Should Watch Bio-fuel Market Prices Closely
Leading UK Food Waste AD Company Biogen Acquires Tamar Energy 

2 Responses to 16 Uses for Biogas Digestate Very Few AD Plant Owners

Have Heard of

REPLY 
Declan Patel March 2, 2018 at 4:20 pm #

These are the very many uses for digestate and I have not seen more. I have ideas now, and
your writing has good meaning I am sure. Good wishes, sir.
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REPLY 
Syd Scarberry May 6, 2018 at 6:48 am #

I see you have many ideas to save the nature. Here is my tip for you. Use candles periodically
instead of electricity. This may seem a little drastic, but candles offer wonderful mood lighting during
meals, and when you watch television, do you really need bright lights on as well? Be sure to use soy
candles, however, because many paraffin-wax candles have toxins such as toluene and benzene that
burn off into the air in your home. Soy candles cost a bit more, but they burn with no black soot, and they
also burn right down to the end with no negative environmental impacts.

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