Page 40 - Gi flipbook February 2018

IGEM NEWS | Events

YPN GOES GREEN A NIGHT TO

GAS IN SWINDON REMEMBER

By Andy Middleton, North East &
By Peter Amos, YPN Chair Yorkshire Section Chair

IMAGINE IF WE could just turn ON FRIDAY 3 NOVEMBER, the
domestic rubbish into gas using a little Section held its 8th Annual IGEM
bit of electricity and capture the Winter Ball, at Thorpe Park Hotel,
carbon dioxide at the same time. That in Leeds. The event was a sell out
would be a biosynthetic natural gas with 120 people attending from
with a negative carbon footprint! NGN, DNV GL, KDC, O’Connors
Could this be the answer to the low Utilities, Penspen, Synthotech,
cost decarbonisation of heat puzzle, PESL, EIC and the IGEM North East
or a flight of fancy? Well, it may & Yorkshire Section.
sound like a pipedream (sorry!) but I was absolutely overwhelmed at
try telling that to the 20 members of the generosity of everybody on the
the Young Persons Network who night, from both the charitable
visited Advanced Plasma Power (APP) donations in the envelopes to the
in Swindon to see for themselves how sums paid for the auction prizes.
this dream is becoming a reality. Through everyone’s generosity we
Gogreengas, a forward-thinking were able to raise £3,100 for our
group of gas industry companies that chosen charity, The Great North
includes APP, is building a full-scale Taking a tour around Children’s Hospital.
the Swindon plant
gas plant that will prove this Thank you to all of our sponsors,
technology is commercially viable in a table hosts and especially to those
UK and world first venture. but in future could be fed directly into who put up their hands during the
Biosynthetic natural gas (BioSNG) can a carbon capture and storage system. charity auction. The highest selling
be produced from specially prepared The success of these pilots led items included a Newcastle United
domestic rubbish by a three stage directly to the demonstration plant FC shirt signed by Alan Shearer, an
process: gasification to syngas, tar we were visiting, which will show that iPad, football tickets, a case of
removal and methanation of the BioSNG can be produced in significant McColl’s beer and a brewery tour,
syngas. quantities on a continual basis, and a personalised painting by NGN
Despite recycling efforts, the UK de-risking the technology for wide artist Mick Hand.
produces millions of tons of rubbish scale deployment. The optimal size of It was a fantastic evening and a
each year, a large chunk of which goes plant appears to have around a very proud moment for me to be
to methane-releasing landfill. 100MW syngas output to make the able to host an event like this and
Gasification and methanation are well most efficient use of the plasma arc in to raise so much money for such a
understood processes, but the middle the gas flow. worthy cause. I even managed to
step (tar removal) has until recently Andy Cornell and Kevin Griggs, of get my parents there!
proved the barrier to success for APP, gave a detailed overview of the A huge thank you must go to
domestic rubbish. This is because the technology and its potential role in committee members Sara
biomass in domestic rubbish can only the future of gas and the Lambelle-Wilson and Barry Dalus
be gasified at low temperatures, but decarbonisation of heat. Next, they for their invaluable help in
this in turn creates tars and waxes gave us extensive guided tours of the organising the night. ■
that stifle the process. pilot plants and the demonstration
However, it turns out that these plant under construction. A certain
tars and waxes are no match for an amount of imagination was required
8000K (7,727°C) plasma arc which, at the demonstration plant as certain
through a combination of heat and UV key components (such as the plasma
light, can break them down efficiently. converter) had not yet arrived for
The refinement of the process around installation, but the impressive scale
the plasma conversion step started compared to the pilot plants was
with two pilot plants: the first, to test evident.
the gasification and plasma The YPN members asked plenty of
conversion; the second, to test the questions of Andy and Kevin to
methanation process (where it turns further their understanding of what
out the process can be tuned to make looks to be a promising new
either methane or hydrogen, or a technology, and we are grateful to
blend of both, by choice of catalyst). them for their time and enthusiasm in
Liquid carbon dioxide is also produced hosting our visit. ■ A great night!
by the process, this is sold to industry

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