AD experts FM BioEnergy have announced the UK launch of ALGEACELL+Detox, which works as a detoxifying ‘first aid’ treatment for food waste biogas plants affected by feedstock contaminants such as disinfectants and antibiotics.
Poor feedstock and inhibited digestion are issues which can affect food waste anaerobic digesters. Increased competition for feedstock means that it is not always possible to guarantee the absence of small quantities of materials such as cleaning chemicals or antibiotics, which can have a big effect on biogas production.
“Often, the first signs of a problem are typical symptoms of poor digestion, such as lower gas yields, lower methane content or rising levels of volatile fatty acids. At that point operators will run tests on their feedstock to try to find out what is inhibiting gas production, but it can take time for the results to come through, and they can sometimes be inconclusive,” explains Tim Elsome, General Manager of FM BioEnergy. “In the meantime, using ALGEACELL+Detox will detoxify the feedstock, negating the effects of inhibitors such as antibiotics or disinfectants, allowing you to put in place more permanent solutions or to work through a particular batch of feedstock.”
Developed by German market leaders Schaumann BioEnergy, ALGEACELL+Detox is produced from natural brown algae via a unique process and utilises the properties of alginates (alginic acids) which bind to positively charged toxic molecules in the digester – preventing them from inhibiting digestion. As a natural algae-based material, ALGEACELL+Detox is environmentally friendly and non-toxic.
“While we would always advise testing to understand any problem and to put in place the correct long-term solution, the benefit of ALGEACELL+Detox is that you don’t have to know what the problem is for it to work,” continues Tim. “It acts like first aid for your plant, treating the immediate problem and giving you time to diagnose if there is a more serious underlying issue or if you just had a ‘bad’ load of feedstock.”
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