College Proteins abandons incinerator plans
Nobber firm College Proteins has abandoned plans to build an incinerator and recently lodged a planning application for an anaerobic digester on a portion of their Nobber site previously earmarked for the development.
Plans by the company to build a combined heat and power plant with 40m stack to burn 105,000 tonnes of biomass per year met fierce opposition locally and two oral hearings were held by An Bord Pleanala before the authority ultimately gave the green light for the development. That proposal sought permission to burn 52,500 tonnes of meat and bonemeal and 52,500 tonnes of waste organic liquids derived from the agriculture and food and drink industries per annum.
In 2018, an extension to the duration of planning permission was applied for which was granted. However, College Group has confirmed that it will not proceed with this development.
College Proteins has now lodged a planning application for an anaerobic digester on a 5.31 hectares site at College Road, College and Rathgillan, Nobber. The application seeks permission for the demolition of an existing garage and the construction of an anaerobic digestion facility with an intake of up to 50,000 tonnes of organic feedstock material per annum.
The proposed facility includes a waste reception building with workshop, control room and welfare facilities, two digester tanks, two digestate storage tanks, glycerine tank, buffer tank, pasteuriser tank and four liquid reception tanks. All of these tanks will be located within a fully bounded concrete area. The development also includes associated biofilter, gas flare, biogas combine heat and power plant, internal access roads, weighbridge and truck loading and soil deposition area. The development includes a 18m stack.
The planning report accompanying the application states: "Recognising the climate emergency and the responsibility to address it, College Group are striving to reduce their carbon footprint and become a carbon neutral operation by investing in a greener future, through sustainable projects.
"College Group are proposing to construct an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant to produce green Biogas, which will off-set the use of fossil fuels on site, therefore reducing the company's carbon footprint. The biogas produced from the AD plant can be used in the on-site steam boilers and combine that and power plants to generate steam and electricity to run the production facilities on site."
According to the report, the AD plant would off-set approximately 45 per cent of fossil fuels used on site. The energy produced is compared to producing enough gas energy for 4,500 households. The company's carbon footprint would be greatly reduced saving 8,876 tonnes of carbon per annum, the equivalent of taking 1,930 cars off the road.
Feedstock proposed for biogas production include grass and maize silage, food waste, slurry, and sludges from food processing plants. The resulting digestate produce is to be transported off-site to be spread on farmlands as an organic fertiliser.
John Gilroy, chief executive, said: "It is the natural progression of our industry to reduce our carbon footprint. We recently installed a substantial solar farm to reduce energy on site which is now complete. It is one of the largest privately owned solar farms to run onsite operations. The 3MW solar farm supplies electricity to the Nobber facility.
"It follows the completion of construction of our bio-diesel plant which is now up and running producing 25m litres of biodiesel per year."
He pointed out that the visual impact of the AD facility would be drastically reduced compared to the previous proposal, which had included a 40m stack.
When asked about possible odours he said it will be designed to the highest standards and that odour abatement equipment will be installed as part of the development. "It will be modern, using the latest technology in anaerobic digestion."