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Brewing firm Adnams is claiming a UK first as it nears completion of
building work on its anaerobic digestion plant.
The Suffolk-based beer maker says it will be the first to turn
brewing and food waste into a renewable source of gas when it opens the
plant in around October this year.
About 60% of the gas will be used to run the brewery's fleet of
delivery trucks and, once commissioning work has taken place later this
summer, the rest will supply power to the national grid.
The £2.75 million plant is capable of producing up to 4.8
million KW hours of energy each year - enough to heat 235 family homes
for a year or run an average car for four million miles.
The plant features three digesters inside which naturally
occurring bacteria act without oxygen to break down up to 12,500 tonnes
of organic waste each year and produce biomethane.
Adnams' chief executive, Andy Wood, said: "For a number of
years now, Adnams has been investing in ways to reduce our impact on the
environment.
"The reality of being able to convert our own brewing waste and
local food waste to power Adnams' brewery and vehicles, as well as the
wider community is very exciting.
"The industrial ecology cycle is completed when the fertiliser
produced from the anaerobic digestion process can be used on farmland to
grow barley for Adnams beer.
"This facility will have a major impact on the reduction of
carbon emissions in the region and the production of renewable energy.
"The food waste would otherwise be destined for landfill, but
processing it through the digester will save an estimated 50,000 tonnes
of CO2 equivalents from landfill."