Regulations Covering Anaerobic Digestion
All anaerobic digester operators in England must comply with regulations concerning environmental protection, animal by-products, duty of care, health and safety, waste handling and planning permission.
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Environmental Permitting Programme (integrating the previous Waste Management Licences and Pollution Prevention Control) -
Animal by-product Regulations -
Duty of Care -
Health and Safety -
Planning Permission -
Digestate Quality -
Excise Duty (if biogas is used as a road fuel)
Environmental Permitting
What is environmental permitting?
Environmental permitting (EP) is a scheme in England and Wales for regulating business activities that could have an impact on the environment and human health. It replaced the Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) and Waste Management Licensing (WML) with a more streamlined process.
Many AD plants will be required to obtain a permit to operate and spread digestate. You will have to complete an application form with relevant technical information and also demonstrate that you are competent to operate the plant. There is a charge for making an application and you can expect the process to take many months. When you receive a permit the Environment Agency (EA) will make annual checks to ensure you are complying with the conditions of your permit. There is an annual subsistence charge.
Find out more about what an environmental permit is on this NetRegs page.
Does my AD plant need an environmental permit? What type of permit will it need?
EA have produced a guide to AD and environmental permits which has a table of different types of AD plant and the permit/s they will need.
How do you apply for an environmental permit?
NetRegs has comprehensive information on how to apply for an environmental permit, how much an environmental permit costs and hints and tips on getting application right the first time, which you can read here.
Environmental permitting exemptions for AD
You may be able to get an exemption if your AD plant can meet the criteria as set out in Schedule 2 of the Environmental Permitting Regulations. You are still required to register with the EA and provide some information about who you are, what you will be doing and where it will take place. There is no charge for registering an exemption. Below, you can find the activities that entitle you to an exemption and links to the relevant pages of the EA website. Read the page to see if you fulfil the conditions of the exemption and find the application form at the bottom of each page.
- T24 - anaerobic digestion at premises used for agriculture and burning of resultant biogas. There are specific waste types that can be used under this exemption and a total quantity of waste treated or stored at any one time must not exceed 1,250 cubic metres. The appliance used must have a net rated thermal input of less than 0.4 megawatts.
Register for a T24 exemption.
- T25 - anaerobic digestion at premises not used for agriculture and burning of resultant biogas. This exemption allows the treatment of food and other biodegradable wastes by anaerobic digestion to produce a digestate which can be used for providing benefit to land. The gas produced must be used for generating energy. With this exemption you cannot treat wastes that are animal by-products without an appropriate authorisation from Animal Health. You can store or treat up to 50 cubic metres of waste at any one time. Any biogas produced must be burned in an appliance with a net rated thermal input of less than 0.4 megawatts.
Register for a T25 exemption.
- U10 and U11. U10 is spreading waste on agricultural land to confer benefit and U11 is spreading waste on non-agricultural land to confer benefit. There are specific waste types that can be used under these exemptions. U10 and U11 have digestate produced under T24 with a quantity limit of 50 tonnes per hectare and a storage limit of 200 tonnes, at any one time.
Register for a U10 exemption.
Register for a U11 exemption.
Permits for spreading digestate
Material that has reached PAS 110 and Quality Protocol standards is no longer regarded as a waste. To spread waste material to agricultural and non-agricultural land to confer benefit or ecological improvement you will have to apply for a permit. There is a standard rule permit for spreading waste material to land (if you do not fit the criteria for an exemption) Standard permit SR2010 No.4 allows the spreading of no more than 250 tonnes per hectare and that no more than 3,000 tonnes of waste material is stored at any one time and for no longer than 12 months.
There is a one off application for the mobile plant. For each spreading of material to land there is a charge related to the type of material being spread, relating to lower risk, medium risk and high risk. Fees and charges guidance 20010/11 (page 55 onwards) outlines the costs and deployment costs (the cost per application of material to land).
For an overview of AD and environmental permitting, see this summary document from the EA.
Animal By-Products Regulations
Animal by-products (ABPs) are animal carcases, parts of carcases or products of animal origin that are not intended for human consumption. The Animal By-Products Regulations (ABPR) permit the treatment in approved composting and biogas premises of low-risk (category 3) ABPs and catering waste which contains meat or which comes from a premises handling meat.
High risk (Category 2) ABPs cannot be used as feedstock in biogas plants, except where they have first been rendered to the 133°C/3 bar/20 minute EU pressure-rendering standard.
You can find out more on the Defra website.
Manure and Animal By-product Regulations
Manure and digestive tract content are classified as a category 2 ABP, but they can be used without processing as raw material in a biogas plant.
However, where manure or digestive tract content is sent to a biogas plant for treatment with other ABPs (including catering waste) the plant must be approved and the mixture treated to approved standards.
How do you transport and store animal by-products correctly?
NetRegs has information on how to transport animal by-products and how to handle and store animal by-products.
How do you apply to use animal by-products in an AD plant?
Download application form ABPR1 from the Defra website. Read the Defra pages on ABPR in relation to composting and biogas production for guidance and FAQs before filling in the form.
Although the forms are from Defra, you send the form to a local Animal Health Office to handle the assessment and visit the site to ensure that the treatment standards can be achieved and recorded, that the premises has sufficient hygiene controls and cleansing and disinfection facilities, and that all other requirements will be complied with.
Duty of care
The duty of care is a law which says you must take all reasonable steps to keep waste safe. You have a legal responsibility to ensure that you produce, store, transport and dispose of waste without harming the environment.
Introductions to duty of care can be found in these documents by Defra and the EA.
Anyone who handles waste must have the correct permit, license or exemption. In England and Wales this means an Environmental Permit.
How do I transfer waste?
When waste is transferred, every load requires a waste transfer note (WTN). There is no standard WTN but there are standard requirements relating to European Waste Catalogue codes. Examples and guidelines can be found on the NetRegs page on records for transferring waste.
Health and Safety
Anaerobic digestion can be regarded as a chemical process with all the associated risks: flammable atmospheres, fire and explosion, toxic gases, confined spaces, asphyxiation, pressure systems, COSHH, etc. In addition, it also incorporates gas handling and gas storage. Therefore, it is essential that thorough hazard and risk assessments are carried out at each stage of a project from design to installation to commissioning to implementation and operation.
Carry out risk assessments at each stage of the anaerobic digestion project
See the HSE pages on getting started in health and safety.
Consider the risks of fire and explosion
See the HSE pages on fire and explosion, particularly the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations.
Consider the risks of toxic gases in confined spaces
Anaerobic digestion produces hydrogen sulphide, a highly toxic gas. Read the HSE booklet Safe Work in Confined Spaces and, if your digester is on a farm, Managing Confined Spaces on a Farm.
Planning Permission
For information on AD and planning system, see the AD and Planning Permission page.
Digestate Quality
Standards and quality protocols for digestate can be found in the Digestate pages.
Excise Duty
If you are using biogas as a road fuel, the procedures to become compliant with HMRC for paying Excise Duty are all laid out here in HMRC Notice 76.
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