Mixers and pumps made by Landia, a Denmark-based company specializing in pumps and mixers for the biogas industry and with U.S. offices in Cary, North Carolina, are playing a vital role in the success of the Bygrave Lodge AD plant in Hertfordshire, U.K., designed built and run by Biogen, the company says.
Processing 45,000 metric ton of food waste each year from supermarkets, food processors, households and the hospitality industry, Bygrave Lodge uses four Landia mixers.
A fully stainless steel 4 kilowatt (kw) DGR submersible chopper pump is utilized in the acidic environment of the food waste reception sump – while two 18.5 kw POPTR-I side-entry Landia mixers are employed in the primary digester to maintain a homogenous mix. There is also a 7.5 kw 1500 rpm Landia MPTK chopper pump, which is used for discharging the AD plant’s pasteurizer.
Keith Knight, design manager at Biogen, says, “The mixers are living up to the Landia reputation for top quality, efficiency and reliability. This is a process that can’t be handled with standard equipment, especially with the acidity in food waste, but we are confident of the longevity with Landia’s equipment, which has been proven on other Biogen sites”.
Landia’s pumps and mixers are also installed at Biogen’s food waste to green energy GwyriAD AD plant near Caernarfon in North Wales – and at Biogen’s Milton Ernest plant in Bedfordshire, U.K., where renewable energy is generated from pig slurry and food waste.
Producing 2 megawatts, generating renewable electricity for up to 4,500 homes in Hertfordshire, Biogen’s Bygrave Lodge AD plant takes in food waste from ASDA, Ocado, Simmons Bakeries, KP Waste and The Grove Hotel. In addition to the renewable energy, the process also produces a nutrient-rich agricultural fertilizer for use on local farmland.