Aikan Technology

methane and compost production from organic resources

Morten Brøgger KristensenChief Technology Officer

Aikan is innovated from experience

• Solum has been operating the Danish Aikan plant “BioVækst” successfully for more than 10 Years

• 150.000 ton of separately collected municipal solid waste has been transformed to biogas and compost

• BioVækst is a 50/50 split private public partnership based on well defined roles and common decisions

• We have been focusing on creation of value through development of: environmental performance, robustness and great flexibility

• We collaborate with leading Danish universities on many research and development issues to keep a science based approach

Four Danish ministers of environment have paid attention to us; including the former European commissionaire for climate

Avoid

Reduce

Reuse

Recover

Incineration with energy recovery

Dispose (Landfill)

We are focused on a strategy for waste

Waste Hierarchy Strategy Recycling with energy recovery

Fra affald til værdi

Aikan Technology

The Aikan Technology Process

Solid organic matter is made soluble by microbial enzymatic degradation

Volatile organic matter is transformed to methane by bacteria

Resistant organic matter is sanitized and transformed into Compost

Layout for a complete Aikan plant for anaerobic digestion and composting

Scalable modular designs

• Reception and pre-treatment; flexible pre-treatment

• Process modules; 10-20-30-more

• Reactor tank capacity; 1500-3000-6000 - more

• Maturation boxes; 5-10-more

• Odor treatment; module based too

• Energy exploitation units; gas-upgrading; CHP etc.

Mass balances in generalwhat goes in comes out!

• All in- and outputs must be analyzed for Organic Solids, Non-Organic Solids and Water

• Harmful substances or chemical components must always be accounted for or separated by an efficient collection schemes

• Plant performance must account for output products and outlets to the environment

• Standard mass balance figures does not exist. We always base a mass balance on feedstock characterizing since:

Mass is Money!

Aikan products and energy from 1 MG of Biodegradable Municipal Solid Waste (BMSW)

• 350 kg of 0-10 mm compost

– Good organic fertilizer with high content of NPK

– Sanitized

– Reduced risk of odor problems

– Stabilized organic matter

• 80 Nm3 biogas (70 % methane), waste potential is 180 Nm3 biogas

• Biogas is flexible:

– Production and sale of electricity and heat (up to 50/50)

– Upgrading to Methane for transportation etc.

– Grid transportation to other energy supplier etc.

A mass balancebased on data from the Danish plant

Water

Organic Dry Matter

Non-Organic Dry Matter

17% Residual Waste for other treatment *

Residual Waste for other treatment * Biogas

3,9%

50% 12% 12%Solid Waste and Feedstock 6% 28% Compost

(20.000 ton) 42% (6.620 ton)30%

6%

14% 15% 17% 30%

In processmodules Fresh (sanitized, not mature compost)Fertilizer(0 ton)

Structure material 5%(3.320 ton) 65% 0,0%

30% 0,0%

0,0%0,0%

7%63%

(0 ton) 7% 30% (4.980 kg)63%

0,0% 30%0,0%

Recycled Structurematerials

Compost with structure

Via ventilationair Via ventilationair

Composting in Process Modules

Composting in Maturation Boxes

Screening of compost

19%

88%

34%

Slurry or other fluid feedstocks

To reaktortank Biogas Phase

Degasified biomass

0%(20.880 ton)

0%

(4.980 ton)

(3.400 ton)

(24.900 ton)

Recycled Structurematerials

Pre-treatment

36%

(0 ton)

50%

44%96,1%

53%

0%

* Plastics, Metals, Glass, Stones and RDF

67%

27%

(23.200 ton)

32%

Massbalance

(1.700 ton) (9.280 ton)(2.320 ton)

(11.600 ton)

51%

49%

88%

Biovækst

Municipalcollection

Bio-Methane

Compost

Agriculture

Retail/shops

Households

Biovækst is a good example of circulareconomy

o Proven Technology more than 10 years of concrete operating experience

o Competitive price level negotiations have shown that Aikan compete nicely with other systems

o Unique design protected 3 step process integrating AD and Composting

o Robust can handle even MSW due to a simple tough pre-and after-treatment

o Scalable the modular design secure that no present extra investments needed to secure future needs

o Flexible can be optimized to local price structure focusing on the most valuable in- and output streams

o Biogas at least 70% of methane

o Compost The remaining solids are sanitized and matured

o Effective space utilization A complete handling of all waste streams gives an optimal, integrated use of space

o Odor Management Built-In odor management system, based on experience and analysis

Summarizing Aikan Technology features

Odor Management

• Odor is an inevitable subject linked to degradation of volatile organic matter

• To avoid trouble with neighbors and subsequently authorities odor must have the highest priority

• Managing Odor must be based on a twofold strategy:

– Planning for a well-designed Plant

– Getting a well-functioning and educated operation team

Aikan Odor Management

• Enclosed system for both biogas and compost production

• Integrated treatment of exhaust air from reception, critical workspaces and all processes via vaporizer and bio-filtration

• Registered odor levels for all the individual steps has been build into the odor management system

• Education and training of staff prior to start up

• Operation manual with equal focus on production and odor management

Basic understanding of feedstock

Biogas Methane Biogas Methane Biogas Methane Biogas Methane643 450

315

per ton of wasteper ton of BOD per ton of TSper ton of VS

180 126514 360 450

Biowaste management strategies

• Source Separation: of biowaste or separation of: plastics, glass, metals, painted wood, cloth, rubber, electronics, batteries etc. etc.

– To gain quality recycling source separation is needed for some fractions

• Since 50-60 % of MSW is often Biowaste it´s a good place to start.

The sustainability of proper Biowaste handling

Biowaste is carbon dioxide fixation from the air and nutrient fixation from the soil made possible by the power of the sun – thus a truly renewable resource

• A clean fraction of biowaste is producing good quality compost

• Phosphor is essential to food production and known clean mineral deposits will only last for 40-120 years – thus it is now time to recycle

• All resources are getting scarcer day by day. Thus the price of good recycled products will increase

• Biogas is a flexible energy form that can be used for transportation, electricity production and stored

• Compost recycles phosphor, nitrogen, potassium and other nutrients, postpone CO2 release to the atmosphere and ease soil structure