Major biogas deal for green fuel business

The Sheffield-based gas cylinder firm said Chesterfield BioGas (CBG) won the order, worth more than 600,000, from British Gas-owner Centrica.

CBG will supply Centrica with one of the UK's first biogas upgrading plants, which will create clean methane from waste gas, and be injected into the national grid.

Pressure has high hopes for its biogas division, launched in late 2008, which provides and installs systems to produce high-purity biogas.

The gas is created from decomposing organic matter such as manure, household and garden waste.

CBG's systems turn low-grade biomethane into clean, high-concentration biomethane, which can also be used to power vehicles. The all-in-one systems compress, store and disperse the gas according to customers' needs. CBG has already supplied a filling station for Sheffield City Council to fuel its natural gas vehicles, and won a grant from the Department for Transport to provide compressed gas fuelling for the London Borough of Greenwich.

"Biomethane is environmentally sustainable and therefore is expected to make a significant contribution to the UK's carbon reduction targets," said the group.

"CBG is currently in advanced stages of negotiation with a number of local authorities, public utilities and transport operators."

The maiden order will process gas generated from waste water at Didcot Sewage Works where a partnership of Centrica, Scotia Gas Networks and Thames Water are working to capture waste methane. The plant is due to be installed this summer, ready for use later this year.

The upgrading plant uses "water scrubbing" technology to turn the gas into 98 per cent pure methane, which can be used domestically and commercially. This innovative technology was pioneered in New Zealand and is already being used in plants in Japan, Germany, France, Spain and Sweden.

The order follows publication of tariffs to reward generators for feeding renewable energy into the national grid.

The Renewable Heat Incentive government scheme will begin in April. Pressure said dependent on future subsidy levels, it expects this to provide a "significant stimulus" to the market for CBG's gas upgrading technology.

CBG has a cooperation agreement with industry experts Greenlane Biogas, which allows it to use Greenlane's equipment and expertise. Pressure has worked with Greenlane's parent company, Flotech, for more than a decade on biogas projects in Scandinavia.