Pressure secures waste gas contract

FOOD scraps from hotels and restaurants will be turned into gas to power 1,400 homes after engineering firm Pressure Technologies won a £1m contract to install a renewable waste gas ‘upgrading’ system.

The Sheffield-based group said its Chesterfield BioGas (CBG) subsidiary won the contract to supply and fit the renewable waste system in Stockport.

The unit, designed and made by its New Zealand partner Greenlane Biogas, will convert raw waste gas from rotting food into 98 per cent pure methane. The unit is capable of processing up to 300 cubic metres of gas an hour.

Pressure chief executive John Hayward said: “Chesterfield BioGas is firmly established as the market leader in upgrade technology in the UK.

“As the only UK based supplier and installer of this type of technology, we have the experience and expertise to manage projects to the exacting engineering and health and safety standards demanded by large utility companies and gas grid operators. We look forward to further progress in this market over coming months.”

In 2010 Pressure was behind the UK’s first successful biogas upgrading venture, in Didcot.

The Stockport facility will open in the autumn and be operated by Fairfield Bio Energy – a partnership between Bio Group Ltd and Centrica.

CBG’s managing director Stephen McCulloch said: “This is a considerable vote of confidence in our technology and performance. Our unit uses the proven Greenlane water-wash process which is successfully operating at over 60 sites around the world.

“CBG established a firm working relationship with Centrica in the course of our work at the first UK project, which opened in autumn 2010... The fact that the new Stockport site will use gas derived from a completely different waste material is a significant testament to our upgrading system and its versatility.”