Network

NETWORK / 23 / DECEMBER 2016/JANUARY 2017 said the economic benefits of advanced fuels could total £15 billion, of which the UK could claim a large slice through intellectual property gained in projects such as this. National Grid Gas Distribution's chief executive Chris Train told Network it is keen to see the plant succeed in order to prove bioSNG can "play its part in a basket of technologies" needed to answer the energy trilemma. So far, he said it has been shown bioSNG could be a uniquely flexible addition to that basket because it can be used to produce both methane and hydrogen. In addition the energy from waste bioSNG process does not require carbon capture and storage to be viable, unlike other forms of gas manu- facture, and it does not require any modification of the Wobbe Index (see p18) before injection into the gas grid. This points to infrastrucuture cost avaoidance and makes full use of the invest- ment already made in the gas system through the iron mains replacement programme. National Grid suggests that the bioSNG can be used to extend the utilisation of the gas network and put the UK on the right trajectory to meet its carbon-reduction targets, before tackling the longer- term challenge of a hydrogen conversion. While other options for renewable gas exist, such as gas produced via anaerobic digestion, National Grid says these options are limited by both feedstock and rural gas grid penetration. It believes that bioSNG has the potential to deliver ten times the quantity of gas that can be delivered by AD - potentially accounting for a third of the UK's domestic heating needs, or 100% of the UK's HGV fleet. With the ribbon just cut and commercial operation not due until 2018, it will be some time before this technology can really prove its worth. But the launch of this commercial venture has shown investors are serious about the potential. N Black Bag Bount y Chris Train Chief executive, National Grid Gas Distribution "BioSNG links together a number of things. It establishes the utilisation of the existing gas network. All of the work that we have been doing around replacing the network – taking out the old cast iron pipes and replacing them with polyethylene – gives you a robust network to build off that whole process of decarbonising heat and transport." "The feedstock is black bag waste, that deals with two issues, it gives you a product out of the black bag waste which is useable and low carbon. One of the challenges we have in the UK is what do we do with our black bag waste? Burning to generate is hugely inefficient, and burying it, there's not a lot of land mass to be burying black bag waste, so it's a really great project because it brings all of that together." "BioSNG can produce hydrogen so it is in fact a flexible process by which you are not putting all your eggs in one basket, it creates an opportunity, but you could amend the process to either produce methane or hydrogen." "In the home, you and I won't need to change our boiler, we won't need to change our cooker, or our hob. The inconvenience in the home and the disruption in the home while meeting the decarbonisation objective is minimal. We still install 1.6 million boilers in the UK every year." "This plant will produce mains-quality methane. Increasing the range, adding hydrogen, that is an opportunity in terms of driving efficiency and delivery. It doesn't prevent it from establishing itself, but widening the Wobbe Index gives an opportunity." "I don't know how long it will be before this process can become business as usual, but building this plant is a critical part of developing that opportunity, an opportunity that is potentially huge since every council has to deal with its black bag waste. Once we have demonstrated the commercial model it's just a question of getting the funding and getting the plants out there. I think it could be huge."

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