Farming Monthly National October 2016 | Page 47

| Energy AgBag customer wins Best On-Farm AD Plant award We want to congratulate Nigel Bloom on winning the best on-farm AD plant award. igel, of Springvale Farm, a digester based in Nottingham, is a customer of ours and has been AgBagging for 4 years. They AgBag and store the maize in the field where it is grown and only collect it when required by the digester. Storing in AgBags rather than in clamps increases the biogas yield per tonne. By storing the maize where it is grown it minimises traffic disruption and mud on the roads and results in road movements for maize being reduced by a third compared to other plants. In addition currently, beet is only harvested when required between September and May, but this year Nigel is planning to experiment with AgBagging beet for all year round supply. N www.farmingmonthly.co.uk Well proven in the UK, Europe and the USA for over 30 years, the AgBag system has numerous storage applications. The crop or feedstock is stored within an oxygen free environment within 7 minutes of bagging; thereby conserving valuable nutrient content and ensuring dry matter losses are kept to a minimum. By storing the maize where it is grown it minimises traffic disruption & mud on the roads and results in road movements for maize being reduced by a third compared to other plants. The AgBag system allows waste-free storage at no capital cost, with fast pay back for the increase in feed-out quality. Lanes: Supporting the energy industry Drainage engineers from Lanes Group are proving they have the power to support one of the UK's fastest growing industrial sectors - renewable energy. he company's vacuumation and water jetting technology is proving to be suited for cleaning pipes and tanks in a range of different renewable energy plants in the industrial & farming sectors. Lanes drainage expertise has been used to support companies developing and running sustainable energy plants in Plymouth, Newcastle, Glasgow, Sheffield and North Wales. The Plymouth depot provides industry pipe cleaning services for MVV Environment Devonport Ltd, which operates one of the most advanced energy-from-waste plants in the UK. The combined heat and power plant, at North Yard, Devonport, burns 254,000 tonnes of residual household, commercial and industrial waste a year. Lanes' electro-mechanical pipe cleaning equipment has proved ideal for cleaning inert filtration media that builds up in pipework T during the incineration process. The Plymouth depot is also regularly commissioned by industrial cleaning specialists New Wave Marine to use its jetting and vacuumation technology to clean pipes and tanks at a growing number of AD plants. The company's CCTV drainage survey camera systems are also used to inspect pipework in energy plants to confirm cleaning has been thorough and the equipment is in good repair. Lanes Plymouth Depot Area Development Manager Grant Cooper said: "The capabilities of our technology transfer very well from the water industry to renewable energy. "Also, our growing number of energy clients value the experience we already have of working in a regulated industry, and the very high priority we place on occupational health and safety." Contact Lanes Group: www.lanesfordrains.co.uk October 2016 | Farming Monthly | 47