WRAP has a specific focus on the development and growth of a safe and sustainable AD industry in the UK and is working to deliver specific actions from Defra’s AD Strategy and Action Plan.
The aims for this competition are to:

• Facilitate technology transfer from other industries that may have solved similar challenges to those currently facing the AD sector
• Demonstrate the most effective proposals
• Disseminate advice, data and best practice guidance to the sector to enable it to reap the benefits of the demonstration projects
  Scope

The purpose of this open call is to identify technologies, processes and/or modifications from any sector that will enable the optimisation of the AD process from feedstock reception through processing and the resulting outputs.

The goal of the programme is to make AD work better, quicker or more cheaply resulting in more profitable plants.

• Better – getting more outputs from the same inputs by making assets perform more efficiently or by improving processes.
• Quicker – increasing the speed of throughput or processing without compromising   output quality.
• Cheaper – reducing the cost of some or all parts of the process to improve profitability.

Some key areas have been identified by the sector as requiring a specific focus:

• Pre-processing (ie reception and pre-treatment of feedstocks of all types)

> Inline or instant feedstock testing for contaminants, biogas yields, nutrient levels etc

> Pre-treatment of feedstocks to improve digester operation, gas yields, digestate quality and/or manageability

> Processing – improving efficiencies and reactor performance, inline monitoring of reactor performance and health, optimisation of digestion biology

• Outputs

> Biogas – cheaper technologies for gas use, better gas storage options and a reduction in methane losses (covering both existing gas use options such as CHP and new technologies such as fuel cells or liquefaction)

> Digestate – nutrient extraction and improving quality through technology or process optimisation, efficiencies in separation and application processes

> Other issues – better uses of heat, inline quality monitoring and uses for CO2

This call is not limited to the areas listed above, applicants may apply with solutions that address other challenges and that meet the evaluation criteria.

More information on other SBRI competitions may be obtained at www.innovateuk.org/sbri