The 12MW gasification plant due to be built in the Riverside Industrial Estate, Boston, Lincolnshire, was announced yesterday (September 27).

The plant, a joint application from Alternative Use Group and Alchemy Farms, is the first of its kind in the UK to process waste wood and biosolids simultaneously as a feedstock to produce syngas, which will then be used to produce electricity.

The power plant, due to be operational by late 2012, will produce enough electricity to power 10,000 homes and will create 27 new jobs.

The site, when built, could be the first in the country to run on a mixed feedstock of wood waste and biosolids from wastewater treatment facilities.

Consultants ADAS helped JHG Planning Consultants, planning agents acting for joint applicants Alternative Use Group and Alchemy Farms, with a detailed odour emissions impact assessment for the pioneering, and potentially controversial plant.

Based on ADAS’s track record of modelling odour concentration patterns, the team, led by Steve Peirson, used sophisticated software to map how odours would disperse from the site.

The data was used to develop a robust series of measures designed to reduce the impact on local homes and businesses.

Principal Odour Consultant, Mr Peirson, said the mitigation strategy would mean odour from the plant would be very effectively controlled to avoid any impact on residents living nearby.

He said: “We’re really very pleased to have helped JHG Planning secure planning permission for the power plant.

“Concerns about odours from sites like this have the potential to scupper applications, but a detailed assessment, together with an effective mitigation strategy helped allay concerns about odour at an early stage.

“This proactive approach helped progress the proposals through to planning consent.

“It is great news because it means useful energy can be extracted from waste, which has its own obvious environmental benefits.

“It will be done with minimal impact on the lives of people living and working even in very close proximity to the site.”

Luke Walsh

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