A PLANT that will produce power and heat from food waste also offers opportunities to local farmers.

Emerald Biogas want to open the region’s first commercial anaerobic digester on Newton Aycliffe industrial estate.

It will be capable of turning 40,000 tonnes of waste food and drink a year into power and heat for more than 9,000 homes.

But the company also hopes farms will supply it with 20,000 tonnes of animal slurries and 40,000 tonnes of energy-break crops a year.

Mixed with the food waste from shops, supermarkets and manufacturers, it will create biogas to heat and power local homes and businesses.

The process will leave a liquid product which will be turned into a bio-fertiliser farmers can use instead of expensive artificial fertilisers.

The Aycliffe digester could produce 80,000 tonnes of biofertiliser for use on 4,000 hectares – 9,884 acres – of agricultural land.

Emerald Biogas is a partnership between food waste company John Warren ABP Ltd, of Hamsterley, and farming company J&S Bainbridge, of Winston.

Anaerobic digestion is a natural biological process which involves breaking down or fermenting organic waste within a fully sealed, air-free environment.

Millions of bacteria feed on organic acids within the waste to produce the methane-rich biogas which is used for heating or to produce electricity.

The process reduces the amount of waste going to landfill and incineration and produces the bio-fertiliser as a byproduct.

Agronomist Ron Lees from BCS Agriculture, said a return to a more sustainable rotation in the region could only be good news.

He said: “The soil conditioning elements of the bio fertiliser, as well as the natural break in rotation, will help to lower costs through reduced inputs, as well as reducing the risk of nutrient leaching.”

More than 50 farms could eventually benefit from diversifying into sustainable rotation energy break crops and the availability of bio-fertiliser.

The crops, which are grown in a rotation, will be sourced from farms within a 20-mile radius of the plant to keep transport emissions to a minimum.

Ian Bainbridge, of Emerald Biogas, said: “By supplementing food waste inputs with locallysourced energy break crops, we are providing farmers with an alternative source of income and a chance to revert to a more sustainable crop rotation.

“Also, in producing a certified we are able to supply local farmers with a cost-effective, zerocarbon alternative to energy-intensive artificial fertiliser.”

A planning application has been submitted which could enable the facility to be in operation as early as 2011.

More details are available at emeraldbiogas.com.