North East & Yorkshire Premier Construction

JFS Associates Ltd

JFS Associates
Written by Roma Publications

JFS Associates

JFS Associates Ltd specialise in the development of Anaerobic Digestion plants and biogas projects throughout the UK.

Based in Stokesley, North Yorkshire, the company has been in operation for the past three years and continues to grow with the aim of owning and operating more than 25 plants by 2018.

Anaerobic digestion is a process which uses natural bacteria to digest feedstocks, including manures, grass, crops and even food waste, and converts this into a stream of biogas and a digestate which can be separated into fibrous material. The material can be used as a soil conditioner and a liquid containing valuable nutrients that can be spread to land as a bio-fertiliser.

To date JFS Associates have developed six anaerobic digestion plants which make use of this process, with a seventh scheme underway.

The first project which JFS Associates Ltd undertook was at a family-run farm in Ponsonby, Cumbria. The Stanley Renewable Energy project was built by Surgo Construction and designed to utilise feedstocks already generated by the farm, including grass silage, pig manure and pig slurry.

This initial project demonstrated to the company that there was a market for anaerobic digestion plants, so with some financial backing from UK Steel Enterprise, JFS Associates Ltd took on a second scheme; allowing the company to develop further.

Speaking to Premier Construction, JFS Associates Ltd Head of Projects, Gary Marshall, said:

“Our second project was in Guisborough, North Yorkshire. The project was a local scheme, taking place in the town where company directors Matthew Flint and Peter Johnson live. Both this and the first project completed construction and entered commissioning in the same year and this subsequently helped the company acquire further projects.”

The projects which followed included an arable farm near Northallerton in North Yorkshire; a pig farm near Thirsk in North Yorkshire; a dairy farm near Leyburn in North Yorkshire; and a beef unit near Pickering, also in North Yorkshire.

Gary said:

“At present, the first five of these projects are at various stages of commissioning, with the sixth project currently under construction.”

The project near Northallerton utilises feedstocks which include grass silage, cattle manure and vegetable waste. The technology provider on the project is UTS, whilst Surgo Construction was the contractor on the project.

UTS and Surgo Construction were also involved in both the Thirsk and Pickering schemes. The farm near Thirsk has the capacity to generate 500kw of energy per hour, whilst the farm near Leyburn has a 200kw capacity.

JFS Associates

A bi-product of the electrical generation is the creation of heat which can be used by the farm. The heat generated at the farm near Thirsk will be utilised to provide free underfloor heating for farrowing sows. This project utilises grass silage, pig manure and pig slurry produced by the farm in its energy process. The heat generated at the Northallerton Farm will help improve existing services such as grain drying and heating packaging buildings. This project utilises cattle manure, grass silage and waste vegetables produced on the farm, whilst the farm in Leyburn makes use of cattle slurry produced by its dairy herd.

Gary said:

“Our pipeline continues to grow. We started in a small business unit and as we have taken on more projects and staff we have had to move offices to bigger premises.

“We have six farm projects so far and we have just started on an 80,000 tonne food waste facility at Leeming Bar. We have a further six projects in the planning process, and with two others about to enter planning I believe we will exceed our plan of 25 schemes in five years.”

All of JFS Associates Ltd’s projects bring environmental benefits and as such are both rewarding to clients and the company.

Gary said:

“The projects have huge green credentials as well as helping the farmer diversify. They also help the farmers in resolving the eternal problem of how to store manure and slurry to satisfy the increasing demands of the Environment Agency.”

Gary added:

“I’ve never been involved in farming before I started here, but I could see the benefits of AD for all involved. This is an exciting new field in the UK which is developing at a pace and is something which I am pleased to be involved with.”

For more information about JFS Associates Ltd or the company’s schemes, please visit: www.jfsassociates.co.uk.

 

 UTS Biogas

UTS Biogas is one of the leading Anaerobic Digestion technology providers in the UK. Part of the Anaergia group and a subsidiary of UTS Biogastechnik GmBH, UTS Biogas has more than 20 years of experience in the AD/Biogas sector.

UTS Biogas UK provides turnkey anaerobic digestion facilities plus pre-treatment and post-treatment systems where necessary for a vast range of feed materials including food waste, agricultural wastes, crops and food production by-products. UTS Biogas Ltd was established in the UK in 2009, with its first UK project being a 700kW food waste AD facility for TEG Environmental at Glenfarg, Perth.

The success of this project was followed by a 2.4MW agricultural scheme for G’s Growers at May Farm, Ely and a flagship 1.4MW food waste plant in Dagenham for TEG Environmental. In 2014, UTS delivered six smaller scale agricultural based plants with outputs from 200kW to 500kW. Three of these 2014 projects were for JFS Associates at farms in North Yorkshire.

In 2015 UTS Biogas will be building more projects in the food and agricultural sectors; both gas to grid and also for grid electricity export.

Discussing the company’s association with JFS Associates, Mike Bullard of UTS Biogas Ltd, said:

“UTS have developed a great relationship with JFS Associates and have just embarked on Leeming Biogas, an 80,000 tonne per annum food waste gas to grid facility. There is good synergy with JFS and UTS are keen to develop this relationship further to closer collaborate/partner going forward on JFS’ future portfolio.

Mike Bullard, said:

“UTS prides itself on providing tailored solutions, using proven technology to provide clients with reliable and robust plants, which together with excellent customer service, should see UTS achieve their goal of being the No.1 AD technology provider in the UK market.”

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