Fuelling Ultra Light Rail Public Transport from a Gloucestershire Organic
Waste Treatment Plant: a feasibility analysis
Richard Davidson
Presented as part of the requirement for the award of MSc Degree
in Environmental Policy and Management
Within the Postgraduate Modular Scheme at
University of Gloucestershire
October 2010 ii
DECLARATION
This dissertation is the product of my own work and does not infringe the ethical principles
set out in the University‟s Handbook for Research Ethics.
I agree that it may be made available for reference via any and all media by any and all
means now known or developed in the future at the discretion of the University.
Signed:
Richard Davidson
Date: iii
ABSTRACT
The UK Government has enacted policy that sets limits on the levels of biodegradable waste
that can be sent to landfill and limits the levels of pollutant emissions from transport. The
Government has also signed up to the EU Renewable Energy Directive which sets a UK
target of 15 percent of energy from renewables by 2020. The aim of this thesis is to assess
the feasibility of producing a sufficient quantity and quality of biohydrogen from the organic
fraction of Gloucestershire‟s Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) to supply a hydrogen fuel to
operate an ultra light rail (ULR) system in Cheltenham and its surrounds
It is intended that this thesis will determine whether the utilisation of biohydrogen from
organic waste, as a transport fuel can provide a holistic solution for local authorities to meet
these national targets in medium-sized towns.
The thesis firstly focuses on evaluating the suitability of Gloucestershire’s organic waste for
utilisation as a feed stock in an Organic Waste to Fuel (WtF) Plant for biohydrogen
production and then assesses the waste treatment technologies currently available for
producing hydrogen. The thesis reviews the applicability of the different technology options
against a number of weighted criteria to assess which WtF technology would be the most
suitable for the needs of the Cheltenham ULR system. Criteria evaluated included
bankability, mass and energy balances, flexibility and financial analysis.
Based on the results of the technology evaluations, it was observed that anaerobic digestion
(AD) with steam methane reforming (SMR) would be the most suitable technology option for
the Cheltenham ULR systems needs. The results demonstrate that all of the technologies
evaluated could produce the quantities of hydrogen needed; however, the Kompogas AD
process coupled with SMR was shown to offer further potential in terms of its profitability and
the flexibility needed to ensure the project was viable.
Calculations show that the best technology would generate some 180 times the biohydrogen
requirements of Stage One of the proposed ULR system. On the basis of those findings it
suggests that sufficient biohydrogen could be produced to operate the entire proposed
Cheltenham ULR System by the treatment of Gloucestershir’s organic waste. The results are
encouraging and suggest that the concept of a light rail system designed for medium-sized
towns, powered by energy from the processing of waste is viable and could be replicated in
other medium-sized towns throughout Europe.