Qila Energy

THE ONLY COMPANY WITH FULL FUNDING FOR FARM AD PLANTS

If you are farming over 500 acres I would encourage you to consider a 499 kWe Snow Leopard 2-stage AD plant on your farm. We are the only UK developer with full funding available to pay for planning, grid connection, plant build and operation.

Through full funding, farmers get paid a site lease, to provide feedstock and an operator salary, with the opportunity to buy the plant as an operating asset in a couple of years. Or you can buy your plant from us directly.

We build a technology proven through 16 reference plants, the earliest of which has been operating since 2006 and all with 98% average full load operating hours p.a.

Feedstock for our 2-stage AD plant can be up to 80% fibrous feedstock (dry straw, manures) or 100% rough grass silage. These are feedstocks that any 1-stage technology (semi-plug flow) would struggle processing more than 20%.

Our 2-stage AD plants separate out the hydrolysis and methanogenesis process which means we have never had a tank go solid and our retention time is only 3 weeks. In a 1-stage AD plant, tanks often go solid because all 4 biological processes are competing and inhibiting each other and retention time is 3-6 months!

The time is now – get in touch and make money from cheap and widelyavailable farm feedstocks – get connected to 20 years of inflation linked income.

Yours sincerely,

Ruby JonesPartner, Qila Energy

The only UK company with straw digestion AD plants

7 years track record at 98% full load hours on fibrous feedstocks

Snow Leopard 2-stage in a nutshell

Hydrolysis tanks enable fibrous feedstock such as straw and grass to be entirely broken down in just a few days

Hydrolysis tanks are heated to 55°C,retention time is 4 days.55°C is what is needed to kill weed seeds and pathogens

Digester tank is heated to 44°C, retention time is 15 – 20 days.98.5-99.5% biogas is extracted fromevery tonne of feedstock in just 3 weeks

Use 20% less feedstock every yearcompared to a 1-stage AD plant

Separation of hydrolysis andmethanogenesis means optimisedbiology to breakdown fibrousfeedstocks and a more stableoperating AD plant. Tanks never go solid

Feedstock can be 80% straw-basedmanure, 1-stage AD plants couldonly handle 5-20% max

The total retention time of the AD plant is 3 weeks compared to 3-6 months for a 1-stage AD plant

Feedstock can be 100% poor qualityrough grass silage feedstock, impossible for 1-stage AD plants

You can use maize straw and rapeseed straw as feedstock, other ADtechnologies need expensivepre-treatment to do this

Grass from wetlands and flooded areas can be used as feedstock

Operating flexibility with 4 tanksand a pump room means verylimited downtime

Easy maintenance, enter thetanks through access doors –taking the roof off is expensive andtime consuming

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Snow Leopard AD Plant

GERMANY

Hamburg

Bremen

Hanover

Berlin

Dresden

Leipzig

Frankfurt

Nuremberg

Stuttgart

Munich

Snow Leopard ProjectsSnow Leopard Projects GmbH (SnowLeopard) is a biogas technology companybased in Germany, whose owner hasbeen building AD plants since 1995 andwho has built 45 plants across the worldto date.

Since 2006, on 16 separate sites inGermany, Snow Leopard has developeda unique 2-Stage biogas plant which isconsistently able to extract up to 30% more biogas from a tonne of feedstock compared to 1-stage AD plants.

A Snow Leopard 2-Stage AD plant contains 2 hydrolysis tanks and can

process up to 80% straw-based manurefeedstock. This is an exceptionally highpercentage of the overall feedstock when compared to typical 1-Stage AD plants (consisting of 1 digester tank and 1storage tank), that could at best process5-20% straw-based manure, but mostlyrequire homogeneous energy crop feedstocks.

Snow Leopard has also built across the world, in Chile, India, Kenya, Italy, Tanzania and Thailand

Dresden

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Snow Leopard reference plants in Germany

Nebauer, Simbach (2006)Duck manure, energy crops

BGA Wolde (2010)Chicken manure, cattle manure, grass silage, maize silage

Bioenergie Lichteneck, Grafenau (2011)Grass silage, horse manure, cattle slurry, cattle manure, stewardship grass, grain, maize silage

Bioenergiepark, Kolbermoor (2010)Horse manure with straw and sawdust, grass silage

625kWe

1MWe

610kWe

728kWe

Strigl, Pilsting, Großköllnbach (2008)Energy crops, maize silage, grass silage, rye silage

Energiehof Bieswang (2011)Cattle manure, maize silage, horse manure, grass silage

City of Baden-Baden (2010)Food waste, fat waste, sewage sludge

BGA Malching (2010)Pig manure, maize silage, rye silage, horse manure, cattle manure, cattle slurry, sorghum, stewardship grass, sarvazi grass

500kWe

600kWe

536kWe

250kWe

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Qila Energy AD Plant

UNITEDKINGDOM

LiverpoolManchester

Sheffield

Grimsby

Leeds

York

Norwich

Ipswich

Northampton

Oxford

London

Qila Energy

Norwich

Ipswich

Qila Energy is a UK based developer ofAD plants and the exclusive partner forSnow Leopard. The Qila team includesexperts in farming, feedstock & biogas,civil, construction & process engineers,project managers, grid & planningspecialists.

Farmers can buy the AD plantthemselves or they could be eligible forfull funding.

Full funding (planning, plant buildand operation paid for) is availablefor 499kWe AD plants. This meanseligible farmers get paid site rental, forfeedstock and an operator salary.

Qila Energy is currently in constructionor about to start construction on 8499kWe AD plants throughout theUK. Of these 8 plants, 7 farmers havereceived or are in the process of fullfunding and 1 farmer has self-funded viabank finance.

Qila Energy has funding available forover 30 AD plants at 499kWe eachacross the UK. The opportunity to get a499kWe fully funded AD plant on yourfarm will be available until April 2014 soplease get in touch now.

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The Snow Leopard 2-stage AD plant separates the hydrolysis/acidification process from the acetogenesis/methanogenesis process. The separation optimises the environment to suit each set of microbes which allows improved degradation of feedstock at a faster rate.

By having 2 separate hydrolysis tanks, the rate of the hydrolysis reaction is significantly increased, therefore reducing the retention time to just 3 weeks (compared to 3-6 months for 1-stage plants). By separating out hydrolysis the AD plant is able to digest a feedstock diet of 80% straw-based manure.

Hydrolysis is the first stage of the AD process and is when feedstock (carbohydrates, fats and proteins) is broken down into simple sugars, fatty acids and amino acids. Hydrolysis is the speed-determining process in breaking down feedstock that contains cellulose, hemi-cellulose and lignin. During hydrolysis, relatively small amounts of biogas are produced as biogas production reaches its peak during methanogenesis.

The second stage of AD is acidification.During acidification, simple sugars, amino acids and fatty acids are degraded further into acetate, carbon dioxide and hydrogen (70%), volatile fatty acids (e.g. ethanol and propionic acid) and alcohols (30%).

The third stage of AD is acetogenesis.During acetogenesis volatile fatty acids and alcohols are oxidised into methanogenic substrates – acetic acid, hydrogen and carbon dioxide, which serve as the initial products for methane formation.

The final stage of AD is methanogenesis. During methanogenesis, hydrogen is converted into methane. Acetogenesis and methanogenesis usually run parallel, as symbiosis of two groups of organisms.70% of the formed methane originates from acetate, while the remaining 30%is produced from conversion of hydrogen (H) and carbon dioxide (CO2). The totalmethane content of the biogas produced in this final stage could be anywherebetween 50 and 75%.

Getting biology right is important

4 BIOLOGICAL STEPSOF ANAEROBIC DIGESTION

BIOGAS

HYDROLYSISShort Chain Polymers

Amino AcidsFatty Acids, Sugars

FEEDSTOCKCarbohydrates, Fats, Proteins

ACIDIFICATIONShort Chain Organic Acids & Alchols

Carbon Acids, Alcohols, HydrogenCarbon Dioxide, Ammonia

ACETOGENESISAcetic Acid, CO₂, H₂

Acetic AcidCarbon Dioxide, Hydrogen

METHANOGENESISMethane, CO₂, H₂S

Methane, Carbon DioxideHydrogen Sulphide

OptimumTemperatureThermophilic50°C - 55°C

OptimumTemperatureThermophilic50°C - 55°C

OptimumTemperature

Mesophilic41°C - 44°C

OptimumTemperature

Mesophilic41°C - 44°C

OptimumpH

4.5 - 7(Acidic)

OptimumpH

4.5 - 7(Acidic)

OptimumpH

7 - 8(Neutral)

OptimumpH

7 - 8(Neutral)

4 biological steps of anaerobic digestion

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Differences between1-stage and Snow Leopard 2-stageLayout and Process ControlA Snow Leopard 2-stage AD plant separates out the 4 biochemical AD processes by using 2 hydrolysis tanks in addition to the digester and storage tanks and including a pump room to provide operational fl exibility. The result is 99.5% biogas extracted in just 3 weeks retention time.

The Snow Leopard 2-stage AD plant is designed to control temperature and pH, mixing is optimised via the hydrolysis tanks and gas production is controlled via dosing from the hydrolysis tanks.

In a 1-Stage AD plant all 4 biochemical processes occur simultaneously within a single digester tank. The 4 biochemical processes are fi nely balanced and sensitive to each other; when forced to occur in a single tank they mutually inhibit each other as their optimal temperature and pH are compromised.

As a result, the retention time is 3-6 months and the feedstock is not completely processed. The end amount of biogas produced will only be 70-85% of the potential biogas in a given tonne of feedstock. It is diffi cult to control temperature, pH, mixing and gas production in a 1-stage AD plant.

SNOW LEOPARD 2-STAGEpump room

SNOW LEOPARD 2-STAGEhydrolysis tanks

Layout of a Snow Leopard 2-Stage AD Plant

Layout of a typical 1-stage AD plant

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Differences between 1-stage and Snow Leopard 2-stage

FeedstockA Snow Leopard 2-stage AD plant isbuilt to process 80% straw-basedfeedstocks such as cattle manure orhorse manure. Feedstocks are fed intothe hydrolysis tank once a day oronce every 2 days and the digester isfed in batches.

100% of the feedstock could bechanged in 1 day as hydrolysis breaksdown the feedstock to the pointwhere it is homogenised. Methanebacteria therefore will not be upsetby any new variations in feedstockbut rather only be presented as ahomogeneous feedstock ready formethanisation post hydrolysis.

1-stage AD plants have to rely on80-100% energy rich feedstock such as energy maize. The feedstock will be loaded into the feeder every day and the digester will be continuously fed every 30 minutes. Variations in feedstock would have to be introduced in very small amounts, 5-15% of the total feedstock and over long periods of time so as not to upset the delicate balance of methane bacteria in the digester tank.

TYPICAL 1-STAGE80% maize silage

SNOW LEOPARD 2-STAGE80% straw-based feedstock

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How does it work? ■ Feedstock is loaded into hydrolysis

tank 1 by a feeder

■ The temperature in both hydrolysis tanks is circa 50-55°C (thermophilic) and the pH is 4.5 – 7 (acidic). This range of temperature and pH is considered ideal for the first 2 biological processes (hydrolysis and acidification) to occur at their optimum

■ The retention time in each hydrolysis tank is 1 – 2 days

■ Once the feedstock is ready for the final stages of acetification and methanisation it is pumped into the digester tank

■ The temperature in the digester tank is between 41 – 44°C (mesophilic) and the pH is 7.5 (neutral)

■ The retention time in the digester tank is 15 – 20 days

■ During these 15 – 20 days feedstock is completely broken down to produce biogas, which rises to the top of the digester tank and is collected by pipes

■ The gas is delivered by pipes to a combined heat and power (CHP) combustion engine

■ The CHP engine generates electricity whilst also capturing usable heat that is produced in this process (if this heat is used it attracts the Renewable Heat Incentive)

■ Generated electricity is exported to the national grid through a grid connection (this attracts the Feed in Tariff)

■ The heat that is captured could be used for heating farm houses, greenhouses, chicken sheds or other uses

■ Once the feedstock has been processed by the digester tank it is separated to create a liquid and a solids product (digestate)

■ The liquid digestate is piped to the storage tank which is sized to hold 6 months of digestate

■ The solid digestate (usually around 25% total solids after separation) can be used as soil conditioner and is available all year round

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Layout of a Snow Leopard 2-Stage AD plant1

1

4

2

2

5

36

7

Weighbridge

Feeding SystemPump Room

Digester Tank20m diameter, 8m height

Silage Clamps

Hydrolysis Tank 19m diameter, 6m height

Hydrolysis Tank 29m diameter, 6m height

PLANT OVERVIEW

A typical Snow Leopard 2-Stage AD plant consists of 4 tanks (2 hydrolysis, 1 digestion and 1 storage tank) located around the central pumping station.

The central pumping station manages the transfer of substrate between each of the tanks.

The pumps are reversible, allowing for operational fl exibility. The pumping station includes a macerator to cut fi brous particles down to a small particle size.

8 Storage Tank28m diameter, 8m height

4

5

3

9

10

11

9

6

12

12

10

7

13

13

11

8

Liquid Digestate Tanker Filling

Control Office

Solid Digestate Separator

Combined Heat & Power Engine (CHP)The CHP is housed in a soundproof container

Gas Flare

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A Snow Leopard 2-stage AD plant in pictures

Manure Feedstock in Clamps

Liquid digestate tanker filling

Feeding Unit

Crop Feedstock in Clamps

Liquid digestate pump

Weighbridge

Loader

Solid separator

Auger Feeder

Solid digestate Spreading solid digestate

Spreading liquid digestate

Digester Tank

Access & Maintenance

Pumping Room

Inside View

Pumping skid

2 Hydrolysis Tanks

Hydrolysis Tanks

Heating Pipes

Enter through doors with a bobcat

Vertical Paddle Stirrer

Stirrer

Doors for easy access

Macerator

Connection to Feeder

1 x Digester Tank

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Brewers Grain

Duck Manure

Cereal Grain Waste

Fodder Beet Silage

Cereal Straw

Grass Silage

Sunflower Silage

Pig Manure

Clover Silage

Lucerne Silage

Cattle Manure & Slurry

Field Margins

Crushed Maize Corn

Mustard

Sugar Beet Silage

Oil Seed Rape Straw

Crushed Cereal Grain

Maize Silage

Chicken Manure

Horse Manure

These feedstocks and more can be used in a Snow Leopard 2-Stage AD plant

Feedstocks A Snow Leopard 2-Stage AD plant operates on a flexible and varied diet. This provides greater feedstock security and promotes the establishment and growth of diverse bacterial colonies, allowing for continuous biogas production and maximum biogas extraction.

The key to the Snow Leopard 2-Stage AD plant lies in its optimised hydrolysis stage, giving major advantages over 1-Stage AD plants:

A wider, more diverse range of feedstocks can be used. In particular the optimised hydrolysis stage enables successful break down of hemi-cellulose and cellulose compounds, which 1-Stage AD plants struggle with.

A Snow Leopard 2-Stage AD plant can use up to 80% straw-based manure as its feedstock with the remaining 20% being an energy rich feedstock such as sugar beet or maize silage.

Because the hydrolysis tanks pre-treat and break down the feedstock before it enters the digester, using high proportions of straw-based manure will not result in foam or floating layers in the digester. 1-stage AD plants often suffer from floating layers developing in the digester and this causes financial losses.

Feedstocks are processed more efficiently with greater biogas yields (15 – 30% more).

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KTBL Feedstock MatrixKTBL is an independent not-for-profit organisation that is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection. KTBL publishes biogas yields from various agricultural feedstocks and these yields are used by the biogas industry as standard benchmarks for 1-stage AD plants.

A Snow Leopard 2-stage AD plant is proven through 16 reference plants to require 20-30% less feedstock than the KTBL matrix for a 1-stage AD plant. The Snow Leopard track record against KTBL has been independently verified by C.A.R.M.E.N (a not-for-profit organisation funded by the state of Bavaria).

Feedstock Type Dry Matter (as % Fresh Matter)

Volatile Solids (VS) (as % Dry Matter)

Methane Yield (m3 per tonne of VS)

Methane Content as % of Biogas

Cattle manure 25 85 250 55

Cattle slurry 10 80 210 55

Cereal grain waste 88 85 360 56

Cereal straw 86 90 210 52

Chicken manure 40 75 280 55

Clover silage 30 90 320 55

Crushed cereal grain 87 97 380 52

Crushed maize corn 87 98 380 52

Distillers grain 6 94 390 55

Fodder beet silage 16 90 360 52

Glycerol 100 99 430 50

Grass silage 35 90 320 53

Rough grass 50 85 100-200 50

Lucerne silage 30 90 290 55

Maize silage 33 95 340 52

Pig slurry 6 80 250 60

Sugar beet silage 23 90 360 52

Sunflower silage 25 90 300 57

Wholecrop rye 25 90 320 53

Wholecrop silage 33 95 330 53

Feedstock Type Tonnes Fresh Matter p.a.

Example 1

Cattle Manure (with Straw)

2,000

Cattle Slurry 1,000

Chicken Litter Broiler

2,750

Grass Silage 400

Green Rye 300

Maize Silage 2,257

Straw 950

TOTAL 9,657

Feedstock Type Tonnes Fresh Matter p.a.

Example 2

Cattle Manure (with Straw)

200

Chicken Litter Broiler

1,500

Cover Crop 750

Duck Manure 1,000

Maize Silage 3,097

Pig Manure 2,000

Rape Straw 500

Sugar Beet 1,500

TOTAL 10,547

Feedstock Type Tonnes Fresh Matter p.a.

Example 3

Cattle manure (with straw)

200

Chicken Litter Broiler

1,783

Cover crop 967

Pig manure 1,200

Pig slurry 4,000

Rape straw 1,540

Sugar beet 1,835

Wheat straw 2,000

TOTAL 13,525

Feedstock examples for a 499kWe plantThe following feedstock mixes would be suitable for a Snow Leopard 2-stage AD plant at 499kWe and requiring circa 10,000 tonnes of feedstock annually. Snow Leopard 2-stage AD plants can process over 50% of farm by-products and require very little (even zero) energy crops.

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Initial assessment Usually conducted by phone, we will ask you to complete our Assessment Form.

Grid application budget We submit a grid application budget to your local District Network Office (DNO) on your behalf. To do this we need from you a completed & signed Letter of Authority (LOA) and farm boundary map with prospective site for the AD plant indicated. It usually takes 20 days for the grid application budget to come back from the DNO.

Initial feedstock review We will conduct an initial feedstock review to determine whether you have (or have access to) the requisite amount and type of feedstock.

Site visit & evaluation We will visit you at your farm to review the potential locations on your farm for an AD plant and conduct an initial on-site planning and engineering review.

Initial financial review It is usually at this point we will ask you to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with us so that we can talk to you in depth about financing. This is necessary whether we are providing full funding or you are funding the plant yourself.

Submit full grid application Assuming the budget is viable (by this we mean there is available capacity and it is a reasonable quote), then we will submit a full grid application on your behalf. This can take up to 50 days to come back from the DNO. We then have up to 3 months to accept the offer.

Arrange trial pits & site surveys We will arrange initial tests and full site surveys to ensure the proposed AD plant site is ok to build on.

Prepare & submit planning application We will prepare and submit the planning application on your behalf.

Obtain planning permission It will take a minimum of 8 weeks from the application submission date for a planning decision to be made. During this time we will fully manage the planning consultation process.

Pre-construction phase To prepare for construction of the AD plant, we will tender work, produce detailed drawings, submit FIT pre accreditation and formally accept the grid offer from the DNO.

Construction (6-9 months) It takes between 6-9 months to construct the AD plant.During this time we manage the construction process and then plant commissioning.

Operate plant Once the AD plant is built and commissioned it can commence operation.

Our Process What should you expect when getting a Snow Leopard 2-Stage AD plant with Qila Energy? We will guide you through the process from your first contact with us right through to operating the plant. Here’s what to expect:

Are you eligible? ■ You should be farming in

excess of 500 acres (ideally under your ownership).

■ You need 10,000 – 15,000 tonnes of feedstock per annum (manure, slurry, chicken litter, waste vegetables, rotation crop, energy crop) from your farm or sourced locally. The exact amount of feedstock will depend on the type of feedstock you have, the dry matter content and its biogas potential.

■ You need a suitable site (approx. 1 hectare or circa 2.5 acres) on your farmland for the AD plant.

■ You need a grid connection located near the AD plant site (on your farmland).

Full funding can be arranged for 499 kWe Snow Leopard AD plants ONLY.

If you think you’re eligible for a 499 kWe Snow Leopard 2-stage AD plant on your farm and require full funding, please complete our Assessment Form at www.qilaenergy.com and email or post back to us.

Eligibility criteria for a fully funded 499 kWe Snow Leopard 2-stage AD plant

Eligible farmers are paid:

■ Annual land rent (index linked)

■ Feedstock payments ■ Annual operator salary ■ Annual operator

performance bonus

Full funding takes care of:

■ Site surveys, bore holes etc ■ Planning permission ■ Grid application ■ Building the plant ■ Maintaining the plant ■ Paying the farmer rent,

operator & feedstock ■ Paying all other expenses

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Notes

Notes

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Qila EnergyCall: 020 3603 3016Email: info@qilaenergy.comVisit: www.qilaenergy.comTwitter: @QilaEnergyUK