Autumn 2020 EN
The German Biogas Association presents the autumn 2020 issue of its English BIOGAS journal.
The German Biogas Association presents the autumn 2020 issue of its English BIOGAS journal.
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www.biogas.org<br />
German Biogas Association | ZKZ 50073<br />
<strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
BI<br />
The trade magazine of the biogas sector<br />
GAS Journal<br />
english issue<br />
Germany: Only few new bio methane<br />
plants in 2019 P. 6<br />
The transformation of automobile<br />
production P. 22<br />
Vietnam: No strategy for<br />
biogas production P. 37<br />
Including country reports from<br />
Vietnam and South Africa<br />
Fachverband Biogas e.V, Angerbrunnenstr. 12, 85356 Freising<br />
ZKZ 50073, PVSt, DPAG, Entgelt bezahlt 93##<br />
bigbenreklamebureau GmbH<br />
Frau Anja Klingenberg<br />
An der Surheide 29<br />
28870 Ottersberg Fischerhude
English Issue<br />
Biogas technology, flexible and tailored to fit<br />
Plants – Components – Extensions – Services<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
Case Study<br />
Biomethane plant with CO 2 recovery<br />
THE PROJECT<br />
The operating company SAS Métha Treil was founded in France<br />
by two livestock farms and two vegetable farms. “In the spirit of our<br />
sustainable business model, we have decided to fully exploit our<br />
resources and focus on the injection of biomethane,” explains<br />
Erwann Bocquier of SAS Métha Treil. “We engaged agriKomp for<br />
the realization, which was able to realize all processes of biogas<br />
production, purification and methane treatment.<br />
“A complete solution was very important to us. One of agriKomp’s<br />
strengths, in addition to 20 years of expertise and convincing<br />
components, is the project management”, emphasizes Bocquier.<br />
The agriPure ® type plant, which was in service in December<br />
2019, went into operation at a processing capacity of 250 Nm 3 /h.<br />
The biomethane produced is fed into the grid. At present, this<br />
represents 8 % of the gas consumption of the community.<br />
Manure, catch crop silage and green waste from the community’s<br />
own farms make up almost 95 % of the input. The plant is<br />
charged by a Vielfraß ® solids feeder and a combined premix unit.<br />
The digestate is separated with a Quetschprofi ® and re-applied as<br />
high-quality fertilizer.<br />
UNIQUE PLANT CONFIGURATION<br />
In addition, the operators realized a plant configuration unique in<br />
France through the recovery and utilization of CO 2 . The separated<br />
CO 2 from the biogas upgrading process is liquefied and sold to<br />
vegetable growers to improve plant growth in their greenhouses.<br />
Approximately 1.500 tons are to be produced per year.<br />
ALL FROM A SINGLE SOURCE CREATES SYNERGIES<br />
“It is always interesting to be involved in the entire planning and realization<br />
process, as this enables synergies. With this holistic concept, the operator has<br />
only one contact person who guarantees the technical availability of the plant.<br />
The clever combination of individual processes increases the efficiency of the<br />
overall system.<br />
At the Métha Treil site a sophisticated heating concept ensures savings.<br />
The recuperation of heat from the CO 2<br />
liquefaction and the compressor as<br />
well as the use of raw gas for heating the digesters enables an additional yield<br />
of 1 % biomethane. Considering these and other measures, savings of up to<br />
80.000 Euros per year can be achieved,” says Nicolas Dromer, head of major<br />
projects at agriKomp.<br />
BIOGAS 2 PLANTS. efficient. flexible. sovereign.<br />
Contact us for more information: info@agrikomp.com | www.agrikomp.com
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
Editorial<br />
Biogas at the<br />
Tipping Point<br />
Dear Readers,<br />
When people talk about the tipping point, they usually<br />
mean the tipping point in the earth’s climate system.<br />
The idea of tipping factors was first published in the<br />
IPCC report in 2001. The article pointed out that human<br />
influence may cause extreme intermittent, irreversible<br />
events to occur in connection with global warming.<br />
This means that, for example, the ice in the Artic and<br />
the Antarctic has melted to such an extent that people<br />
will have to do more than just change their habits to enable<br />
it to revert its former state. To stop our climate system<br />
from tipping, global warming will have to be limited<br />
to a maximum of 2 degrees centigrade – even better, 1.5<br />
degrees centigrade. One way of reaching this target is to<br />
foster use of biogas technology.<br />
And it was this very issue of biogas technology that<br />
the President of the Federal Association of Renewable<br />
Energies e.V. Dr. Simone Peter addressed in July when<br />
she also mentioned the tipping point. At the press conference<br />
for the publication of the industry figures, she<br />
warned that the use of biogas in Germany is at a tipping<br />
point. And our President Horst Seide announced that<br />
growth of the technology is starting to decline.<br />
Although just under 100 new plants were built in 2019<br />
as opposed to a mere total of 15 decommissioned<br />
plants, Fachverband Biogas e.V. expects a significant<br />
decline in the number of existing systems and also in<br />
power and heat supply in <strong>2020</strong> for the first time since<br />
the Renewable Energies Act (EEG) came into effect.<br />
In <strong>2020</strong>, there is expected to be a net number of over<br />
160 decommissioned plants, while the number of new<br />
plants will stay constant<br />
The pending Renewable Energies Act amendment will<br />
be a crucial factor in deciding whether the tipping point<br />
for the biogas industry will be exceeded. It will be up<br />
to the policymakers to reverse the trend and thus ensure<br />
that the various positive effects of using biogas<br />
are maintained. But the Federal Government has to act<br />
now to tackle the demands of the industry and the federal<br />
states. Without the necessary framework set by the<br />
2021 Renewable Energies Act to give biogas plant operators<br />
the economic opportunity they need, the decline<br />
will become a very real threat! The industry urgently<br />
needs positive signs.<br />
Both the challenges and the opportunities (of the 2021<br />
Renewable Energies Act) will be important issues at this<br />
year’s Biogas Convention (more on that on page 25). A<br />
lot will be new! Because of the corona pandemic, Fachverband<br />
Biogas e.V. will hold its annual convention in<br />
digital form for the first time. Although digital technology<br />
cannot replace personal and physical interaction,<br />
it may have pushed things past the tipping point from<br />
which the biogas industry will benefit in the future.<br />
Because digitalization will open up new opportunities<br />
and new ways of communication, and in that way may<br />
cut unnecessary traveling times. Less traveling also<br />
means reduced costs and better climate protection. That<br />
is just one more contribution to prevent tipping points in<br />
our climate system. I look forward to welcoming as many<br />
biogas enthusiasts as possible to the digital Biogas Convention<br />
to talk about some of the tipping points.<br />
Warm regards,<br />
Dr. Stefan Rauh,<br />
Director Fachverband Biogas e.V.<br />
3
English Issue<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
Optimum agitator technology for every substrate<br />
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– All types of agitators<br />
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www.eisele.de<br />
Publisher:<br />
German Biogas Association<br />
General Manager Dr. Claudius da Costa Gomez<br />
(Person responsible according to German press law)<br />
Andrea Horbelt (editorial support)<br />
Angerbrunnenstraße 12<br />
D-85356 Freising<br />
Phone: +49 81 61 98 46 60<br />
Fax: +49 81 61 98 46 70<br />
e-mail: info@biogas.org<br />
Internet: www.biogas.org<br />
Editor:<br />
Martin Bensmann<br />
German Biogas Association<br />
Phone: +49 54 09 9 06 94 26<br />
e-mail: martin.bensmann@biogas.org<br />
Advertising management & Layout:<br />
bigbenreklamebureau GmbH<br />
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Printing:<br />
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The newspaper, and all articles contained within<br />
it, are protected by copyright.<br />
Articles with named authors represent the opinion<br />
of the author, which does not necessarily coincide<br />
with the position of the German Biogas Association.<br />
Reprinting, recording in databases, online<br />
services and the Internet, reproduction on data<br />
carriers such as CD-ROMs is only permitted after<br />
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Eis-ZM-19011_AZ_115x77.indd 4<br />
1 09.05.19 16:40
Biogas Journal | <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong> English Issue<br />
Editorial<br />
3 Biogas at the Tipping Point<br />
By Dr. Stefan Rauh,<br />
Director Fachverband Biogas e.V.<br />
4 Imprint<br />
Germany<br />
6 Biomethane<br />
Only few new plants in 2019<br />
By Dipl.-Ing. agr. (FH) Martin Bensmann<br />
10 Development of Gas Injection<br />
By Dipl.-Journ. Wolfgang Rudolph<br />
10<br />
13 Interview<br />
Conventional natural gas: similar amount<br />
of emissions as oil and coal<br />
Interviewer: Dipl.-Ing. · Dipl.-Journ. Martina Bräsel<br />
16 Using biowaste without the risk of impurities<br />
By Dipl.-Journ. Wolfgang Rudolph<br />
22 Green on the production line? The transformation<br />
of automobile production in Germany<br />
By Dipl.-Ing. · Dipl. Journ. Martina Bräsel<br />
25 BIOGAS Convention International <strong>2020</strong> – Goes Virtual!<br />
26 Charging electric vehicles at the adventure farm<br />
By Christian Dany<br />
30 Combined drive: gas and electric power<br />
By Rouven Zietz<br />
33 Using compost eluate to “boost” biogas plants<br />
By Dr. Sandra Off, Dipl.-Ing. Birte Mähl, Dipl.-Ing. Dietmar<br />
Ramhold and Prof. Dr. Paul Scherer<br />
Country reports<br />
37 Vietnam<br />
Lack of overall strategy on the expansion<br />
of biogas production<br />
By Ms. Le Thi Thoa<br />
30 South Africa<br />
A market waiting to be developed<br />
By Sayuri Chetty and Malett Balmer<br />
CoverPhoto: Ho Thi Lan Huong I Photos: Danpower, Carmen Rudolph, Christian Dany<br />
16<br />
26<br />
5
English Issue<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
Biomethane<br />
Only few new plants in 2019<br />
The number of newly constructed plants that feed biomethane into the natural gas grid<br />
remains stagnant in the lower single-digit range. According to research by our jounalists,<br />
at the end of 2019 there were 206 biomethane feed-in plants in operation.<br />
By Dipl.-Ing. agr. (FH) Martin Bensmann<br />
Five new biomethane feed-in plants were connected<br />
to the German natural gas grid last<br />
year (see Figure 1), which is one plant more<br />
than in 2018. At the end of 2019, a total of<br />
206 plants were feeding biomethane into the<br />
German natural gas grid. Last year, raw gas treatment<br />
capacity reached 4,950 standard cubic meters per<br />
hour (Figure 2). Two of the new feed-in plants were built<br />
in Thuringia, two in Saxony-Anhalt and one in Baden-<br />
Württemberg. In addition, in December 2018 another<br />
feed-in plant started operation in Saxony and is now<br />
included in these statistics. Overall, the plants are distributed<br />
across the German federal states as follows:<br />
Lower Saxony: 31<br />
Saxony-Anhalt: 35 (+2)<br />
Bavaria: 18<br />
Brandenburg: 24<br />
Hesse: 14<br />
North Rhine-Westphalia: 14<br />
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: 18<br />
Saxony: 14<br />
Baden-Württemberg: 14 (+1)<br />
Thuringia: 11 (+2)<br />
Schleswig-Holstein: 4<br />
Rhineland-Palatinate: 6<br />
Berlin, Saarland, Hamburg: 1 each<br />
The feed-in plants have raw gas treatment capacities<br />
between 650 and 1,500 standard cubic meters per<br />
hour. In total, the raw gas treatment capacity for the<br />
previous year was 4,950 standard cubic meters per<br />
hour. This was 1,050 standard cubic metres greater<br />
than in 2018. The total established raw gas treatment<br />
capacity in Germany increased to 216,415 standard<br />
cubic meters per hour by the end of 2019.<br />
One of the new plants built last year is used for the<br />
fermentation of biowaste. The other four use renewable<br />
raw materials. One of the plants uses membrane technology<br />
to clean the raw gas, two use a physical scrubbing<br />
process, and the fourth plant cleans the raw gas<br />
with amine scrubbing. The fifth plant uses pressurised<br />
water scrubbing.<br />
At an average annual run time of about 8,500 hours,<br />
the 206 plants connected to the natural gas grid can<br />
process 1.83 billion cubic meters of raw biogas. If the<br />
Photos: Hitachi Zosen Inova<br />
6
Biogas Journal | <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong> English Issue<br />
Set up of a treatment plant in a container where the so-called membrane technology is used.<br />
BIOGASANALYSIS<br />
SSM 6000<br />
the classic for the discontinuous<br />
analysis of CH 4<br />
, H 2<br />
S, CO 2<br />
, H 2<br />
and O 2<br />
with and without gas preparation<br />
* proCAL for SSM 6000 fully<br />
automatic calibration<br />
without test gas<br />
for NO x<br />
, CO und O 2<br />
, several points<br />
of measurements<br />
*<br />
average methane content of the raw biogas<br />
is estimated at 55 percent, because most<br />
of the plants ferment renewable raw materials,<br />
theoretically about 1,011 billion<br />
cubic meters of biomethane could be fed<br />
into the German natural gas grid. This is<br />
equivalent to about 17 percent of the natural<br />
gas produced in Germany in 2019.<br />
The natural gas production in Germany<br />
decreased by about 4 percent in 2019 to<br />
59 billion kilowatt hours (kWh). One percent<br />
of the natural gas consumption in<br />
Germany in the past year was generated by<br />
bio methane. Moreover, the current production<br />
volume is sufficient for providing an<br />
entire supply of biomethane for about 2.8<br />
million German households (consumption<br />
of 3,500 kWh of heat per year).<br />
Outlook: The number of newly constructed<br />
biomethane feed-in plants will likely remain<br />
at a low single-digit level in <strong>2020</strong>.<br />
At the time of publishing this Journal, only<br />
two plants were known to be connected to<br />
the grid soon.<br />
2019: The natural gas<br />
consumption has increased<br />
According to the Working Group on Energy<br />
Balances (AG Energiebilanzen), “based on<br />
preliminary data, the natural gas consumption<br />
in Germany in 2019 increased by a<br />
good 3 percent to 982 billion kWh. Several<br />
factors are responsible for this increase.<br />
In particular, the increased use of natural<br />
gas to generate electricity and heat in the<br />
power plants and CHPs of electrical power<br />
providers resulted in a significant rise in<br />
consumption. The weather in the first half<br />
of 2019, which was at times considerably<br />
colder than during the same period in the<br />
previous year, caused turnover to increase<br />
above all in private households, but also<br />
in the commercial, trade and service sectors.<br />
Continual new construction of apartments<br />
heated by natural gas intensified<br />
the increase in consumption. On the other<br />
hand, the economic slowdown resulted in<br />
a decrease in industrial demand for natural<br />
gas, which curbed growth in consumption”.<br />
[...]”The percentage of natural gas in the<br />
overall primary energy consumption increased<br />
by 1.3 % over 2018 to 24.9 %<br />
in 2019. [...] 94.0 % of the natural gas<br />
used in Germany was imported. On balance,<br />
in 2019 nearly 53 billion kWh of<br />
natural gas were fed into storage. Near the<br />
end of 2019, natural gas storage tanks in<br />
Germany were 97 % full. This is the first<br />
time that storage tanks have been this full<br />
at the end of a year. According to initial<br />
figures, 9.8 billion kWh were supplied to<br />
the German natural gas grid from biogas<br />
processed to natural gas quality. In 2018,<br />
10.3 billion kWh were supplied. Nearly 8<br />
billion of these kWh were used to generate<br />
electricity; about 0.5 billion kWh were<br />
used for fuel; about 0.5 billion kWh were<br />
part of the turnover in the heating market<br />
(space heating, hot water). Another 1.0<br />
billion kWh were used in material applications,<br />
exported or used in other ways”.<br />
[...]”Germany is to a considerable extent or<br />
entirely a net importer of fossil fuels (hard<br />
coal, mineral oil, natural gas).In 2018, energy<br />
consumption was covered by imports<br />
of 88 % of hard coal, 99 % of petroleum<br />
and 97 % for natural gas. In contrast,<br />
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BIOGAS ANALYSIS EQUIPM<strong>EN</strong>T<br />
WATER ANALYSIS EQUIPM<strong>EN</strong>T<br />
AGRICULTURAL EQUIPM<strong>EN</strong>T<br />
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7
English Issue<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
Figure 1: Development Entwicklung of biomethane der Zahl der feed-in Biomethaneinspeiseanlagen plants in Germany, annual in Deutschland, expansion jährlicher since 2006 Zubau seit 2006<br />
35<br />
35<br />
30<br />
32<br />
29<br />
25<br />
20<br />
19<br />
23<br />
15<br />
17<br />
16<br />
10<br />
5<br />
0<br />
10<br />
7<br />
5 5<br />
3<br />
2 3<br />
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019<br />
Source: German Biogas Association, Status as of: 15 th April <strong>2020</strong><br />
Quelle: Fachverband Biogas e.V., Stand: 15. April <strong>2020</strong><br />
Entwicklung<br />
Entwicklung<br />
der<br />
der<br />
Rohgasaufbereitungskapazität<br />
Rohgasaufbereitungskapazität<br />
in<br />
in<br />
Nm<br />
Nm 3 /h 3 /h<br />
in<br />
in<br />
Deutschland,<br />
Deutschland,<br />
jährlicher<br />
jährlicher<br />
Zubau<br />
Zubau<br />
seit<br />
seit<br />
2006<br />
2006<br />
und<br />
und<br />
kumuliert<br />
kumuliert<br />
Figure 2: Development of raw gas treatment capacity in Nm³/h in Germany, annual and cumulative since 2006<br />
250.000<br />
250.000<br />
200.000<br />
200.000<br />
175.165<br />
175.165<br />
190.465<br />
190.465<br />
202.665<br />
202.665<br />
207.565 211.465<br />
207.565 211.465<br />
216.415<br />
216.415<br />
150.000<br />
150.000<br />
125.065<br />
125.065<br />
151.915<br />
151.915<br />
100.000<br />
100.000<br />
89.865<br />
89.865<br />
56.665<br />
56.665<br />
36.835<br />
50.000<br />
36.835<br />
50.000<br />
33.200 35.200<br />
28.250 33.200 35.200<br />
28.250 19.830<br />
26.850 23.250<br />
19.830<br />
26.850 23.250 15.300<br />
3.950 15.300<br />
3.950 8.585<br />
12.200<br />
1.000 8.585<br />
12.200<br />
1.000 2.950 4.635 4.900 3.900 4.950<br />
2.950 4.635 4.900 3.900 4.950<br />
0<br />
0<br />
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019<br />
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019<br />
Annual Jährl. Zubau increase d. Rohgasaufbereitungskapazität of raw treatment capacity in Nm³/h<br />
Jährl. Zubau d. Rohgasaufbereitungskapazität in Nm³/h<br />
Quelle: Source: Fachverband German Biogas e.V., Association, Stand: 15. Status April as <strong>2020</strong> of: 15 Cumulative Kumulierter increase Zubau d. of Rohgasaufbereitungskapazität<br />
raw treatment capacity<br />
Quelle: Fachverband Biogas e.V., Stand: 15. April <strong>2020</strong><br />
th April <strong>2020</strong><br />
Kumulierter Zubau d. Rohgasaufbereitungskapazität<br />
100 % of the consumed lignite was provided from native<br />
resources and the nearly all of the energy from<br />
renewable resources came from native production. In<br />
total, Germany relied on imports of 71 % of its energy<br />
supply in 2018.<br />
In general, this situation did not change in 2019. Due<br />
to the complete stoppage of domestic production at<br />
the end of 2018, dependency on imports for hard coal<br />
increased to 100 % in 2019. At the same time, native<br />
production of lignite decreased by 21 % and that<br />
of renewable energies increased by 6 %. For electrical<br />
power, the export surplus of 2019 continued, though<br />
it decreased with respect to the previous year by 58<br />
PJ (or more than 16 billion kWh). Based on the initial<br />
calculations, these changes (with an overall decrease in<br />
primary energy consumption) reflect a slight increase in<br />
the import ratio; dependency on imports will likely still<br />
be nearly 71 % in 2019.<br />
Author<br />
Dipl.-Ing. agr. (FH) Martin Bensmann<br />
Editor, Biogas Journal<br />
German Biogas Association<br />
+49 54 09/90 69 426<br />
martin.bensmann@biogas.org<br />
8
Biogas Journal | <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong> English Issue<br />
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English Issue<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
Development of Gas Injection<br />
The Flex CHP unit with<br />
an output of 1.1 megawatt<br />
works according<br />
to a schedule based on<br />
demand. The continual<br />
supply of heat during<br />
downtimes is ensured<br />
by a heat accumulator<br />
with a storage capacity<br />
of 100 m³.<br />
Danpower has optimally equipped the biogas plant in Gröbern for the future with<br />
an additional fermentation level, gas treatment and a FlexCHP system.<br />
By Dipl.-Journ. Wolfgang Rudolph<br />
The biogas industry has undergone an intense<br />
period of change over the past two decades.<br />
This fact is particularly illustrated by the<br />
development of the biogas plant in Gröbern<br />
near the city of Meißen (Saxony). Biogas<br />
production was set up there on a landfill site in 2007<br />
by a group of investors based in Lichtenstein. Besides<br />
generating renewable power, the aim was to recover the<br />
heat needed to dry sewage sludge on the site instead of<br />
using oil-fired boilers and to heat the landfill operator<br />
buildings.<br />
The sludge was fermented in two square horizontal digesters<br />
with a volume of 1.250 cubic meters (m³) each<br />
and horizontal agitators. Only maize silage mixed with<br />
recycled matter was used as input. When the drying<br />
process was discontinued in 2010, the biogas plant<br />
became economically less viable and would probably<br />
have been closed down if the Danpower Group had not<br />
acquired it in 2013.<br />
Based in Potsdam, Danpower is wholly owned by Stadtwerke<br />
Hannover AG. The heat supply and contracting<br />
company has various subsidiaries throughout Germany<br />
that operate or supervise both gas processing biogas<br />
plants and combined heat and power plants. The biomethane<br />
financially provided by the natural gas grid<br />
enables climate-friendly power and heat prescribed by<br />
the Renewable Energy Law to be generated for housing,<br />
commerce, and industry in over 80 communities,<br />
mainly in the eastern part of Germany.<br />
High-energy sugar beet pulp at a second<br />
fermentation level<br />
After the takeover, Danpower extensively modernized<br />
the plant for a total of 11.5 million euros over a construction<br />
period of two years, thus getting it into shape<br />
to meet future requirements. That included adding two<br />
more digesters to the plant. Each of the round concrete<br />
containers has a capacity of 5,000 m³. In addition, the<br />
volume of stored gas was increased to 3,600 m³ by<br />
covering the container with double membranes.<br />
“Besides enhancing performance, the fermentation<br />
level integrated in the pulp flow enabled substrates to<br />
be used in the form of sugar beets grown in the region<br />
known as Lommatscher Pflege that is characterized by<br />
its good soil,” says Karsten Krieg, who is the director of<br />
the subsidiary Bioreg GmbH. The farmers are very happy<br />
about this sales potential, as the traditional marketing<br />
lines for sugar beets collapsed after the shutdown<br />
of the sugar plant in Brottewitz.<br />
After stones and soil are removed by vibrating sieves<br />
and brushing rollers, the supplied sugar beets are<br />
stored in a slap silo as whole fruit. Before the sugar<br />
PHotos: Danpower<br />
10
Biogas Journal | <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong> English Issue<br />
beets go into the Havelberger 100 m³ volume sliding<br />
floor doser, they go through another round of mechanical<br />
cleaning.<br />
Beet pulp combined with maize<br />
The beet pulp is then funneled and transported via a<br />
screw feeder into the front chamber of the “Bio-Mix”<br />
pump made by Wangen, where it is mixed with recycled<br />
material. Then the connected eccentric screw pump<br />
conveys the mashed substrate into the first of the series-connected<br />
round fermenters. Here the beet pulp<br />
meets the maize silage that has not fully fermented<br />
after a period of around 20 days in the rectangular fermenter<br />
and is therefore still biologically highly active.<br />
“That not only generates residual gas potential from the<br />
first fermentation level. So many microbes keep flowing<br />
into the round digester together with the extensively decomposed<br />
maize fibres that the high-energy beets are<br />
almost entirely converted to biogas in a stable fermentation<br />
process without the risk of acidification,” says<br />
the 47-year old Process Engineer.<br />
The sugar beets could also be fermented in one single<br />
container. But when the plant was designed, the company<br />
opted for two digesters that worked redundantly to<br />
ensure operational safety. According to Krieg, the idea<br />
behind this was that an accumulation of sand cannot<br />
be avoided when the beets are put in. If cleaning is<br />
required, this can be done at each of the containers alternately<br />
without interrupting the production of biogas.<br />
Since the facility’s upgrade, around 50,000 tons of<br />
substrate have been used every year, approx. half of<br />
each consists of maize silage and sugar beets. Part of<br />
the fully fermented material is pressed off by a separator<br />
before it is fed into the storage tank. Additional<br />
benefit: It is easier to store the separated solids and in<br />
particular to transport them for use as fertilizer. A total<br />
of 32,000 tons of liquid digestate and 5,000 tons of<br />
solid fraction are produced every year.<br />
Innovative approach to biogas upgrading<br />
Since the plant complex was modernized, 90 percent<br />
of the 11.5 million m³ of the biogas produced each year<br />
has been upgraded to natural gas quality and once it<br />
has been compressed to 50 bar, has been fed into the<br />
natural gas grid of Ontras Gastransport GmbH. Converting<br />
a maximum of 1,200 standard cubic meters (Nm³)<br />
of raw biogas to 600 Nm³ of biomethane is done by<br />
physical scrubbing at a plant run by Schwelm.<br />
It operates on the principle of pressure swing adsorption,<br />
in which the varying solubility of the main components<br />
in biogas, carbon dioxide (CO 2<br />
) and methane<br />
(CH 4<br />
) is applied. This effect is heightened by increased<br />
pressure and by a temperature increase that results<br />
in the columns. The CO 2<br />
dissolves almost completely<br />
in the liquid, while the biomethane with a content of<br />
around 98 percent is discharged over the dome of the<br />
reaction tank, dried and conditioned before being fed<br />
Karsten Krieg, Director of BIOREG<br />
Energy & Recycling GmbH.<br />
into the grid by adding liquid<br />
gas to the biomethane.<br />
As it expands, just like when<br />
a bottle of carbonated drink is<br />
opened, the CO 2<br />
in the flash<br />
column is released from the<br />
liquid. Once the CO 2<br />
is fully<br />
removed, blowing in air makes<br />
the liquid receptive again. The<br />
gas mixture of air and carbon<br />
dioxide (stripgas) still contains<br />
small amounts of methane. The<br />
regenerative thermal oxidizer<br />
(RTO) for post-combustion has<br />
the job of removing this residual<br />
quantity from the exhaust gas.<br />
CO 2<br />
scrubbing with an alcohol solution<br />
One of the special features of the upgrading concept<br />
developed by Schwelm is that instead of water that is<br />
usually used for physical absorption, an alcoholic solution<br />
(solvent) acts as a medium to scrub the CO 2<br />
. “That<br />
prevents biological contaminants that are carried along<br />
from being retained in the containers of the column.<br />
That increases service reliability and saves costs,” says<br />
Krieg when mentioning the advantages.<br />
The operating company generates power and heat<br />
from the remaining raw biogas. The CHP plant has an<br />
electrical power capacity of just under 1.1 megawatts<br />
(MG). As it supplies the power according to an arranged<br />
schedule based on demand, it only runs for 2,000<br />
hours per year. The resulting thermal energy is sufficient<br />
to supply the buildings of the Nero GmbH landfill<br />
operator with heat as stipulated in the contract. An interconnected<br />
heat accumulator with a volume of 100<br />
m³ ensures continual heat supply, despite the flexible<br />
operation and resulting interruptions that occur during<br />
operation of the CHP plant.<br />
According to Danpower, the modernization and expansion<br />
of the plant will ensure the operation of the biogas<br />
plant in Gröbern for a long time. Once the initial<br />
funding period has expired in 2027, there are plans<br />
to participate in calls for tender to pave the way for<br />
subsequent funding until 2037. According to the<br />
Gas upgrading by Schwelm Alagentechnik GmbH<br />
works on the principle of pressure swing adsorption.<br />
An alcohol solution is used instead of water as a<br />
medium to scrub the CO 2<br />
.<br />
11
English Issue<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
director, sales of biomethane are guaranteed, as the<br />
CHP units that use it to generate energy throughout<br />
Germany mostly went into operation between 2012 and<br />
2013 and therefore will be receiving Renewable Energy<br />
Law funding for some time to come.<br />
Problems caused by the elimination of<br />
avoided grid charges<br />
“The anticipated elimination of the share in the socalled<br />
avoided grid charges gave us cause for concern,<br />
as they are an essential part of the profitability of biogas<br />
plants with biomethane upgrading,“ Krieg admits. This<br />
grant is governed by the Gas Network Access Regulation<br />
that prioritizes renewable gases, similarly to electricity,<br />
and obliges the gas grid operators to purchase the gas.<br />
Legislature also assumes the grid operators will save<br />
on operating costs if the gas is fed into the grid and is<br />
used regionally instead of being acquired from Russia<br />
or Norway and transported to the consumer from far<br />
away. The regulation specifies that the cost benefit due<br />
to “avoided grid charges” has to be passed on to the<br />
input sources.<br />
“But this is limited to a period of ten years. As we didn’t<br />
start feeding into the grid in Gröbern until 2014, the<br />
rule for us would expire in 2024,” said the director. Although<br />
possible subsequent funding is currently being<br />
discussed, Danpower is also working on concepts for<br />
better profitability of biogas production, e.g. by direct<br />
sales of biomethane as fuel or as a raw material in the<br />
chemical industry.<br />
He said that there are talks with gas traders, who supply<br />
the chemical companies, and with forwarding agents<br />
and bus companies whose vehicles are in service in residential<br />
areas. Tighter environmental regulations would<br />
be of mutual benefit. Current efforts to apply market<br />
mechanisms to promote sustainability would also lead<br />
to further value-creating opportunities beyond the Renewable<br />
Energy Law funding, namely by selling CO 2<br />
reduction certificates. “Of course, that’s a great challenge.<br />
On the other hand, the different overall conditions<br />
have apparently boosted technology. And that can<br />
really benefit the future of the biogas industry,” says<br />
Karsten Krieg.<br />
Author<br />
Dipl.-Journ. Wolfgang Rudolph<br />
Freelance Journalist<br />
Rudolph Reportagen - Agriculture,<br />
the Environment, Renewable Energies<br />
Kirchweg 10 · 04651 Bad Lausick, Germany<br />
+49 3 43 45/26 90 40<br />
info@rudolph-reportagen.de<br />
www.rudolph-reportagen.de<br />
Biogas Convention<br />
vom 16.–20.11.<strong>2020</strong><br />
» energie- und Klimapolitik,<br />
Zukunftsprojekte, Düv, awsv,<br />
tras, rote gebiete, emissionen,<br />
gärprodukte, Praxisberichte<br />
(Vorträge in Deutsch)<br />
Biogas Convention international<br />
vom 08.–12.12.<strong>2020</strong><br />
16. – 20. November <strong>2020</strong><br />
18 – 20 November <strong>2020</strong>, Hanover, Germany<br />
<strong>2020</strong> goes<br />
virtual!<br />
» the future of Biogas, german<br />
Biogas Competence, standards,<br />
Biomethane, Best practice,<br />
international projects, innovations<br />
(presentations in English)<br />
08. – 10. Dezember <strong>2020</strong><br />
www.biogas-convention.com<br />
12
Biogas Journal | <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong> English Issue<br />
A switch from coal and<br />
crude oil in the electricity,<br />
heating and transport<br />
sectors with fracking<br />
natural gas, as the federal<br />
government is aiming for<br />
with the LNG terminals,<br />
would strengthen the<br />
greenhouse effect when<br />
switching from coal to<br />
natural gas by around<br />
40 percent.<br />
Interview<br />
Conventional natural gas: similar<br />
amount of emissions as oil and coal<br />
In September 2019, shortly before the German federal government passed resolutions<br />
about reaching climate protection goals, the Energy Watch Group (EWG) presented the<br />
newest scientific information regarding the suitability of natural gas for future use. The<br />
study calculated the climate effects of natural gas based on current research about<br />
methane and CO 2<br />
emissions over the entire supply chain. Hans-Josef Fell, co-author of the<br />
study and President of the EWG, is calling for rethinking the current political debate about<br />
the future of the energy sector. We spoke with him about the results of the study and the<br />
political and economic background.<br />
Interviewer: Dipl.-Ing. · Dipl.-Journ. Martina Bräsel<br />
Photo: EyeUbiquitous_FOTOFINDER.COM<br />
Biogas Journal: Mr. Fell, why was the study carried out?<br />
Hans-Josef Fell: The time window for preventing dangerous<br />
climate change will be closing in just a few<br />
years. Climate protection can only succeed if worldwide<br />
emissions contain almost no climate endangering<br />
gases by 2030. Unfortunately, despite international<br />
UN conventions and countless agreements, climate<br />
emissions reached a new high in 2018. In 2019, global<br />
warming already reached 1.1 degrees Celsius. We are<br />
experiencing extreme weather and an accelerated rise<br />
in sea level all over the world.<br />
However, not only global CO 2<br />
emissions, but also rising<br />
methane emissions are causing increasing damage to<br />
the climate. In recent years, climate researchers have<br />
determined a continuous increase in methane concentrations<br />
in the atmosphere. Scientists discovered that<br />
increased consumption of natural gas is the cause. And<br />
the proportion of methane among all greenhouse gases<br />
is already 41 percent.<br />
Biogas Journal: The result of the study is that natural gas<br />
does not contribute to climate protection, but instead,<br />
even accelerates climate change. Why is that?<br />
13
English Issue<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
Fell: Over the last ten years, natural gas consumption<br />
has risen more quickly than that of other fossil energy<br />
sources, resulting in a proportionate increase in global<br />
carbon emissions. With conventional<br />
natural gas, which is still<br />
transported primarily through<br />
pipelines, we see emissions at<br />
a level similar to oil and coal.<br />
But the use of these energy<br />
sources continues to decrease.<br />
Natural gas is now obtained to<br />
a greater extent by fracking. In<br />
this controversial process, rock<br />
is broken open by deep drilling<br />
followed by directing water into<br />
the deposit at high pressure.<br />
In addition to increasing emissions<br />
from natural gas production,<br />
which are the main source<br />
Hans Josef Fell<br />
for the rise in atmospheric methane, there is a second<br />
effect: Methane is 20 to 30 times more dangerous to<br />
the climate than CO 2<br />
when considered over a period of<br />
100 years. But effective climate protection must result<br />
in zero emissions in 10 years, so it only makes sense to<br />
consider a period of 20 years at most with regard to the<br />
climate effects of methane. In this case, however, the<br />
climate intensity of methane is even 80 to 100 times<br />
greater than CO 2<br />
.<br />
So the widespread image of natural gas as a bridging<br />
technology that protects the climate is just not correct:<br />
We have also come to the conclusion that the high<br />
methane emissions related to natural gas far outweigh<br />
any savings of CO 2<br />
. Indeed, converting the coal and oil<br />
used in the electricity, heat and transportation sectors<br />
to natural gas obtained by fracking, as the German federal<br />
government is attempting with the LNG terminals,<br />
would increase the greenhouse gas effect by about 40<br />
percent.<br />
Biogas Journal: The federal government’s climate package<br />
is finalised. A paper outlining the key points addresses<br />
measures for how Germany wants to decrease<br />
its CO 2<br />
emissions incrementally in accordance with the<br />
European climate protection agreement. The target is<br />
to release no further CO 2<br />
into the environment than nature<br />
can reabsorb by 2050. What do you think of the<br />
package?<br />
Fell: The federal government’s climate protection<br />
policies are leading us directly toward a climate catastrophe.<br />
The so-called climate protection package is<br />
nothing but a fraud. Headlines point to sham activities<br />
that, in the end, generate greenhouse gas emissions in<br />
Germany that are much too high. For example, the federal<br />
government wants to prohibit the new construction<br />
of oil heating systems starting in 2025. But the many<br />
exceptions in the rules prevent this from happening. In<br />
its current form, the measure will come to absolutely<br />
nothing and will have no effect on climate protection.<br />
Moreover, the conversion of coal-based electricity and<br />
oil-based heat to natural gas even accelerates climate<br />
change due to the methane emissions in the upstream<br />
supply chain. Greater methane emissions will result<br />
due to additional demand for natural gas. Scrapping<br />
premiums for replacing oil heating systems should only<br />
be available in the case of conversion to climate neutral<br />
heat based on renewable energies.<br />
Annual subsidies in Germany for natural gas totalled<br />
1.4 billion euros in 2017. Germany also supports the<br />
infrastructure for continuing to increase natural gas imports<br />
with LNG. That is counterproductive. Subsidies<br />
support the system and intensify the problem.<br />
Biogas Journal: The expansion of solar, wind and hydropower,<br />
geothermal energy and bioenergy is moving at a<br />
very slow pace in Germany at the moment. What must<br />
be done to build up a future-oriented energy system?<br />
Fell: In total, the use of fossil raw materials is responsible<br />
for at least 60 percent of global greenhouse<br />
emissions. Renewable energies and the related, costeffective,<br />
zero emissions technologies that enable a<br />
comprehensive and quick transition to a climate friendly<br />
energy system represent the alternative to current<br />
fossil energy systems.<br />
We have proven that a complete, global energy supply<br />
is possible by using just renewable sources and that it<br />
is even less expensive. The primary sources will be solar<br />
and wind energy in connection with batteries, electrical<br />
drives and heat pumps. But hydropower, geothermal<br />
energy and bioenergy also play a very important role.<br />
The existing infrastructure can already be used now for<br />
biogas and green gas.<br />
Biomethane is important, but the methane problem<br />
must be completely prevented here as well. I see this<br />
as one of the significant tasks for the biogas industry.<br />
If they are successful, biogas can make a very valuable<br />
contribution. Converting to 100 percent renewable energies<br />
must be implemented by 2030.<br />
Biogas Journal: A variety of methods can be used to produce<br />
hydrogen. Electrical current is used in the electrolysis<br />
of water, but there are also thermal processes<br />
such as the steam reforming of methane or biomethane,<br />
or the pyrolysis of coal or biomass, which are among<br />
the conventional methods. What is green hydrogen and<br />
why is it essential to climate protection and the energy<br />
transition?<br />
Fell: Green hydrogen is climate friendly because it is<br />
produced by green electricity through electrolysis or<br />
obtained by biotechnological processes such as from<br />
algae. It provides significant support for climate protection<br />
and the energy transition. Green hydrogen can be<br />
used in transportation in drives powered by fuel cells,<br />
and it provides an ideal long term storage method to<br />
hold excess solar power generated in the summer for<br />
14
Biogas Journal | <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong> English Issue<br />
use in the winter and to replace fossil energy sources<br />
in the chemical industry or steel manufacturing. Bridging<br />
technologies with blue hydrogen, which is produced<br />
from fossil raw materials, should not be allowed.<br />
Biogas Journal: What is your evaluation of the federal<br />
government’s hydrogen strategy?<br />
Fell: A strategy with hydrogen produced by natural gas<br />
does not support the climate, but the federal government<br />
strongly promotes it anyway. In addition, hydrogen<br />
is supposed to be imported from Northern Africa.<br />
Although the solar radiation is more intense there, the<br />
high costs associated with building the necessary infrastructure<br />
would be more expensive than hydrogen<br />
produced in Germany with solar power. Importing green<br />
hydrogen from Northern Africa can represent a valuable<br />
contribution, but only as a supplement to domestic<br />
green hydrogen production. But the federal government<br />
does everything it can to prevent the expansion of green<br />
electricity and biogas, and in so doing, it removes the<br />
foundation for domestic green hydrogen. In this way,<br />
the government is increasing German dependency on<br />
imports in the energy sector with all the associated geopolitical<br />
and financial risks.<br />
Biogas Journal: From your perspective, what urgent action<br />
is required?<br />
Fell: We should resurrect the expansion of green electricity.<br />
The past has shown that this works best when we<br />
include citizens in the process. People can participate<br />
though cooperatives or other citizen-based investment<br />
options, which create acceptance for the project in the<br />
area.<br />
But this is only possible with a fixed feed-in tariff, not<br />
with tendering. Switching to a tendering process had<br />
devastating consequences in this regard. That is why<br />
there is hardly any investment anymore in the biogas<br />
sector and far too little investment in the solar sector.<br />
Investment in the area of wind power also fell apart with<br />
the conversion to the tendering process. Tendering only<br />
makes sense for very large projects like offshore wind<br />
parks, for example. In the range up to 40 megawatts<br />
we need citizen engagement with a fixed feed-in tariff.<br />
METHATEC ® DETOX S DIRECT<br />
The next level of desulphurisation<br />
Biogas Journal: Mr. Fell, thank you very much for the<br />
interview!<br />
Interviewer<br />
Dipl.-Ing. · Dipl.-Journ. Martina Bräsel<br />
Freelance Journalist<br />
Hohlgraben 27 · 71701 Schwieberdingen<br />
+49 71 50/9 21 87 72<br />
braesel@mb-saj.de<br />
www.mb-saj.de<br />
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<strong>EN</strong>ERGY
English Issue<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
Using biowaste without<br />
the risk of impurities<br />
Biogas production with the BEKON dry fermentation method is, for the most part, not<br />
sensitive to impurities, which allows the German city of Dessau-Roßlau to use more than<br />
12,000 tonnes of biowaste per year to generate energy since 2019.<br />
By Dipl.-Journ. Wolfgang Rudolph<br />
For the city of Dessau-Roßlau, there are many<br />
good reasons to operate a biowaste digestion<br />
plant. The main reasons mentioned by mayor<br />
Peter Kraus in April 2018 at the groundbreaking<br />
ceremony for the construction of<br />
the plant include the efficient use of natural resources<br />
along with environmental and climate protection. But<br />
the city councils of this community, with 80,000 residents<br />
the third-largest in the state of Saxony-Anhalt,<br />
had other direct economic benefits in mind when they<br />
commissioned a feasibility study back in 2010 for constructing<br />
a biowaste digestion plant, including a postrotting<br />
process.<br />
At that time, household biowaste was transported to<br />
composting facilities in Vockerode and Oranienbaum.<br />
The disposal vehicles drove at least 30,000 kilometres<br />
per year just for those deliveries. In contrast, the site for<br />
biowaste digestion considered in the study was located<br />
within the city on the site of a household waste landfill<br />
that had not been used since 2009.<br />
Connected to the existing heat grid<br />
The site at the “Scherbelberg” landfill, a 47-metre<br />
mound, is now being used as a place to deal with and<br />
collect all kinds of waste. The existing infrastructure<br />
such as secure access roads and scales yielded synergies<br />
for operating a biowaste digestion plant. In addition,<br />
the site’s location in the south-western part of the<br />
city makes it easier to use the biowaste to the fullest<br />
extent possible to produce energy. Indeed, in addition<br />
photos: Carmen Rudolph<br />
16
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
Delivery of collected<br />
biowaste to the<br />
collection hall of the<br />
biowaste digestion<br />
plant in Dessau-<br />
Roßlau.<br />
Sabine Moritz, manager<br />
of municipal operations<br />
for city maintenance:<br />
“Dessau-Roßlau<br />
created a basis for<br />
the sustainable and<br />
environmentally sound<br />
use of the community’s<br />
biowaste by building<br />
the biowaste digestion<br />
plant”.<br />
to the electricity that is generated, the<br />
produced heat can be fed into the district<br />
heating grid. In this regard, it made sense<br />
to continue using the heat transfer station,<br />
which had previously been used to feed the<br />
thermal energy generated while converting<br />
landfill gas to electricity<br />
The best collateral for successful biowaste<br />
digestion, however, is the stable generation<br />
of biowaste – about 12,000 tonnes annually.<br />
In Dessau-Roßlau, this is achieved<br />
through the collection system introduced<br />
at the beginning of the 1990s. “The residents<br />
of Dessau-Roßlau like to use their<br />
biowaste bins,” says Sabine Moritz, who<br />
manages the municipal operations for the<br />
city maintenance. Even in the “garden colonies”,<br />
where biowaste bins are available<br />
seasonally, people diligently and cleanly<br />
separate biowaste from other waste materials<br />
for the most part – as they do elsewhere<br />
all over the city. So, in the spring<br />
of 2018, plans were started to implement<br />
the largest investment ever made by the<br />
municipal company. The project was ambitious,<br />
also due to the time constraints. To<br />
ensure a seamless transition from converting<br />
landfill gas to electricity to producing<br />
energy from biowaste while simultaneously<br />
keeping the advantages of the German Renewable<br />
Energy Act (EEG) rules of 2014,<br />
the biowaste digestion plant had to go into<br />
operation by the end of 2018.<br />
Pre-fabricated construction<br />
components<br />
Indeed, BEKON GmbH was successful in<br />
implementing this project, with an investment<br />
volume of 6.4 million euros, within<br />
the required time frame of eight months.<br />
“The pre-fabricated modules, such as the<br />
rear walls of the fermentation chamber,<br />
which featured fully integrated connections,<br />
really supported our efforts. On the<br />
narrow access roads, though, that made<br />
for a lot of circling around,” remembers<br />
Moritz. BEKON, a plant engineering company,<br />
was awarded the project after a Europe<br />
wide tendering process. The project<br />
also included managing plant operations<br />
for five years. BEKON commissioned<br />
KOMPOTEC GmbH to do that work. Both<br />
companies are part of the Eggersmann<br />
group.<br />
The composting facility for the post-rotting<br />
of the fermentation residue was constructed<br />
on the 8,000 square metre plateau atop<br />
the former landfill. This work was done by<br />
TS Bau GmbH for about two million euros.<br />
Since the end of 2018, the city’s biowaste<br />
has been converted into energy in these two<br />
facilities and then processed into compost.<br />
The city uses special vehicles with rotating<br />
drums to mix the contents of the biowaste<br />
bins, each of which has a capacity of 120<br />
or 240 litres, during the waste col-<br />
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17
English Issue<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
At regular intervals, and particularly before opening the digester<br />
gates, plant manager Ronny Raupach uses a hand-held device to<br />
measure the gas composition in the fermentation chamber.<br />
A view of the control equipment for the containers in the percolate system. At rear is the<br />
additional hygienisation system that can be used so that the excess amounts of waste can be<br />
marketed as organic fertiliser. At centre is the sand trap and the percolate collection tank is<br />
at the front.<br />
The roller door at the<br />
entrance to the collection<br />
hall of the biowaste<br />
digestion plant opens<br />
by sensor control when<br />
a collection vehicle<br />
backs up toward it.<br />
At right are valves for<br />
removing samples of<br />
percolation liquid and<br />
the chemical containers<br />
for the acidic scrubbing<br />
of the exhaust air<br />
purification system.<br />
lection runs. They dump their loads onto a storage area<br />
about 200 square metres in size in the collection hall.<br />
From here, a front loader brings the material, without<br />
any further processing, to one of the five garage-shaped<br />
chambers. The access gates to the fermenter tunnels,<br />
which are 6.5 metres wide, 4.5 metres high and 20 metres<br />
long are located on one side of the closed collection<br />
hall, which is equipped with an exhaust air purification<br />
system.<br />
Fermentation period of 21 days<br />
The fermentation chambers are loosely filled to a height<br />
of up to 2.7 metres based on a schedule according to<br />
the seasons. “In the winter months, when the amount<br />
of biowaste is lower but of higher quality with respect to<br />
energy generation than in the summer because it does<br />
not contain as much green waste, we fill one tunnel per<br />
week and two tunnels every three weeks. From spring<br />
A double membrane container on the roof is used to<br />
collect the biogas produced in the percolate storage<br />
tank and the five fermenters.<br />
through fall, when the vehicles deliver more than 1,000<br />
tonnes per month, we fill two tunnels every 14 days<br />
and between that, one tunnel per week,” explains plant<br />
manager Ronny Raupach. The material to be fermented<br />
remains in the digester for an average of 21 days. After<br />
the tunnel is filled, the gate is locked and it is sealed<br />
with inflatable hose seals to make it gas-tight. In the<br />
one-day initial phase that starts immediately, fresh air<br />
18
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Biogas Journal | <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong> English Issue<br />
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Biogas was previously processed where the biogas CHP at the waste digestion plant is now located.<br />
The flare used to burn off lean landfill gas today was used during that period as well (at right).<br />
introduced though nozzles in the floor of<br />
the concrete container in the fermenting<br />
chamber brings about aerobic heating in<br />
the biowaste – even in the winter. While<br />
the wall and floor heating systems maintain<br />
the thermophilic process temperature, the<br />
fermentation material is then inoculated<br />
with microorganisms through continuous<br />
wetting with cell fluid (percolation liquid)<br />
that is discharged during fermentation.<br />
The percolation liquid is generated by previous<br />
fermentation processes in this and<br />
four other digesters. A drainage system<br />
is used to collect it in a percolate storage<br />
tank (capacity of 600 cubic metres) and is<br />
reused to continue to moisten the fermentation<br />
material. This circulation system<br />
enriches the percolation liquid continuously<br />
with the organic acids required for<br />
the methanation phase.<br />
Biogas from the percolate<br />
storage tank<br />
“Biogas with a high methane content is<br />
continuously produced in the percolate<br />
storage tank,” says Raupach. But biogas<br />
is produced in the five digesters as well.<br />
Because they are operated on a staggered<br />
schedule (batch operation), both<br />
the amount of biogas produced and the<br />
me thane content fluctuate accordingly.<br />
The double membrane gas container on<br />
the roof of the plant with an absorption<br />
capacity of 800 cubic metres keeps the<br />
level consistent. The biogas produced in<br />
the percolate storage tank also flows into<br />
the double membrane gas container. The<br />
mixture has a methane content of about 54<br />
percent. Before it is converted to electricity<br />
in a CHP plant with an output capacity of<br />
360 kilowatts, the gas flows through<br />
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English Issue<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
Plant manager Ronny Raupach monitors the fermentation<br />
processes on the screens in the control room.<br />
A front loader is used<br />
to bring the biowaste<br />
delivered to the collection<br />
hall into the<br />
five garage-shaped<br />
fermenters without<br />
any further treatment.<br />
A batch procedure is<br />
used.<br />
Compost following the second screening procedure in which<br />
the drum screen has a mesh size of 15 mm.<br />
an activated carbon filter to reduce the sulphur content.<br />
The end of the fermentation process is signalled<br />
by stopping the percolation liquid sprinkling and then<br />
the subsequent draining phase. Before the gates are<br />
opened, the digester must be completely emptied of<br />
gas. To do so, exhaust air with a methane content of<br />
20 percent is fed into the gas tank; all air with a lower<br />
methane content is burned off with a lean gas flare.<br />
While the digester is emptied and then filled again, an<br />
intensive venting of the fermenting chamber is carried<br />
out and the exhaust air is cleaned with acidic scrubbing<br />
using a biofilter.<br />
Container vehicles transport the completely fermented<br />
material to the composting facility on the plateau on<br />
top of the landfill. The treatment of the digestate and<br />
the shredded green waste generated by the maintenance<br />
of parks and open spaces (1,000 tonnes annually)<br />
starts with setting up the organic storage heap in<br />
the first post-rotting area. “The employees for this area<br />
cover the storage heap with the GORE Cover System<br />
by UTV AG with a special foil that functions as a semipermeable<br />
membrane,” says Sylvana Hallmann, manager<br />
of the waste disposal facility, as she describes the<br />
steps of the process. The material then rots for a period<br />
of three weeks, and after it is turned, for another period<br />
of two to three weeks under the foil while temperature<br />
is monitored and ventilation performed, depending on<br />
the process. This first post-rotting phase, during which<br />
hygienisation is also carried out, is followed by an open<br />
composting period of two weeks.<br />
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Biogas Journal | <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong> English Issue<br />
Drum screen with a mesh size of 50 mm. Almost all of the<br />
impurities are removed in the screening process because<br />
they are not chopped up in the mechanical treatment of the<br />
biowaste before it is fermented.<br />
RAL quality seal for compost is the goal<br />
Before it is marketed, the compost is screened twice.<br />
Almost all of the impurities are removed with the first<br />
drum screen (with a mesh size of 50 mm) because<br />
they are not chopped up in the mechanical treatment<br />
of the biowaste before it is fermented. In the second,<br />
fine screening required before marketing, the mesh<br />
size is 15 mm. “We are currently going through an approval<br />
procedure by the German quality association for<br />
compost (BGK) to receive the RAL quality seal, and<br />
the initial analysis certificates already indicate that we<br />
are meeting the required quality criteria,” emphasises<br />
Hallmann. The compost is used for agricultural purposes<br />
for the most part, but soon it will also be marketed<br />
locally to residents and professional gardeners.<br />
Annually the biowaste digestion plant produces approximately<br />
1.2 million cubic metres of biogas, which<br />
in turn is used to generate more than 2.1 million kWh<br />
of electricity and about 2 million kWh of heat for use<br />
on site and to feed into the municipal grid. There are<br />
definitely supply reserves. “The system consisting of<br />
fermentation and subsequent composting is designed<br />
The coarse and fine screening of the compost following the post-rotting process<br />
is carried out with a mobile drum screen, the Terra select T55 by Eggersmann.<br />
to process up to 16,000 tonnes of biowaste and 2,500<br />
tonnes of green waste,” explains municipal operations<br />
manager Moritz. This means that the city has created<br />
a basis that will ensure the sustainable and environmentally<br />
sound use of the biowaste generated by the<br />
community into the future.<br />
Author<br />
Dipl.-Journ. Wolfgang Rudolph<br />
Freelance Journalist<br />
Rudolph Reportagen - Agriculture,<br />
the Environment, Renewable Energies<br />
Kirchweg 10 · 04651 Bad Lausick, Germany<br />
+49 3 43 45/26 90 40<br />
info@rudolph-reportagen.de<br />
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21
English Issue<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
Green on the production line?<br />
The transformation of automobile<br />
production in Germany<br />
The largest German automobile manufacturers are demonstrating their commitment to<br />
lowering CO 2<br />
emissions in vehicle manufacturing. Porsche is turning to biogas as well in<br />
the production of their first fully electric sports car.<br />
By Dipl.-Ing. · Dipl. Journ. Martina Bräsel<br />
About 90 percent of the heat produced is used to supply heat and hot water for the<br />
office and production buildings. Another portion is used as process heat, e.g. here in<br />
the painting department.<br />
By 2050, the German economy is supposed<br />
to be based, for the most part, on CO 2<br />
-neutral<br />
activity. If the automobile manufacturers<br />
do not achieve the climate protection<br />
goals, they face fines and damaged reputations.<br />
The large German vehicle manufacturers are<br />
now starting to implement their plans for lowering CO 2<br />
emissions. According to Daimler CEO Ola Källenius,<br />
by 2039 the entire fleet will operate CO 2<br />
-neutral from<br />
production to operation. The new “Factory 56” at the<br />
Sindelfingen location was planned as a CO 2<br />
-neutral facility<br />
right from the start. Daimler will produce electric<br />
vehicle model EQC with green electricity at the Bremen<br />
facility. Enovos Deutschland and the Norwegian company<br />
Statkraft will supply the “100 % green electricity”.<br />
A majority of the electricity supplied is supposed to<br />
come from German solar, wind, and hydropower plants.<br />
BMW also wants to use only green electricity in its production.<br />
Milan Nedeljkovic, Member of the Board of<br />
Management of BMW AG Production, told the journal<br />
Automobil Produktion that “as of this year we will be<br />
using only electricity generated from renewable sources<br />
in our plants” worldwide. According to a spokesperson,<br />
the annual electrical power consumption of the BMW<br />
factories is about 5.2 million megawatt hours (MWh)<br />
(5.2 billion kilowatt hours).<br />
Eighty percent of the electricity used in the BMW plants<br />
is already today from renewable sources. For example,<br />
the Leipzig location is supplied by wind turbines, a factory<br />
in Mexico has 70,000 square metres of solar modules,<br />
and in South Africa, the manure of 30,000 cows<br />
is used to operate a biogas plant. The BMW plant in<br />
Dingolfing uses only green electricity as well.<br />
The company also has a roof-mounted photovoltaic system<br />
covering 90,000 square metres and it uses combined<br />
heat and power generation (CHP) to generate<br />
electricity and to supply hot water. BMW has invested a<br />
total of 50 million euros in these systems at the Dingolfing<br />
location alone. Altogether, the nine CHP plants save<br />
a remarkable 23,000 tonnes of CO 2<br />
when compared<br />
with separate electricity and heat generation.<br />
Photos: Martina Bräsel<br />
22
Biogas Journal | <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong> English Issue<br />
CO 2<br />
-neutral production at Porsche<br />
“Porsche has set goals for climate protection as well,”<br />
explains Anke Höller, Head of Environmental and Energy<br />
Management at Porsche, adding: “We are well on<br />
our way and expect to complete our first big steps by<br />
2030”. The first fully electric Porsche has been in production<br />
since September 2019 in the Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen<br />
location. The Taycan is also the first Porsche<br />
that is CO 2<br />
-neutral with respect to production.<br />
Thanks to extensive measures taken to expand and<br />
renovate the headquarters in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen<br />
and the use of renewable energies, the entire production<br />
site is now climate neutral. Here in Zuffenhausen,<br />
about 150 gigawatt hours (GWh) (150 million kilowatt<br />
hours) of electricity are required annually; the gas demand<br />
is about 180 GWh.<br />
Stephan Hartmann, Energy Manager, reports that “the<br />
most important energy sources are green electricity<br />
and biogas. The amount of oil used for heating is marginal;<br />
it is used for maintenance tasks, for example”.<br />
About 90 percent of the heat produced is used to supply<br />
heat and hot water for the office and production<br />
buildings at the Zuffenhausen location, where about<br />
13,000 people work. Another portion is used as process<br />
heat, e.g. for immersion equipment in the painting<br />
department.<br />
Painting department: Energy consumption<br />
reduced by 30 percent<br />
According to engineer Anke Höller: “In the painting<br />
department we replaced thermal afterburning systems<br />
with a renewable energy system”. This measure reduced<br />
energy consumption in this area by 30 percent.<br />
“We think about energy efficiency in an holistic manner<br />
and, for this reason, we are also looking at processes in<br />
the joining technologies area that protect resources as<br />
well,” she adds.<br />
Since 2017, the company has also been using green<br />
electricity at all of its locations, and since the beginning<br />
of 2018, it has also used electricity from renewable<br />
sources for the train transport of new cars to seaports.<br />
Based on information supplied by Porsche, the company<br />
considers the origins of the electricity it procures.<br />
“Information regarding the electricity and its origin is<br />
collected by a single source. This ensures that both<br />
come from one and the same renewable energy system,”<br />
says Stephan Hartmann.<br />
Biomethane replaces natural gas<br />
In comparison with the CO 2<br />
emission factor for the domestic<br />
consumption of electricity, more than 60,000<br />
tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions are prevented annually<br />
at the Zuffenhausen location. In addition to this<br />
measure, the heat supply will be converted to biogas.<br />
With the two new combined heat and power plants in<br />
Zuffenhausen, Porsche has started down the path to<br />
CO 2<br />
-neutral production for the fully electric Taycan. In<br />
the meantime, the entire requirement for natural gas<br />
is now met by biomethane. This saves another 30,000<br />
tonnes of CO 2<br />
emissions per year at the site.<br />
Two new combined heat and power plants (CHP) supplement<br />
the generation of heat and electricity for which<br />
the company had already been using two CHP plants<br />
operated with natural gas. “These plants were also<br />
converted to biomethane from the market. The new<br />
combined heat and power plants have an overall degree<br />
of efficiency of more than 83 percent,” explains<br />
the Energy Manager. At the moment, the biomethane<br />
is procured from the European market and is produced<br />
exclusively from waste and residual materials. The biomethane<br />
required in Stuttgart is verifiably measured in<br />
the energy generation facilities and fed into the grid.<br />
The equivalent amount is then accounted for at Porsche<br />
as biomethane.<br />
Future biomethane source: municipal<br />
waste facilities<br />
“There are not yet any biogas plants in our direct vicinity<br />
which produce energy from waste,” explains<br />
Höller. Due to the fuel-or-food discussion, using maize<br />
to produce energy has not been considered. According<br />
to Höller, “We have chosen not to use renewable raw<br />
materials in competition with the food market”. Moreover,<br />
most of the German biogas plants are subject to<br />
Germany’s Renewable Energy Act (EEG) and financed<br />
by the production of electricity. “For this reason, there<br />
is little interest in supplying the gas,” she adds. The<br />
residual amounts are too low and too expensive. However,<br />
Porsche has made preparations in Stuttgart to use<br />
bioenergy generated from a new, municipal biowaste<br />
facility in the future. Operation is expected to begin in<br />
2021. And the construction work for the gas pipeline<br />
to the site, which is about three kilometres away, is<br />
already underway.<br />
“We can’t practise climate protection on our own,” explains<br />
Anke Höller. But it is worthwhile to look beyond<br />
the factory fences to find appropriate partners for cooperation.<br />
According to Höller, “When the city<br />
Starting in 2021, a<br />
biogas plant will<br />
provide part of the<br />
energy supply. The<br />
company will use gas<br />
produced by the waste<br />
of Stuttgart residents<br />
to generate about<br />
18.6 GWh.<br />
23
English Issue<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
For Anke Höller, saving energy and reducing consumption are<br />
not inconsistent with cost efficiency. When the legal requirements<br />
are taken into consideration, the price of biogas is indeed<br />
higher, but on the other hand, investment costs are saved.<br />
photo: Martina Bräsel<br />
With the two new combined heat and power plants in<br />
Zuffenhausen, Porsche has started down the path to CO 2<br />
-<br />
neutral production for the fully electric Taycan.<br />
photo: Porsche<br />
been installed in addition to<br />
the existing district heating<br />
network. “Our site is quite<br />
centrally located in the city<br />
and is supplied by two of its<br />
own heating systems,” says<br />
Höller. For this reason, building<br />
additional decentralised<br />
plants is problematic. And<br />
although at first glance it<br />
seems like climate protection<br />
measures are very cost intensive,<br />
they have also proven<br />
worthwhile for the company.<br />
A sensitive location: The Porsche plant in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen<br />
requires about 150 GWh of electricity per year; the gas<br />
demand is about 180 GWh. The site is quite centrally located<br />
in the city and is supplied by two of its own heating systems.<br />
The construction of the gas pipeline to the site, which is<br />
about three kilometres away, is already underway. The<br />
pipeline will enable the use of bioenergy generated by the<br />
new municipal biogas plant.<br />
of Stuttgart was looking for a customer for<br />
the biogas from the waste disposal facility,<br />
we submitted an application.” The project<br />
got started with the cooperation of the city<br />
of Stuttgart. “However, these types of large<br />
projects require patience,” Höller says.<br />
Stuttgart’s waste disposal unit, Abfallwirtschaft<br />
Stuttgart (AWS), located in north<br />
Zuffenhausen, was planning for a biowaste<br />
fermentation plant as early as 2012. The<br />
Hummelbrunnen site is located about three<br />
kilometres away from Porsche. Approval<br />
with regard to the Federal Immission Control<br />
Act (BImSchG) is now secured and the<br />
submission of tenders for the construction<br />
work is underway. The actual construction<br />
is expected to take a year and a half. In that<br />
case, the plant, which can process 35,000<br />
tonnes of biowaste per year, will be ready for<br />
operation in 2021.<br />
“When the municipal waste facility starts<br />
operation, we will replace some quantity<br />
of biomethane procured from the market<br />
with biogas produced locally,” Hartmann<br />
explains. The company will use gas produced<br />
by the waste of Stuttgart residents<br />
to generate about 18.6 GWh. That is about<br />
10 percent of entire gas needed at this production<br />
site. “A direct pipeline will supply<br />
the gas to two of our combined heat and<br />
power plants”. But this amount is still not<br />
enough to operate both plants all year long.<br />
“Locally produced biogas is a priority for us,<br />
but, if necessary, we will mix it with biogas<br />
from the grid,” says the Energy Manager.<br />
For Anke Höller, saving energy and reducing<br />
consumption are not inconsistent with cost<br />
efficiency. When the legal requirements are<br />
taken into consideration, the price of biogas<br />
is indeed higher, but on the other hand, investment<br />
costs are saved. The department<br />
head explains why: “In the Taycan production,<br />
the primary energy demand for the entire<br />
location decreased by such a large extent<br />
that by procuring biogas, we exceeded<br />
the legal requirements”.<br />
Due to the legal requirements of the Renewable<br />
Energies Heat Act (EEWärmeG),<br />
without biogas, decentralised systems such<br />
as building heat pumps would have to have<br />
photos: Martina Bräsel<br />
Natural gas to be<br />
replaced in Leipzig<br />
“We have developed concepts<br />
with which we can save<br />
money,” concludes the Head<br />
Environmental and Energy<br />
Management. Other locations<br />
will follow the example set in<br />
Stuttgart. “At our Leipzig site<br />
we have been using biomass<br />
right from the beginning,”<br />
says Höller. There about 44<br />
percent of the heat is generated<br />
from wood biomass.<br />
“Right now we are developing<br />
ways to replace the rest of the<br />
natural gas we use there in a<br />
CO 2<br />
-neutral manner,” reveals Höller. Since<br />
2012, Porsche has been part of the Volkswagen<br />
group. The group has clearly defined<br />
its CO 2<br />
targets. Currently, Volkswagen is<br />
converting its energy supply at its headquarters<br />
in Wolfsburg, for example, from coal to<br />
gas. Now the automobile group is replacing<br />
the existing hard coal boilers with several<br />
gas and steam turbine plants that will go<br />
into operation in stages starting in 2021.<br />
This conversion, which cost VW 400 million<br />
euros, will reduce the annual CO 2<br />
emissions<br />
from the world’s largest automobile factory<br />
in Wolfsburg by 1.5 million tonnes. That is<br />
equivalent to the annual CO 2<br />
emissions of<br />
about 870,000 cars.<br />
Author<br />
Dipl.-Ing. · Dipl.-Journ. Martina Bräsel<br />
Freelance Journalist<br />
Hohlgraben 27 · 71701 Schwieberdingen<br />
+49 71 50/9 21 87 72<br />
braesel@mb-saj.de<br />
www.mb-saj.de<br />
24
Biogas Journal | <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong> English Issue<br />
BIOGAS Convention<br />
International <strong>2020</strong> –<br />
Goes Virtual!<br />
16. 18 –– <strong>2020</strong>. November <strong>2020</strong>, Hanover, <strong>2020</strong> Germany<br />
08. – 10. Dezember <strong>2020</strong><br />
Between October 8 th and 10 th <strong>2020</strong>,<br />
BIOGAS Convention International will<br />
explore the opportunities and challenges<br />
that the worldwide biogas industry will be<br />
facing over the next few years.<br />
Because of Corona, the BIOGAS Convention<br />
has to strike out in a new direction and will<br />
present its <strong>2020</strong> programme virtually in two<br />
parts: The German presentations given by<br />
the BIOGAS Convention will be broadcast<br />
from 16 th – 20 th November <strong>2020</strong>. This will be followed<br />
by the English programme with panel discussions at<br />
the BIOGAS Convention International from 8 th – 10 th<br />
December.<br />
BIOGAS Convention International will present two<br />
aspects of biogas and how they interact: One presentation<br />
will be on the “German Biogas Competence”,<br />
which will explain why Germany has become the leader<br />
in biogas technology, despite all the difficulties. The<br />
presentations will show how Germany companies successfully<br />
market their technologies and the issues they<br />
have to struggle with. And the other aspect is of a global<br />
nature: Which projects are being implemented abroad?<br />
How are things developing in other countries? Will the<br />
production of bio-methane become the key to success?<br />
What will be the effects of the EU regulations on fertilizer<br />
products? Will the waste fermentation be able<br />
to solve part of the world’s waste problems? Why<br />
do we need standards in order to establish biogas<br />
successfully in a country? We will discuss<br />
these questions with speakers and participants<br />
from the whole world.<br />
From 16 th – 20 th November, Fachverband<br />
Biogas will present the following topics to all<br />
those interested in the German programme:<br />
German strategies and climate policies, future<br />
projects, laws and regulations. The presentations<br />
will particularly address the requirements<br />
for German plant operators and companies.<br />
All the details on the German programme can be found<br />
on the German pages of www.biogas-convention.com.<br />
There will also be a fair share of intercommunication:<br />
The programme will include exchanging ideas, asking<br />
questions and holding virtual meetings with companies.<br />
There will be a 20 % discount on the regular ticket price<br />
for registrations that are made by 16 th October <strong>2020</strong>.<br />
Companies on the DAC list can take part at special<br />
conditions. The programme of the BIOGAS Convention<br />
International <strong>2020</strong> and the ticket shop can be found at<br />
www.biogas-convention.com/en.<br />
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English Issue<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
Tobias and Claudia<br />
Dreher in front of the<br />
charging station.<br />
Charging electric vehicles at<br />
the adventure farm<br />
At their farm, the Drehers have installed a quick-charging station for electric vehicles that<br />
is powered with electricity directly from their biogas plant. Operations Manager Tobias Dreher<br />
feels equipped for the new era of electric drives. “Biomobility” is his answer.<br />
By Christian Dany<br />
It’s a cold, but sunny winter’s day in Lampertsweiler<br />
in Swabia, a region in southern Germany. Tobias<br />
Dreher is sitting in his Tesla. While the car is connected<br />
to the farm’s own charging station, he shows<br />
me the cockpit with its large touchscreen monitor.<br />
“The S model is actually a highly advanced computer<br />
on wheels,” he says, and, indeed, it looks just like that.<br />
Dreher believes the electric revolution in the automotive<br />
world has begun and that it will soon develop into<br />
a massive trend.<br />
Tobias Dreher has a vision: “In a few years, when the<br />
few quick-charging stations in Bad Saulgau can’t keep<br />
up, electric vehicle drivers will travel the few kilometres<br />
to Lampertsweiler and charge their cars at our farm<br />
station”. The village is located between Munich and<br />
Freiburg.<br />
The first German high-power charging<br />
station<br />
Germany’s first high power charging (HPC) station at<br />
a biogas plant was completed last November. HPC<br />
quick-charging stations have a charging capacity of<br />
more than 150 kilowatts (kW). The charging station<br />
has three charging connections: the most powerful, the<br />
CCS, can provide 150 kW of direct current. The CHAdeMO<br />
socket provides 60 kW and the type 2 socket 22<br />
kW. “Not many cars are able to charge at 150 kW yet,”<br />
says the biogas plant operator. “But that’s the advantage<br />
for those of us with biogas plants: we have enough<br />
available capacity. I can feed 1,000 kW of electricity<br />
into our transformer station”. In addition to the biogas<br />
plant with 420 kW el<br />
, at the Dreher farm there are also<br />
photovoltaic (PV) systems with 435 kW el<br />
.<br />
Photo: Tobias Dreher<br />
26
Biogas Journal | <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong> English Issue<br />
The biogas plant went into operation with less capacity<br />
in 2003. Now, Dreher conducts his pioneering work<br />
towards electromobility. But the 47 year old farmer is<br />
somewhat distressed because his pioneering role is receiving<br />
less recognition this time: “Many of those with<br />
biogas plants shake their heads when I talk about electric<br />
cars”. Recently he was supposed to hold a lecture,<br />
but he declined. As long as there is disagreement about<br />
electromobility in the biogas sector, he prefers to stay<br />
out of the discussion.<br />
The Drehers have three children. Under the management<br />
of his wife Claudia, they also rent out holiday<br />
apartments on the farm. ”Drehers Erlebnishof”<br />
(Dreher’s Adventure Farm) has 18 apartments, some<br />
of them in log cabins. “Children from the city don’t<br />
know anything about modern farming,” says the operations<br />
manager. Children who spent their holidays<br />
in Lampertsweiler learn that almost everything at the<br />
stables, which hold space for 120 dairy cows, is done<br />
automatically with milking and feeding robots. They see<br />
a lot of animals, but also the newest technology – and a<br />
biogas plant. Dreher’s business, which holds about 150<br />
hectares of crop land and 100 hectares of pasture, is<br />
run by four employees.<br />
A flood of E models by 2022<br />
While we enjoy our coffee in the cosy snack area, the<br />
farmer continues: “We have many holiday guests from<br />
the Stuttgart area, including some Daimler and Porsche<br />
employees with whom we always have interesting conversations<br />
about the future of the automobile industry”.<br />
Daimler and VW have announced that they will stop<br />
developing combustion engines. Then he points to an<br />
automotive publication which states that 70 new electric<br />
models will be available by 2022. Electric vehicles<br />
offer many advantages: “They don’t need a transmission,<br />
neither a clutch nor an exhaust”.<br />
Dreher is positive that people with PV systems on their<br />
roofs will also convert to electromobility as soon as the<br />
compensation of the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) runs<br />
out. That will lend even more momentum to the trend<br />
toward electric vehicles. “We have been producing<br />
electricity from biogas for 17 years. That is why I drive<br />
an electric car,” he explains. If energy generated from<br />
biogas is used for transportation, he sees more advantages<br />
in electromobility than hydrogen mobility. Moving<br />
to gas treatment rarely pays off for small and mid-sized<br />
biogas plants operators; storing the electricity directly<br />
in the battery of the electric car is better than using<br />
electricity to produce hydrogen at a poor degree of efficiency.<br />
An electrician who often works at the operation told<br />
Dreher about a company called E-Wald GmbH who had<br />
commissioned the electrician to install a charging station<br />
nearby. For the charging station on his farm, Dreher<br />
then immediately chose the flagship model of the Bavarian<br />
company, the “Hypercharger”.<br />
Photo: Christian Dany<br />
The Tesla is connected to the charging cable. The socket<br />
is hidden below the rear lamp cover.<br />
“I bought the charging station<br />
and had it installed. No more<br />
work required”<br />
Tobias Dreher<br />
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27
English Issue<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
Laying the charging<br />
station cable over the<br />
cow barn.<br />
Its total output capacity of 150<br />
kW can even be expanded to<br />
300 kW. “I bought the charging<br />
station and had it installed.<br />
No more work required,” he explains.<br />
E-Wald is not only the<br />
supplier, it also offers support<br />
service. “If something isn’t<br />
working, I can call the E-Wald<br />
service hotline number which is<br />
posted on the charging station”.<br />
But is investing in a charging<br />
station also a profitable business?<br />
Dreher is quite candid<br />
here and shows me the invoice<br />
from December: The turnover<br />
of the brand new station just<br />
exceeded 100 euros. After deducting<br />
the revenue share and<br />
service fees for E-Wald, the<br />
biogas farmer receives around<br />
57 euro cents per kilowatt hour<br />
(kWh) for the electricity that<br />
customers charged at his farm<br />
station. “And I also have to pay<br />
the EEG surcharge to the grid<br />
operator,” he says.<br />
Customers generally pay for the electricity with charging<br />
cards issued by energy and service providers. There<br />
is now quite a wide selection of cards. E-roaming allows<br />
drivers to charge at a wide range of public charging<br />
stations. Depending on the provider, direct current is<br />
provided for 35 to 50 euro cents per kWh. The reason<br />
that the price does not cover the costs, though, is that<br />
the charging card issuers are still financing the scheme<br />
primarily through the marketing budget. This results in<br />
the odd situation that Dreher benefits from charging his<br />
own vehicle at his own charging station even though the<br />
profits are hair-thin. He knows that: “I won’t be earning<br />
much money from the charging station any time soon.<br />
But I hope to in the long run”.<br />
The hardware for the entire charging station cost<br />
43,600 euros net. At 36,600 euros, the installation<br />
was more expensive than average: It was difficult to<br />
lay the cable over the roof of the cow barn. Plus, the<br />
transformer station had to be modified.<br />
Federal subsidies for the investment costs<br />
Dreher was granted a subsidy that covered 30 percent<br />
of the investment expenses (which is in accordance<br />
with the funding guidelines for the charging infrastructure<br />
for electric vehicles issued by the Federal Ministry<br />
of Transport (BMVI)),granted that the charging station<br />
is accessible day and night and that the electricity<br />
is generated from renewable sources. Subsidies in<br />
amounts greater than 30 percent are available in high<br />
demand areas.<br />
Dreher’s biogas plant has two identical CHPs, each of<br />
which produces 210 kW el<br />
so that enough electricity is<br />
generated even if an engine stops. This ensures that<br />
only electricity produced by biogas is used for charging.<br />
Over the long term, Dreher would like to increase the<br />
amount of this electricity in his farm’s own power supply.<br />
The entire operation uses 200,000 kWh per year,<br />
of which 120,000 are spent for the biogas plant. That<br />
is why Dreher built another photovoltaic system that<br />
generates 86 kW el<br />
last year and added a battery than<br />
stores up to 80 kWh. Part of the PV system is mounted<br />
on the roof of the charging station.<br />
Thanks to the roof and everything else, the farm station<br />
is actually a super rest stop. There is a bathroom that<br />
is always open, and while charging their car, custom-<br />
Photo: Christian Dany<br />
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Biogas Journal | <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong> English Issue<br />
ers can shop in the farm store or the milk house, buy<br />
dairy products or have a coffee. Children can watch the<br />
farm ducks, chickens, cats, rabbits, ponies, goats and<br />
donkeys. There is even a roe deer doe named Heidi who<br />
grazes with a herd of the sheep. You can also take a<br />
stroll to the biogas plant and the barn and learn how<br />
energy is produced.<br />
Heat network supplies 80 households<br />
Cattle manure makes up about 40 percent of the raw<br />
material used. Although Dreher has direct marketing<br />
for the electricity produced by the two CHPs, he does<br />
not have a flexible timetable. With the expansion, the<br />
plant was given a new commissioning date, so the operating<br />
incentives offered by the Renewable Energy Act<br />
(EEG) are ensured until 2025. But selling heat also<br />
generates income from the plant: A heat grid was built<br />
in Lampertsweiler in 2008 and now 80 households<br />
are connected to it – the majority of the 300 village<br />
residents. A wood chip based heating plant also feeds<br />
heat into the grid, so in 2010, Lampertsweiler became<br />
the first bioenergy village in the district of Sigmaringen<br />
(this requires that at least 50 % of the energy used is<br />
generated locally from renewable sources).<br />
According to Dreher, sustainability plays an increasing<br />
role for their adventure farm as well. This means that<br />
the farm’s energy supply and provisions for sustainable<br />
mobility are important: “We could have an electric vehicle<br />
available for holiday guests to rent,” he says. A<br />
vehicle could also be used by the villagers on a car sharing<br />
basis. In addition, it would make sense to operate<br />
farm machinery, equipment and vehicles with their own<br />
green electricity.<br />
He already has e-bikes for the guests and an electric<br />
mini-transporter, and he’s already looking into the investment<br />
of an electrically operated telescopic handler.<br />
The web address akKuhladen.de (a pun on the<br />
German words for cow battery charging) was recently<br />
registered;the charging station is included in the most<br />
popular charging station apps now. “I haven’t done any<br />
advertising yet. Haven’t even put up a sign,” he says.<br />
And still, there are already drivers of electric vehicles<br />
who have found their way to Dreher’s new charging station.<br />
For more information see: www.drehers-erlebnishof.de<br />
Author<br />
Christian Dany<br />
Freelance Journalist<br />
Gablonzer Str. 21 · 86807 Buchloe<br />
+49 82 41/911 403<br />
christian.dany@web.de<br />
Batteries for the new<br />
photovoltaic system.<br />
HEAVY-DUTY<br />
MIXERS
English Issue<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
Graphical illustration<br />
of the combined<br />
biomethane electric<br />
drive in a bus.<br />
Combined drive:<br />
gas and electric power<br />
New business models are essential for the future of biogas plants in Germany. Now,<br />
CM Fluids AG has developed an interesting perspective. The company wants to make<br />
municipal companies climate neutral by using liquefied biogas. Biogas plant operators<br />
should play an important role in this.<br />
By Rouven Zietz<br />
Only a few years ago, Dr. Hans Friedmann<br />
regularly commuted professionally between<br />
Berlin and his home near Munich.<br />
While he was driving on the motorway, he<br />
realized that he only needed his car’s powerful<br />
engine to accelerate. “On average, I drive much<br />
slower,” he states. That gave him the idea that is now<br />
almost ready to be put on the market. The basic principle:<br />
A small gas engine is installed in a car. A generator,<br />
a small battery and an electrical axis are attached to it<br />
so that the engine can do its job with extreme efficiency.<br />
That is the basic idea.<br />
However, Friedmann and his meanwhile team of five<br />
others, who operate under the name of CM Fluids AG,<br />
are not concentrating on private passenger cars, but<br />
rather on municipal companies that run refuse collection<br />
vehicles and buses, meaning vehicles that continually<br />
have to stop and go. After many years of tinkering,<br />
planning and organizing, the first converted passenger<br />
bus is ready to be put to its first practical test at Munich<br />
Airport. If corona allows, the project will be launched in<br />
the course of the year and will make the airport with its<br />
annual number of 53 million passengers more climate<br />
neutral.<br />
To understand why biogas will play such a crucial role<br />
in this value chain would mean being familiar with Dr.<br />
Friedmann’s background. 61-year old Friedmann has<br />
been working in the field of biogas for 30 years. He is<br />
the founder and former Chairman of Agraferm Technologies<br />
AG. Between 2009 and 2013, he was the Vice<br />
President of Fachverband Biogas e.V. (German Biogas<br />
Association). “Ten years ago, we gave considerable<br />
thought to how biogas plant operators could set up a<br />
business model once the EEG remuneration ran out,”<br />
said Friedmann thinking back.<br />
The idea of liquifying biogas<br />
Back then, he looked for a way of using biogas as a material.<br />
In 2013, he got the idea of liquefying biogas in a<br />
way that would enable it to be stored and transported.<br />
Most of the plants in Germany are not connected to the<br />
gas grid. A positive side effect of this is that CO 2<br />
can<br />
photo: Friedmann<br />
30
Biogas Journal | <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong> English Issue<br />
be separated in the liquefying process and can be used for other commercial<br />
purposes, such as making synthetic biomethane.<br />
Friedmann himself claimed that he was looking for a solution that could<br />
manage without government support in the long run “to avoid continually<br />
being on the mercy of public policies,” as he calls it. He definitely<br />
wanted to use the biomethane in the transport industry. Even though<br />
his idea was not ripe yet, he founded the company in 2015 with his colleagues<br />
Franz Böhm and Peter Martetschläger.<br />
“Our aim was to attract other investors to a transportation project in<br />
the field of biogas, although we didn’t know yet how that would work. I<br />
received a lot of skeptical feedback from many sources. Some people<br />
had bad experience with investments in the field of biogas, others no<br />
longer believed in the future of the technology,” Friedmann reminisced.<br />
Friedmann and his partners became rather frustrated by all that and<br />
were on the verge of giving up and throwing in the towel when in February<br />
2018, Friedmann discovered an article by Korbinian Nachtmann in the<br />
Biogas Journal. He had written a thesis on the liquefaction of biogas and<br />
presented extracts of it in the Biogas Journal.<br />
Retrofitting a passenger bus<br />
at Munich Airport<br />
Friedmann contacted the author and specialist, who now works at Munich<br />
Airport as an energy manager and discussed his business idea with<br />
him. It led to the idea of retrofitting some of the buses at Munich Airport<br />
and running them on liquefied biogas. The Fraunhofer Institute had<br />
already secured a patent on the energy-efficient drive system. CM Fluids<br />
in turn was granted an exclusive license to use by the research institute<br />
and went on to develop the concept into a marketable commodity. After<br />
lengthy negotiations, the first of the biogas-powered passenger buses is<br />
on the verge of being used at Munich Airport. “We are currently in the<br />
process of optimizing bus control and refining the appearance before<br />
operation actually starts,” said Friedmann.<br />
The business model of CM Fluids AG consists of two sections. Firstly,<br />
retrofitting buses and garbage trucks for environmentally friendly transport<br />
and secondly, supplying the retrofitted vehicles with biomethane –<br />
produced by local biogas<br />
plants. The company<br />
has already progressed<br />
well with retrofitting the<br />
vehicles. There are development<br />
partners who<br />
are prepared to convert<br />
even more of them process-optimizedy<br />
and efficiently.<br />
Construction of the first<br />
pilot plant to liquefy the<br />
biomethane is pending.<br />
“The next step will be<br />
“We want our condenser to be<br />
used by the most interesting<br />
biogas plants in Germany. From<br />
our point of view, that are the<br />
500 kW plants”<br />
to finance a condenser. We have a biogas plant on which we can construct<br />
the pilot plant. We expect that we will need 3 to 4 million Euros<br />
to construct the condenser and optimize the technology,” Friedmann<br />
explained.<br />
Friedmann and his team want to develop their own condenser for future<br />
demands. There are already companies in France and Italy that offer<br />
units like that, but not large enough for the size that Friedmann needs.<br />
“We want our condenser to be used by the most interesting biogas<br />
Dr. Hans Friedmann<br />
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31
English Issue<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
plants in Germany. From our point of view, that are the<br />
500 kW plants. So, we have to be able to liquefy about<br />
250 cubic meters of gas per hour. For this, there is<br />
nothing suitable available on the market. We have to<br />
assemble and adapt it from the available technology<br />
ourselves”.<br />
The prototype of a condenser will be set up on a 500<br />
kW plant near Hof. The financing will be concluded by<br />
summer and the first condenser will be ready for operation<br />
by late 2021. So much for the initial situation. But<br />
what exactly are the benefits for municipal companies?<br />
Friedmann’s answer to that is clear: “An existing bus<br />
will be retrofitted for a municipal transport company at<br />
a price that does not cost more than 20 percent more<br />
than buying a new diesel bus. The company will still<br />
keep the old bus in the vehicle fleet, but will then only<br />
need half the amount of fuel”.<br />
As already mentioned, Munich Airport provided Friedmann<br />
with a passenger bus for initial test runs. CM<br />
Fluids AG upgraded the bus at its own expenses. “We<br />
are leasing the bus for one year to the airport. The<br />
airport company will then test the bus on site,” said<br />
Friedmann. 35,000 buses are currently running in local<br />
short-distance traffic in Germany. They consume<br />
around 730 million liters of diesel per year. CM Fluids<br />
is promoting conversion of the generator-electric drive,<br />
CMF Drive, as an alternative to buying new buses,<br />
which could extend the service life of each vehicle in<br />
the fleet by twelve years. Their model will combine the<br />
long range of a combustion engine with the advantages<br />
of an electric drive.<br />
Installation of a lightweight battery<br />
The retrofitting starts by dismantling the engine, the<br />
tank, the drive shaft and the transmission. After that,<br />
an electric drive shaft, for which the electric engines<br />
are already installed in the wheel hubs, is mounted.<br />
Added to that, a battery that needs only 10 to 15 percent<br />
of the capacity and is also lighter is installed. The<br />
engineers also install a small engine-generator unit in<br />
the bus. That is a standard gas engine with a generator.<br />
A methane tank is also integrated in the transport<br />
vehicle. “We use the existing engine compartment and<br />
install the parts we need. We don’t need any additional<br />
installation space for that,” says Friedmann.<br />
As a first step, CM Fluids AG will try to convince the<br />
municipal companies to retrofit their vehicle fleets so<br />
that it can start generating revenue. Next, the biogas<br />
plant operators will get on board. “We want to provide<br />
the biogas plant operators with a finished liquefaction<br />
facility for their operations and buy biogas from the<br />
them at a price that enables them to continue operating<br />
their plants in an economically sound way,” Friedmann<br />
said with foresight.<br />
“We can buy part of the power from the operators for<br />
the liquefaction facility,” he added. “The operators<br />
don’t need any funds and don’t have to make any investments.<br />
We will buy the biomethane from them at a<br />
price that will enable them to continue operating their<br />
plants economically”. For this very ambitious project,<br />
the businessman is still looking for plant operators,<br />
who want to invest in this business model.<br />
Author<br />
Rouven Zietz<br />
Freelance Journalist<br />
Blumenthal 1<br />
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32
Biogas Journal | <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong> English Issue<br />
Using compost eluate to<br />
“boost” biogas plants<br />
A considerable increase in efficiency due to improved hydrolysis with compost cultures<br />
can be achieved in substrates containing lignocellulose, like straw, grass or maize. The<br />
comparatively simple method of composting under specific conditions can basically rule<br />
out the risk of pathogenic bacteria and also prevents the admission of unwanted heavy<br />
metals or other toxins.<br />
By Dr. Sandra Off, Dipl.-Ing. Birte Mähl, Dipl.-Ing. Dietmar Ramhold<br />
and Prof. Dr. Paul Scherer<br />
According to scientific literature in 1989,<br />
“aerobic” compost material can contain<br />
considerable amounts of micro-organisms<br />
that produce methane (Derikx et al., 1989).<br />
Back then, however, no experiments were<br />
made with compost to increase the output of biogas.<br />
In 2009, the Scherer workgroup started experimenting<br />
with continual monofermentation of fodder beet silage<br />
to show that aqueous compost eluate could increase<br />
(up to 13 percent mesophilic, 40 °C) and speed up the<br />
production of biogas in digesters (Scherer et al. 2009,<br />
2011 https://doi.org/10.2314/GBV:617386501).<br />
This was not only due to inorganic constituents in the<br />
compost. The thermophilic area even saw increases of<br />
up to 27 percent of gas yield (“boosting”). This entailed<br />
first crushing the substrate. Despite the testing done at<br />
that time with gene probes (FISH method) to shed light<br />
on the exact causes, it was still not clear whether Methanogens<br />
or hydrolytically active bacteria had caused<br />
the increase of gas yield.<br />
This issue was to be explored further in the FNR project<br />
“MethaKomp” (FKZ 22413612/22413712) that was<br />
carried out with ISF GmbH (Pinneberg/Wahlstedt) with<br />
straw, grass and maize substrates. The project officially<br />
ran from 2015 to mid-2018. In the process, enriched<br />
or selected mixed cultures out of the unconventional<br />
“aerobic” biotope, that was relatively easy to produce,<br />
had to be used in the biogas process. It was therefore<br />
different to supplementing individual dominant types<br />
of bacteria produced in the biogas plants. This new approach<br />
was similar to “natural leaven bacteria” that is<br />
added to starter culture compounds.<br />
Methodology<br />
First of all, ten trial series with comprehensive screening<br />
of various compost clamps and compost phases<br />
from intensive farms again confirmed the positive effect<br />
of the bacteria with aqueous compost raw eluates,<br />
and also later in the laboratory with micro-organisms<br />
enriched with compost eluate. That fully confirmed the<br />
previous findings.<br />
The methodology that was applied included extensive<br />
chemical analyses (trace elements, fermentation analyses)<br />
in order to rule out any abiotic factors. Moreover,<br />
the compost materials and enrichment media were examined<br />
biochemically (enzyme patterns of esterases,<br />
xylanases and celluloses), microbiologically (quantitative<br />
microscopic fingerprinting, qmf, as a digital cell<br />
counter method) and molecular biologically by means<br />
of the next generation microbiome analyses (Next Generation<br />
Sequencing, NGS).<br />
The established increase in gas yield and the increased<br />
formation of gas due to the untreated compost raw eluate<br />
was successfully preserved in subsequent enrichments<br />
of a compost eluate through one-liter select special<br />
cultures (2.5 liter containers) right up to 18-liter<br />
continuous digester cultures. Furthermore, selected<br />
1-cubic meter straw composting (Nils Engler, Uni Rostock)<br />
was inoculated with a highly promising continuous<br />
digester culture derived from that, which resulted<br />
in the production and examination of a specifically generated<br />
compost raw eluate.<br />
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33
English Issue<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
Figure 1: Kinetic representation of test series 3, 6 and 9 (of a total of 10 test series) showing the increase and<br />
acceleration of biogas products from the biogas production of compost raw eluate generated from that in 1-liter<br />
batch digesters at 40 °C<br />
Absolute gas production from the activated sludge with substrate with and<br />
without the addition of compost eluate (substrate = grass silage)<br />
8.000<br />
7.000<br />
Activated sludge + grass silage (A)<br />
Activated sludge + compost eluate + grass silage (B)<br />
T (A)<br />
Gas production (NmL)<br />
6.000<br />
5.000<br />
4.000<br />
3.000<br />
2.000<br />
Test<br />
3, T (B)<br />
T (A)<br />
Test<br />
6, T (B)<br />
T (A)<br />
1.000<br />
0<br />
0 7 14 21 28 35 42<br />
Test days<br />
Test<br />
9, T (B)<br />
The dotted lines only refer to the activated sludge of the referenced biogas plant with grass substrate (A, 40<br />
°C) occurring at the same times T 1<br />
-T 3<br />
as the parallel testing with compost raw eluate (B, 40 °C).<br />
Table 1: Increased specific biogas yield per gram oTS (grass silage) in 1-liter batch digesters by using diluted compost raw eluate<br />
Test series<br />
Difference between the specific gas outputs of<br />
activated fermentation sludge + compost eluate<br />
and activated fermentation sludge + compost<br />
eluate + grass silage (Norm mL/g oTS)<br />
Increase or decrease of the specific<br />
gas outputs in % caused by adding<br />
compost raw eluate<br />
Increased or decreased time to<br />
reach half maximal gas output from<br />
grass silage caused by compost<br />
eluate<br />
V3 +83 (ultimately 453) +22 % -37 %<br />
V6 +69 (ultimately 502) +16 % -20 %<br />
V9 -16 (ultimately 530) -3 % -20 %<br />
Changed fermentation rates until the half-maximal gas output is reached. The organic matter yielded by the eluate and with that the pseudo increase of gas output<br />
was adjusted by subtracting the specific gas output of the compost raw eluate. According to the calculated empirical formula of grass (C 3,9<br />
H 5,5<br />
O 2,8<br />
N 0.2<br />
S 0.0<br />
) and a<br />
non-fermentable lignin percentage of 17.8 %, 541.7 of norm milliliters (Nml) of biogas/g oTS and 287.1 Nml of methane/g oTS are theoretically possible for grass<br />
with 53.0% methane in the biogas. A gas output of V9 therefore corresponds to 98 %. Test time is usually 42 days at 40 °C.<br />
Figure 1 shows the activities of the aqueous compost<br />
raw eluate taken from three trial series. The corresponding<br />
large-scale composting plants were large-scale<br />
communal operations for green waste and bio-waste.<br />
Findings<br />
The aqueous compost raw eluate in which bacteria is<br />
aggraded as a slurry, leads to a biogas output increase<br />
of 15 to 22 percent and accelerates the formation of<br />
gas by 10 to 40 percent, see table 1. But (a few) tests<br />
were also made with compost raw eluate that did not<br />
lead to an increase or that even produced negative<br />
results. However, these effects never occurred with<br />
enrichments or specific compost eluate, so that they<br />
obviously came from the matrix effects of communal<br />
composting. The number of micro-organisms in the<br />
compost eluate came to 1.4x10 9 to 1.5x10 10 per milliliter<br />
and the cell number of Methanogens reached 1.3<br />
to 3. 8x10 8 per milliliter, which corresponded to about<br />
1/10 of biogas fermentation.<br />
Current findings have shown that the main effect of<br />
the compost eluate is due to the hydrolytic bacteria<br />
and their extremely high enzyme activity. The effect<br />
of the enzymes on FDA (3‘-6‘ Diacetyl-Fluorescein)<br />
34
Biogas Journal | <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong> English Issue<br />
Figure 2: Changes in microbial types >5 percent (“major players”) of a compost raw eluate out of test series V3 and the<br />
activated fermentation sludge of a referenced biogas plant in the course of additions culminating in a one-liter select culture<br />
and an 18-liter digester culture<br />
Relative occurrence of the<br />
microbial genera in %<br />
90<br />
80<br />
70<br />
60<br />
50<br />
40<br />
30<br />
20<br />
10<br />
0<br />
Taxonomic genera of the straw enrichments from compost eluates and the<br />
biogas reference plant with an occurrence >5 %.<br />
Compost raw eluate Biogas reference plant 1 liter<br />
Batch fermentation<br />
Eluate V3<br />
Reference plant<br />
(+ gras silage)<br />
with V3<br />
(+ gras silage, 68 d)<br />
1 liter select culture<br />
(+ straw)<br />
SC Straw<br />
18 liter Fed-Batch F14 6 liter conti straw<br />
with SC straw<br />
(+ straw, 173d)<br />
F 1<br />
(mesophil, + straw, 518 d)<br />
Thermus<br />
Parvimonas<br />
Methanosaeta<br />
Bacillus<br />
Garciella<br />
Herbivorax<br />
Bacteroides<br />
Herbinix<br />
Acetivibrio<br />
Fermentimonas<br />
Treponema<br />
Ruminofilibacter<br />
Ruminiclostridium<br />
Sedimentibacter<br />
Clostridium<br />
The 6-liter continuous culture with pure straw as a monosubstrate and a saline solution as a “synthetic manure” (Sebastian<br />
Antonczyk, HAW) is a fully independent test series to show how the microbial enrichment depends on the substrate, in this case<br />
on straw and/or lignocellulose.<br />
Table 2: Enzymatic analysis of the applied activated fermentation sludges out of the referenced biogas plant<br />
and the diluted compost raw eluate (Test series 3)<br />
Test FDA Esterase pNPB-Esterase / Lipase Cellulase (CMC) Xylanase (Xylan)<br />
(U/g oTS) (U/g oTS) (U/g oTS) (U/g oTS)<br />
Activated fermentation<br />
sludges (n=4)<br />
136 3,85 2,0 3,8<br />
Compost raw eluate V3 434 (+319 %) 4,2 (+9,1 %) 3,0 (+50,0 %) 5,5 (+44,7 %)<br />
Defined compost raw eluate 11<br />
out of 1m³- straw composter<br />
480 (+353 %) 108,0 (+280,5 %) 0,5 (-75 %) 16,7 (+439 %)<br />
The list also shows the enzyme content of defined 1m³ composting with straw as the main substrate. Percentage changes between<br />
the activated fermentation sludges and the compost eluate are given in brackets behind the eluate values.<br />
that can be used as an artificial substrate for esterases<br />
(Senzyme GmbH) were particularly suggestive of this.<br />
Compared with the reference biogas plant that worked<br />
on cattle slurry and grass silage, there was an average<br />
increase of more than 300 percent of enzyme activity<br />
(esterases, cellulases, xylanases) as opposed to the<br />
large-scale composting plants. The compost eluate out<br />
of the specific straw compost shows the same, see table<br />
2. However, the enzyme activity of the cellulose was<br />
surprisingly lower in this eluate compared with the reference<br />
biogas plant, which did not occur with the other<br />
enzymes, see table 2.<br />
Taking the approach of the compost eluate with an enrichment<br />
of straw as a substrate, the example out of<br />
test series V3 and the resulting “straw select culture”<br />
showed the prevalence of single types of microbes, see<br />
figure 2. To obtain a better overview, types with a share<br />
of
English Issue<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
Longshaft- and<br />
Submersible agitators<br />
determines the volume here as well. Whereas in easily degradable<br />
substrates, for example sugar or fodder beets, we saw up to 25 percent<br />
of Methanogen in the overall population (not shown). With the enrichment,<br />
however, the types came from both a compost eluate and from<br />
the reference biogas plant with grass, see figure 2.<br />
The compost eluate was always applied together with the activated<br />
fermented sludge of a reference biogas plant because this produced<br />
the best increasing effect. This could have been because the examined<br />
compost eluate in the ten test series only showed the types of Methanogens<br />
in a range with a share of 5 percent as “major players”, see figure 2.<br />
When the enrichment was begun, only about 30 percent of the microbial<br />
population of the compost eluate consisted of “major players” and<br />
thus had twice as much biodiversity as the reference biogas plant with<br />
about 65 percent of “major players”. In the “straw select culture”, only<br />
7 types ultimately prevailed, accounting for a total of 80 percent of the<br />
population with an individual proportion of >5 percent.<br />
Thus, a total of eleven types of bacteria ultimately prevailed as “major<br />
players” out of the high biodiversity with hundreds of “minor players”<br />
in combination with the activated fermented sludge of the reference<br />
biogas plant. The fact that this happened due to the straw is shown in<br />
the last column, which shows a similar pattern to the second last one,<br />
but which came from a completely different test with an automated<br />
6-liter continuous straw digestion (agitation reactor) over two years<br />
and was inoculated with completely different activated fermented<br />
sludge (Strohtagung Heiden 2019). But it showed a similar bacterial<br />
pattern with eleven types >5 percent as the “straw select culture” out<br />
of the compost eluate.<br />
Components for Biogas<br />
Authors<br />
Sandra Off (HAW)<br />
Birte Mähl (ISF GmbH)<br />
Dietmar Ramhold (ISF GmbH)<br />
Paul Scherer (HAW)<br />
Progressive Cavity-, Centrifugal-,<br />
Feeding- and Longshaftpumps<br />
with contributions by:<br />
M. Sc. Katarina Wegner (HAW)<br />
Dipl.-Ing. Sebastian Antonczyk (HAW)<br />
Dr.-Ing. Thomas Fritz (ISF GmbH)<br />
Ute Habermann (Senzyme GmbH)<br />
ARMATEC - FTS<br />
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info@armatec-fts.de<br />
www.armatec-fts.com<br />
36<br />
HAW = University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg-Bergedorf,<br />
FSP Biomassenutzung Hamburg<br />
ISF = ISF GmbH Schaumann Forschung, Wahlstedt
Biogas Journal | <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong> English Issue<br />
Vietnam<br />
Lack of overall strategy on the<br />
expansion of biogas production<br />
Biogas technology has been explored and applied in Vietnam since the 1960’s. About<br />
500,000 biogas plants have been constructed in the country to date, but most of them are<br />
small-scale (the capacity less than 50 m 3 ) and do not have any grid connection.<br />
By Ms. Le Thi Thoa<br />
Photo: GIZ<br />
Biogas technology has brought great advantages<br />
to local people to improve their life<br />
quality. For example, biogas plants can<br />
successfully treat the organic fraction of<br />
waste such as crop waste, municipal waste,<br />
sewage sludge etc. When used in a fully engineered<br />
system, biogas technology not only prevents pollution,<br />
it also allows energy, compost and nutrient recovery.<br />
Due to environmental protection and an ambition for<br />
clean energy development, the Government of Vietnam<br />
has recently placed greater focus on biogas technology.<br />
The Government had set up its objectives to 2025 in<br />
the revision of “The National Strategy on Integrated<br />
Management of Solid Waste, with a vision to 2050”.<br />
This strategy is known as Decision No. 491 issued by<br />
the Prime Minister on 7 th May 2018. According to the<br />
decision, 80 % of waste generated from livestock, cattle<br />
and poultry activities and food processing should be<br />
collected, reused or recycled as compost and biogas as<br />
well as treated to meet environmental<br />
protection requirements.<br />
Although the biogas technology in Vietnam<br />
was introduced more than 50 years<br />
ago, the number of large-scale biogas<br />
plants is still limited in terms of quantity.<br />
Only 0.3 % of total installed biogas<br />
plant have a capacity of more than<br />
1,000 m 3 . The current development of<br />
biogas plants is far below the real demand<br />
on organic waste treatment that<br />
has increased significantly.<br />
As a developing country with a strong<br />
agricultural sector, Vietnam has significant<br />
potential in livestock, foodstuff<br />
and municipal solid biowaste to<br />
produce biogas. However, most of the<br />
large-scale biogas projects are just concentrating<br />
on waste water treatment to<br />
meet the Government’s environment<br />
protection requirements. At present,<br />
the most common biogas technologies<br />
in Vietnam are:<br />
a. high-density polyethylene (HDPE) covered<br />
biogas lagoons,<br />
b. plug flow biogas digesters and<br />
c. upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB).<br />
a. HDPE covered biogas lagoon<br />
This is the most common type of biogas technology in<br />
the country at present because of its low cost and because<br />
it is easy to install in terms of time and technology.<br />
It has several variations of design that have been<br />
“imported” from Thailand and some other countries.<br />
As the technology is more economical and more easily<br />
operated than other anaerobic digester systems, in<br />
many provinces it has been installed mainly in livestock<br />
farms, milk and cassava processing plants with 1,000-<br />
50,000 m 3 per lagoon. However, despite its simplicity,<br />
HDPE has several drawbacks such as poor bacteria-tofeedstock<br />
contact with low loading rate and low<br />
In Vietnam, biogas is<br />
used on a small scale<br />
for heating, cooking<br />
and to generate<br />
electricity.<br />
37
English Issue<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
Gastight underground<br />
tanks for the production<br />
of biogas.<br />
methane production due to lower efficiency (less than<br />
60 %) of anaerobic pond system and lack of operation<br />
control.<br />
b. Plug-flow biogas digesters<br />
The plug-flow biogas tank has been designed and distributed<br />
to several breeding farms in Vietnam by the National<br />
Institute of Energy. This type of biogas plant can<br />
scale up to a digester volume of 1,000 m 3 . The plants<br />
were constructed at 20 livestock farms with capacity of<br />
150-500 m 3 in some provinces, which have large-scale<br />
livestock potential. The tank is divided into three units,<br />
which is suitable for the fermentation and producing<br />
biogas period, and therefore, the removal efficiency of<br />
organic substances (COD, BOD 5<br />
…) is quite high, about<br />
75-85 %.<br />
c. Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket<br />
This technology is very popular and is installed on a<br />
large scale in Vietnam. It has been applied at some food<br />
processing factories such as cassava, wine and beverage<br />
ones, but the investment cost is often high. Thousands<br />
of cubic meters of wastewater can be processed a<br />
day while 80-90 % of organic matters can be removed.<br />
Barriers in the development of<br />
biogas projects<br />
Although Vietnam has approved policies on renewable<br />
energy development, green growth, livestock development<br />
strategy, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission<br />
reduction, there continue to be significant gaps in<br />
policies and regulations, which have not supportet the<br />
electricity generation with biogas technology. These key<br />
barriers are related to (a) technology; (b) legal and regulatory<br />
framework; (c) economic and financial issues and<br />
(d) awareness and capacity.<br />
a. Technological barriers<br />
While proven and high efficiency large scale biogas<br />
technologies have been common in many countries in<br />
the world, they are almost unknown in Vietnam. At present,<br />
no local companies are providing complete modern<br />
biogas plants as well as biogas generators. Most of<br />
the biogas technologies are imported from China, Thailand<br />
and the EU, which has resulted in higher investment<br />
and costs for operation and management (O&M).<br />
Even worse, there are still no regulations for testing and<br />
quality control of the equipment.<br />
Infrastructure such as the availability of feedstock is<br />
also an issue because biogas production mostly comes<br />
from energy crops, livestock farms and processing of<br />
agricultural products, etc. These crops were primarily<br />
cultivated for food and fodder production. For example,<br />
lack of vehicle and inadequate waste transportation increase<br />
the risk of supply chain disruption and create a<br />
barrier for utilizing waste in biogas production.<br />
b. Legal and regulatory framework barriers<br />
At present, there are no concrete, comprehensive policies<br />
for investment, management and operation of biogas<br />
projects. Main legal shortcomings are:<br />
ffNo feed-in tariff (FIT) for biogas electricity: FIT has<br />
not been implemented, although the Government of<br />
Vietnam has announced tariffs for small hydro, wind,<br />
solar and biomass (co-generation) power. As a result,<br />
biogas developers and investors are reluctant to<br />
implement their projects. Without financial support<br />
mechanisms, biogas electricity is unable to compete<br />
with other renewable energy sources.<br />
ffInadequate standards and codes: The lack of technical<br />
codes for the manufacturing, installation and<br />
maintenance of renewable energy technologies is<br />
one of the key barriers for technology transfer of<br />
biogas equipment. The absence of the technical<br />
standards leads to uncontrolled quality variations of<br />
products.<br />
c. Economic and financial barriers<br />
Economic considerations play a major role in the choice<br />
of renewable energy sources, so Vietnam faces the following<br />
economic and financial barriers:<br />
ffHigh operating costs: While with solar and wind energy,<br />
the input resources are stable and free, biogas<br />
plants depend on feedstock and its cost which varies<br />
by years and seasons. This has made up the high<br />
operating cost of biogas electricity projects.<br />
ffNo incentive for credit policy: biogas generators and<br />
relevant equipment require large investment capital<br />
while there are no biogas specific green credit lines<br />
that offer lower interest rates specifically for biogas.<br />
From an international perspective, biogas projects<br />
are considered Clean Development Mechanism projects,<br />
so the incentive scheme is crucial. In Vietnam,<br />
however, banks have not made any loan incentive<br />
policies to support biogas electricity projects.<br />
Photo: GIZ<br />
38
Biogas Journal | <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong> English Issue<br />
d. Awareness and capacity barriers<br />
Lack of skilled and experienced technicians and workers<br />
to undertake the design, construction and maintenance<br />
of biogas plants is hindering the full dissemination<br />
and adoption of biogas production in Vietnam. In<br />
fact, most of large biogas plants have been constructed<br />
with poor-quality building materials in the country.<br />
The plants are not well operated because they lack the<br />
know-how required to repair and maintain biogas digestion.<br />
Meanwhile, the lack of awareness of the benefits<br />
of biogas technology in the country and the government’s<br />
lack of incentive mechanisms for the sector are<br />
considered to be the main reasons for low use of biogas.<br />
Recommendations for sustainable biogas<br />
development in Vietnam<br />
To encourage developers/investors to install biogas digestion<br />
for reduction greenhouse gas emissions, there<br />
are major recommendation as follows:<br />
on operation and maintenance, as well as to bank<br />
staff on financing biogas plants and procedures for<br />
managing/implementing the credit line created for<br />
support biogas owners.<br />
To support the Vietnamese Government in implementing<br />
the above-mentioned solutions, the<br />
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit<br />
(GIZ) GmbH is partnering with the Ministry<br />
of Industry and Trade to carry out the “Climate<br />
Protection through Sustainable Bioenergy Markets<br />
in Vietnam (BEM)” project. The project aims at improving<br />
the preconditions for a sustainable use of<br />
bioenergy for electricity and heat generation in the<br />
country. The project is funded by the German Federal<br />
Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation<br />
and Nuclear Safety (BMU) through the International<br />
Climate Initiative (IKI).<br />
Photo: Ho Thi Lan Huong<br />
1. Development and improvement of policies and<br />
mechanisms<br />
Experience shows that the introduction and success<br />
of any technology, to large extent, is dependent<br />
on the government’s policy framework. Policies<br />
are important because the government is the actor<br />
to enable an environment to mobilize resources and<br />
encourage private investment. Therefore, the Vietnamese<br />
Government should develop supporting<br />
mechanisms for biogas power plants. For example,<br />
besides subsidies or an attractive FIT, the government<br />
should further promote its tax policies (current<br />
tax exemption is shown not to be sufficient),<br />
create investors’ access to green loans and develop<br />
favorable loan mechanisms, including grace periods,<br />
longer timelines and favorable interest rates. The<br />
government can also mobilize capital though Official<br />
Development Assistance (ODA) and/or bilateral foreign<br />
loans as well as develop testing and standards<br />
of biogas technologies to improve the reliability of<br />
biogas technologies.<br />
2. Financing mechanism<br />
A specific funding line needs to be introduced for<br />
biogas power plants, which includes sub-solutions<br />
such as providing easier access to soft loans and<br />
support by local banks, and introducing tax incentives<br />
consisting of reduced import taxes and partial<br />
exemption from value-added tax for biogas equipment.<br />
3. Structural development for stakeholders<br />
The structural development should include the<br />
dissemination and update of policy to maintain<br />
transparency and credibility for attracting potential<br />
domestic investors. Training courses should be<br />
provided to technical staff of biogas power plants<br />
The project will enhance the capacities of relevant<br />
Vietnamese institutions and promote the application<br />
of the state-to-art technologies when implementing<br />
its three action areas: 1. legal and regulatory framework,<br />
2. capacity development and 3. technology<br />
cooperation. In the first area of action, BEM is supporting<br />
the Ministry of Industry and Trade to develop<br />
mechanism to support feed-in tariffs for biomass<br />
(co-generation) and biogas power projects and to facilitate<br />
their development.<br />
Author<br />
Le Thi Thoa<br />
Senior Officer GIZ<br />
Energy Support Programme<br />
Deutsche Gesellschaft für<br />
Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH<br />
+84 24-39 41 26 05 Ext. 105<br />
+84 902 163 379<br />
office.energy@giz.de<br />
www.gizenergy.org.vn<br />
Model of a plug-flow<br />
biogas digester system<br />
in Vietnam.<br />
39
English Bio2Watt Biogas Issue Plant.<br />
The plant is situated on<br />
a cattle feedlot in Bronkhorstspruit<br />
and uses the<br />
manure for co-digestion<br />
with other food and agrowaste<br />
material. The plant<br />
processes approximately<br />
120,000 tonnes of fermentation<br />
substrate a year.<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
Biogas in South Africa:<br />
A market waiting to be developed<br />
The South African-German Energy Programme (SAG<strong>EN</strong>) implemented by GIZ, has been<br />
active in the biogas field since 2013. There are more than 38 commercial biogas projects.<br />
SAG<strong>EN</strong> firmly believes that the industry is rapidly growing and ready to expand.<br />
By Sayuri Chetty and Malett Balmer<br />
There is a variety of organic materials available<br />
for biogas production through anaerobic<br />
digestion in South Africa. This also<br />
comes in high, steady volumes. Some of the<br />
most common feedstock options include<br />
manure from the livestock sector; residues from the<br />
meat processing industries and abattoirs; agricultural<br />
residues from crop plantations and product processing<br />
(fruits, vegetables and sugarcane); residues from breweries<br />
and wineries; food waste and wastewater sludge.<br />
Studies indicate that biogas has the potential to replace<br />
at least 2,500 – 2,800 MW (megawatt) of dirty<br />
coal-generated grid electricity per annum. 39 of 131<br />
municipal waste water treatment (WWT) plants considered<br />
feasible for biogas projects. Combined, they can<br />
generate approximately 27 MW of electrical power and<br />
30 MW of thermal power daily.<br />
South Africa has a dirty energy sector with 90 % of electricity<br />
generated from coal and electricity tariffs have<br />
skyrocketed, increasing by 300 % in the last ten years.<br />
In addition, in 2007 the country started experiencing<br />
rolling black-outs or “load shedding” whenever the national<br />
utility, Eskom, could not keep up with demand.<br />
The combination of high electricity prices, environmental<br />
considerations and the promising potential from the<br />
biogas sector can be considered as the main drivers<br />
for customers who wish to reduce their dependence on<br />
the grid by supplying all or part of their energy requirements,<br />
provide back-up electricity during black-outs<br />
and save on their electricity bills.<br />
Barriers to market development<br />
South Africa currently has a vertically integrated power<br />
sector, whereby generation and transmission are monopolized<br />
by the state-owned utility Eskom. In some areas,<br />
Eskom sells electricity to municipalities who then<br />
distribute to customers in their supply area. The utility<br />
is currently facing many challenges, some of which include<br />
chronic debt, mismanagement, aging grid infrastructure,<br />
and lack of cost reflective tariffs leading to a<br />
vicious cycle of generation and non-recovery of costs.<br />
In this light, embedded generation is perceived as a<br />
Photo: Makwana 2015, © Bio2Watt<br />
40
Biogas Journal | <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong> English Issue<br />
Northern Works large<br />
sewage treatment plant:<br />
the CHP containers are<br />
set up.<br />
Photo: Karl Juncker, WEC Projects<br />
threat that exacerbates existing problems of revenue<br />
generation, power quality and grid safety. However,<br />
Eskom is currently looking into establishing a process<br />
for connections to the low voltage grid for small scale<br />
embedded generation (SSEG) installations which will<br />
include biogas plants for own use generation, distribution<br />
and sales of electricity, as outlined above. Currently,<br />
only plants generating less than 1 MW receive a<br />
generation license and the power must be consumed<br />
by the entity developing the project – there is therefore<br />
no scope to sell the power back into the electricity grid<br />
as a source of income. The financial viability of the project<br />
is therefore determined by the potential savings<br />
it can generate and not necessarily by the income it<br />
can generate, although there are indications that the<br />
proposed power sector reforms may open the market for<br />
independent power producers.<br />
Development projects with municipalities are not easy.<br />
Municipalities are governed by laws governing their<br />
procurement processes, namely the Public Finance<br />
and Management Act (PFMA) and the Municipal Finance<br />
and Management Act (MFMA). The main hurdle<br />
presented by the legislation centers on the duration of<br />
contracts that municipalities can enter into, which is a<br />
maximum of three years. Most biogas projects require<br />
a much longer time-frame to make the project viable.<br />
Licensing requirements<br />
Biogas projects traverse the mandate of several national<br />
departments due to the integrated nature of the<br />
technology and intended application of the biogas,<br />
making application for the different licenses required<br />
for a project challenging. To add to the complexity, the<br />
approach to develop or amend legislation to include<br />
biogas has taken a piecemeal approach. Therefore,<br />
there are a number of different elements of legislation<br />
that speak to some element of biogas written by different<br />
authorization entities. SAG<strong>EN</strong> developed a very<br />
detailed overview of licensing requirements, but due<br />
to the complexity of the topic, it cannot be presented<br />
in detail. As previously mentioned, the majority of operational<br />
biogas plants in South Africa are of commercial<br />
scale. There are several installations on a micro to<br />
small scale at schools and low-income households, but<br />
many of these are no longer operational due to a lack<br />
of community engagement, hiatuses in operation for<br />
e.g. during school holiday periods, poor operation and<br />
maintenance, etc.<br />
Large biogas plant in Bronkhorstspruit<br />
The Bio2Watt plant was the first commercial scale<br />
project that helped put biogas on the map. The development<br />
of the plant took almost seven years to complete,<br />
with construction commencing in July 2014 and<br />
commissioning in April 2015. The massive delay in<br />
the project was primarily due to the unclear legislative<br />
framework at the time – the developer had to go through<br />
the full, lengthy process of obtaining all environmental<br />
authorizations which ended up costing almost R8<br />
million rand to complete in conjunction with obtaining<br />
legal advice.<br />
The plant is situated on a cattle feedlot in Bronkhorstspruit<br />
and uses the manure for co-digestion with other<br />
food and agro-waste material. The plant digests approximately<br />
120,000 tonnes of feedstock a year. In<br />
terms of design capacity, the plant is 4.6 MW and has a<br />
10-year offtake agreement to wheel power between the<br />
municipal utility’s grid i.e. the City of Tshwane to the<br />
BMW Rosslyn plant, located 60 km away.<br />
The total project amounted to R150 million, which included<br />
a blended finance approach of R16 million in<br />
grant funding from the Department of Trade, In-<br />
41
English Issue<br />
Biogas Journal<br />
| <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong><br />
Large Sewage Treatment<br />
Plant Northern<br />
Works: The 1.2 MW<br />
plant was one of the<br />
first of its kind to be<br />
built and was put into<br />
operation in 2012.<br />
Northern Works is the<br />
largest sewage treatment<br />
plant in operation<br />
in Johanesburg.<br />
Photo: Karl Juncker, WEC Projects<br />
dustry and Economic Development, R36 million equity<br />
and a R98 million loan from the Industrial Development<br />
Corporation (IDC). Around half of the materials<br />
and components used for the project were sourced locally,<br />
and some of the major components were imported<br />
from Europe<br />
Large sewage treatment plant produces<br />
Biogas<br />
Example two: Large sewage treatment plant Northern<br />
Works WWTW, Johannesburg. Operational since August<br />
2012, the 1.2 MW plant was also the first of its kind to<br />
be built. Northern Works is the largest WWTW servicing<br />
Johannesburg and the biogas produced displaces 10-<br />
15 % of grid electricity that would be required. There<br />
are plans to install three more CHP engines, which<br />
would then boost the installed capacity to 4.5 MW, providing<br />
more than half of the plant’s electricity needs.<br />
Unfortunately, however, the plant is currently running<br />
under capacity at only 20 % of its potential. This is<br />
largely due to the over-design of the plant, and design of<br />
the contractual arrangement between the operators of<br />
the biogas facility and the water service provider, which<br />
have different mandates and have not practiced holistic<br />
sludge management along the entire sludge train<br />
to ensure that enough sludge reaches the digesters for<br />
biogas production.<br />
There are many other innovative biogas plants installed<br />
in South Africa, for example at abattoirs, cheese farms,<br />
dairies and fruit processing plants. However, the two examples<br />
mentioned above were pioneers in their respective<br />
categories. They have paid the proverbial school<br />
fees, and as a result, have played an integral role in<br />
developing the biogas sector and providing future projects<br />
with valuable lessons learnt.<br />
Conclusion<br />
In comparison with other countries, the biogas industry<br />
in South Africa is relatively small and while it has<br />
been operating at low intensity for many years now, it<br />
is a testament to the industry’s resilience. The South<br />
African German Energy Programme (SAG<strong>EN</strong>) under GIZ<br />
put great focus on biogas during the first and second<br />
phase of the programme (2011-2013; 2014-2017).<br />
The main focal areas included working towards enabling<br />
framework conditions for biogas. This included<br />
completing resource assessments for different types of<br />
feedstocks and assessing the biogas potential, training<br />
and awareness raising initiatives including creating a<br />
space for dialogue in the form of the National Biogas<br />
Platform (a roundtable for all relevant stakeholders in<br />
the space), and study tours for national and local government<br />
stakeholders to Germany. SAG<strong>EN</strong>’s products<br />
and outputs can be found at www.sagen.co.za<br />
Authors<br />
Sayuri Chetty<br />
Advisor Renewable Energies<br />
South African-German Energy Programm (SAG<strong>EN</strong>)<br />
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH<br />
+27 12 423 5600<br />
sagen@giz.de<br />
www.sagen.org.za<br />
Marlett Balmer<br />
Senior Energy Advisor<br />
South African-German Energy Programm (SAG<strong>EN</strong>)<br />
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH<br />
P.O. Box 13732 · Hatfield 0028<br />
Hatfield Gardens · Block C 2nd Floor<br />
333 Grosvenor Street · 0083 Hatfield Pretoria<br />
South Africa<br />
+27 12 423 5981<br />
marlett.balmer@giz.de<br />
www.sagen.org.za<br />
42
Biogas Journal | <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2020</strong> English Issue<br />
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