Home | Biogas | Global perspectives: Biogas network in Germany

Global perspectives: Biogas network in Germany

10/12/2009 22:00:00 Pangea

Font size:

In the German town of Lünen, officials want to build a dedicated biogas network

Powered by agricultural biomass, including cow and horse manure, 90,000 residents will benefit from this low cost alternative to oil, coal, and Russian gas.

Lünen said it is the first city in the world to build and manage a biogas network. As well as energy security, the new technology brings low cost heat and electricity and new jobs to Lünen. Fed by local farms, who deliver animal waste, as well as corn, wheat, and grass, the power plant is at the industrial port next to the river. This feedstock converts to biogas in anaerobic digesters, producing 6.8MW, enough power to supply 26,000 houses with heat and electricity. The gas goes out over the city through a new biogas pipeline network. The gas network feeds a series of 12 Schmitt Enertec Cogeneration units, which feed electricity into the grid, and heat into local district heating networks. The CHP Cogeneration units get a bit of a disguise as decorative installations featuring wood and plants so they can blend into the urban environment. Town officials chose Schmitt as the main supplier after a competition against leading manufacturers such as GE Energy and Man. The network should deliver heat and electricity to customers by this December. The Lünen network could provide 30-40% of the town’s heat and electricity needs, said Peter Kindt, director of Alfagy Ltd, which also supplies CHP plants. Kindt said because of the smell, anyone near the CHP plant in Lünen will know it is there, but he insists residents will not find their living rooms scented with slurry every time they turn the heating on. “Unlike wind or solar power, a biogas network is barely noticeable to residents.”

Even further north, in Finland, forest industry company Stora Enso and Neste Oil a refining and marketing company, inaugurated a biofuels demonstration facility at Varkaus, in the Savo region of eastern Finland.

In addition, a 50/50 joint venture, NSE Biofuels Oy, established by both companies, will develop technology and later to produce biocrude for renewable diesel on a commercial scale. The demonstration plant is for biomass to liquids (BtL) production utilizing forestry residues. The facility at Stora Enso’s Varkaus Mill includes a 12 MW gasifier. It will develop technologies and engineering solutions for a commercial-scale plant. The demonstration process units will cover all stages, including drying of biomass, gasification, gas cleaning, and testing of Fischer-Tropsch catalysts. The Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (Tekes) provided funding for NSE Biofuels Oy’s research and development through its program BioRefine – New Biomass Products, while the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy provided finance for the demonstration facility investment.