Biogas Journal English Issue June 2013 by Fachverband Biogas e.V.

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German Biogas Association | ZKZ 50073

GAS Journal

The trade magazine of the biogas sector

Status quo renewable energy policy S.6

June_2013

Fermentation of chicken dry feces

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GERMANY Policy report and plant examples

CLAAS Team Competence Biogas. More energy. Beside the production of food a new field of activity is rising within agriculture: the production of raw materials and energy. Quality and efficient management of the substrates as well as of all production processes are the key success factors for entrepreneurs and farmers. CLAAS provides leading mechanisation and management solutions for the substrate production to secure profitable biogas production.

www.claas.com 2

Editorial

Biogas Journal | June_2013

Turnaround in energy policy: biogas can do it

ince the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) went into effect in April 2000, the biogas sector in Germany has seen a remarkable development. From fewer than 1,000 biogas plants, most of which fed on liquid manure and residual material, energy crops started making deep inroads after the first revision of the EEG in 2004. As a consequence, larger biogas plants were built and equipment for the cultivation, harvesting and storage as well as for the feeding and digestion of energy crops was developed. Farmers were able to earn alternative revenue at a time of low farm produce prices. The planning of biogas feeding projects began in 2006. Today, a total of 109 biogas plants feed biogas upgraded to biomethane into the gas grid. The biomethane is converted into electricity and heat in cogeneration units or sold as CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) biomethane fuel. The next revision of the EEG in 2009 saw the advent of the liquid manure bonus, which placed the emphasis on the digestion of liquid manure. Due to a flaw in the EEG, even if more liquid manure was digested in biogas plants, the cultivation of energy crops was intensified in those regions of Germany where farming had already been very intensive before. Whereas over 1,400 plants with about 700 megawatts installed electricity output were built in 2011, the sector experienced a virtual collapse with less than 300 new plants and an installed electric output of a little less than 200 megawatts since the EEG 2012 went into effect. The biogas sector must find a new bearing: In the future, it will be increasingly more important to design and operate biogas plants in such a way that they supply electricity and heat when these are needed. This is of particular importance to the turnaround in energy policy in Germany because the fluctuating supply of renewable energy from wind and solar sources is going to be higher in the future. This makes the compensation

between the varying supply from renewable sources and the load profile, which is also subject to fluctuation, a very important aspect. Biogas can make a valuable contribution to that. Therefore, biogas plants and cogeneration units must operate at a even higher reliability and – most important of all – they must be made controllable. In the next 12 months, the EEG will be revised in order to make this important support mechanism fit for the next phase of the political energy turnaround. The provision of electricity on an as-needed basis will play a major role in this process. The political discussions and fights between the conventional and the renewable energy industries for the share in the supply of energy is already fierce. One main question is what the decentralized pattern of the energy supply system will look like in the future. This question also decides where the value in the supply of energy will actually be added. The Biogas Association is going to take an active part in this discourse. Best Practice projects are presented in this edition of the Biogas Journal. They show the versatility with which biogas can be used and what biogas can do: Gas feeding, optimized heat utilization, digestion of waste or by-products, or citizens’ participation. With its ability to adapt to the respective sites and to supply electricity when needed, the biogas sector makes an important contribution to the turnaround in energy policy and so the biogas sector is looking ahead to a positive future in Germany, Europe and globally.

Sincerely,

Dr. Claudius da Costa Gomez Managing Director of the German Biogas Association

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Biogas Journal | June_2013

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The newspaper, and all articles contained within it, are protected by copyright. Articles with named authors represent the opinion of the author, which does not necessarily coincide with the position of the German Biogas Association. Reprinting, recording in databases, online ser vices and the Internet, reproduction on data carriers such as CD-ROMs is only permitted after written agreement. Any articles received by the editor’s office assume agreement with complete or partial publication.

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Biogas Journal | June_2013

GERMANY Policy report and plant examples

Editorial

3 Turnaround in energy policy: biogas can do it Dr. Claudius da Costa Gomez Managing Director of the German Biogas Association

4 Imprint

english issue

6 Problems not solved but higher cost of the energy turnaround By Dipl. Ing. agr. Bastian Olzem

10 Great strides to the zero-emission region By Dipl. Ing. Martina Bräsel 13 High digestibility of large quantities of chicken dry feces By Steffen Bach

17 Sound investment of time and money By Christian Dany 20 Satisfied pioneers By Thomas Gaul 22 Biogas plant as village community project By Bernward Janzing 26 Biogas from apples and bananas By Dipl. Ing. Martina Bräsel 30 An unusual business model By Heike Wells

photos: Martina Bräsel, Thomas Gaul

coverphoto: www.landpixel.de

34 European Biogas Association’s year 2013 By Susanna Litmanen

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The Biogas Journal contains an insert of the company UNION Instruments GmbH.

33 5

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Photo by: Picture Alliance/dpa

Biogas Journal | June_2013

From left: Schleswig-Holstein’s Prime Minister Torsten Albig, Chancellor Angela Merkel and Thuringia’s Prime Minister Christine Lieberknecht during the press briefing after the Energy Summit in March. At this briefing, they announced that the electricity compensation for legacy plants would not be cut with retroactive effect.

Problems not solved but higher cost of the energy turnaround The protection of the legacy system was a major signal sent out by the Energy Summit. Recently, the Chancellery said the negotiations on stopping the energy price rise had finally failed. BY DIPL. ING. AGR. BASTIAN OLZEM

he Renewable Energy Sources (EE) sector had put great hopes in the new Federal Environment Minister Peter Altmaier, who had managed to organize a dialog process on the further development of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). As in the Renewable Energy Sources Platform, the series of EEG dialog conferences quickly created the impression that the Federal Environment Minister’s main intention was not to identify the major principles of an EEG reform and to continue the changes in energy but to slow down the production of energy from renewable sources at whatever cost. In the EE Platform, in addition to the Renewable Energy Sources Associations, numerous eastern German states had spoken out against setting a limit to the expansion

of renewable energy sources. That resistance may have been the reason why, on February 13, federal ministers Rösler and Altmaier tabled the paper with proposals on what is called the “electricity price brake”. The analysis of the issue, which Altmaier had suggested as early as January 28, was correct: The EEG’s compensation mechanism automatically causes the EEG allocation provision to drop when the price of electricity at the exchange goes up.

Energy from renewable sources is made the scapegoat for dropping electricity prices The paradox crops up because the EEG allocation rate is calculated as the difference between the EEG remu-

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neration and the price at which electricity is sold at the exchange. Hence, energy from renewable sources is made the scapegoat for the electricity price at the exchange in that they cause the electricity price to drop, despite the fact that this effect is welcomed by all electricity consumers. Regrettably, the cheaper electricity under the effect of the renewables only benefits industrial customers with very high electricity consumption; private consumers cannot profit from it. If Rösler and Altmaier had been serious about the “electricity price brake” the proposals for changing the EEG allocation provisions would have had to be adopted. Instead, the paper contained tons of proposals that would massively have hampered the further expansion or even prevented EE projects, even projects providing for cuts affecting legacy systems. As such it would have been a massive intrusion in the protection of legitimate expectation. However, the paper also contained positive proposals. For example, to reduce the exemption from payment of the EEG allocation for energy-intensive businesses to a necessary minimum. The different proposals have already been discussed in the policy article in the latest german issue (2_2013, page 38) of Biogas Journal. A working party with representatives of the central and state governments was set up,which was to draft a compromise proposal for the “electricity price brake” in a

number of meetings by March 21. For this day, Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel had invited the prime ministers of the states to the Chancellery for an energy summit.

19 March: Day of protest in Berlin The five-week period between the publication of the Rösler-Altmaier paper and the Energy Summit was used intensively by the Biogas Association and its members to raise awareness of the dramatic effects for the entire biogas sector of the proposals put forward by Rösler and Altmaier. The protest against the unbelievable intention of retrospectively sanctioning worse conditions for legally guaranteed support terms of investments of millions of euros already made culminated in the Renewable Energy Action Day in front of the Environment Ministry on March 19. Initiated by the biogas sector and organized by the Biogas Association, over 2,000 participants vented their anger in Berlin. The last round of negotiations of the state representatives with Environment Minister Peter Altmaier took place that day. A detailed report on the Action Day events is included on pages 34 and 35 of this issue.

Chancellor upholds legal protection The Chancellor’s Energy Summit with Altmaier and the state prime ministers took place two days later. In the

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Photo by: Silke Reents

More than 2,000 members of the German Biogas Association demonstrated for the further expansion of renewable energy in Berlin in March. press briefing following the summit, Merkel, Christine Lieberknecht, Prime Minister of Thuringia and SchleswigHolsteins’s Prime Minister Torsten Albig briefed journalists on the result. Whereas Altmaier, knowing that he had been defeated, was sitting in the back of the briefing room, all speakers agreed that the compensation for legacy plants was not to be touched. Thus, a law adopted and in effect is a valid tool. Politics does neither commit breach of contract nor abuse confidence. That would certainly have had repercussions on the choice of the electorate in the elections to German Parliament on September 22. The paper adopted by the Energy Summit participants reads in the first paragraph: ”The binding promise of compensations for legacy plants will not be curtailed in retroeffect. This also applies to plants for which legally binding obligations have been assumed.” It was not clear, however, whether the changes for new plants provided in the EEG 2012 would apply with effect of August 1, 2013. This point was not dealt with clearly at the Energy Summit but again referred to a working party, which is chaired by Chancellery Minister Ronald Pofalla. He met the heads of the state chancelleries for the first time on April 11. That first meeting ended without any substantial result.

Electricity price brake: Final knock-out came by end of April As intended by Chancellor Merkel, a compromise solution was to be found by the end of May. On Saturday, April 20, media agencies and daily newspapers surprisingly spread the news that the Federal Chancellery had finally declared that the talks on the electricity price brake had failed. In the light of this, it may be assumed that the EEG 2012 will not be revised before the parliamentary elections in September. Despite that, the electricity price brake has caused a lot of turmoil also among the financing banks. It can be expected that future projects involving renewable energy sources will be substantially more expensive to finance. In that respect, the proponents of the electricity price brake ,Rösler and Altmaier, have added to the cost of the

energy change rather than making electricity cheaper. Besides, even the finance ministry will certainly not be amused by the attempt launched by the two federal ministers. Investments withheld or completely cancelled cost the finance ministry millions of euros of tax revenue. Even more dramatic: many weeks of fighting the unspeakable electricity price brake proposal have been squandered. Valuable time that would have urgently been needed to find a solution to modifying the EEG compensation mechanism and advancing the EEG on reasonable lines. No doubt, all sectors of the Renewable Energy Sources have their share to contribute to this.

Never-ending topic: EEG allocation rate On October 15, the estimated EEG allocation for 2014 will probably even be higher than the present 5.277 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Maybe the rate will go up to 6.0 or 6.3 cents a kilowatt-hour. Then we can expect a press release by the Federal Environment Ministry approximately like that: ”… in February this year, Federal Environment Minister Altmaier had tabled proposals for securing the price of electricity. These were not implemented, however. Therefore, another rise of the EEG allocation provision must be assumed for 2014. …” It should be mentioned here that a further rise would not have been curtailed substantially or been prevented by the action proposed in connection with the electricity price brake. Even if not a single kilowatt-hour of electricity from renewable sources was added from EEG plants, the allocation rate would go up further. Simply because the price at the electricity exchange will most probably drop further. The reason for this is also simple: The year 2013 will see more coal-fired power plants go on stream than in any of the last 20 years. The net increase in the generation of coal-based electricity (coal-fired power plants shut down already considered) will exceed 4,300 megawatts (MW). The consequence: Another 30 billion kilowatt-hours of coal-based electricity harmful to our climate will force German electricity exports abroad because the domestic electricity market is already more than saturated. The oversupply causes the price at the exchange to drop. This characterizes the dilemma of coupling the EEG allocation

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Biogas Journal | June_2013

mechanism to the exchange electricity price. The construction of new coal-fired power plants was only worth the effort because the present emissions trading scheme is an utterly unsuitable tool for moving the electricity production away from coal towards climate-saving generation methods.

Emissions trading scheme has failed Of late, the price of a CO2 certificate amounted to 4.27 euros per metric ton. At least 27 to 30 euros per metric ton would be necessary to make the emissions trading scheme a success. Unlike the electricity price brake, Rösler and Altmaier disagreed on this topic. Whereas the Federal Environment Minister spoke out in favor of scarcity and therefore a higher price of the contamination rights, Rösler vehemently opposed that position. Thus, considering the “neutralizing” attitude of the German government, it is not surprising that, on April 15, the European Parliament refused the backloading of CO2 certificates. Not only one of the worst days for climate protection proponents in Europe but also for many private electricity consumers in Germany. The private households foot the bill of the rising EEG allocation rates whereas large industrial companies profit from the lower electricity prices at the exchange and energy suppliers report one record profit after another.

Generation of electricity from coal continues to be a profitable business. Politics could change that. For example, by fixing a national minimum price for CO2 certificates, as has been done in the United Kingdom. If the German Chancellor continues attaching importance to the protection of our climate, advancing the generation of energy from renewable sources and keeping electricity prices within affordable limits, she should take the lead now. CO2 minimum prices in Germany and a process for working out a modified EEG allocation mechanism would be first steps. The next revision of the EEG Act will come during the next parliamentary term. The biogas sector is ready to take over important balancing and system service functions among the group of renewables. Many of the legacy plants can be revamped at comparatively low investment costs to supply electricity on an as-needed base to take on the role of responsible actors in the energy system. Let’s tackle it together. Author Dipl.Ing. agr. Bastian Olzem Head of division policy German Biogas Association Schumannstr. 17 ∙ 10117 Berlin Phone +49 30/275 81 79-0 e-mail: info@biogas.org

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Photos: Martina Bräsel

Everything’s running smoothly! Sebastian Damm, managing director of Bioenergie-Region H-O-T GmbH (left), and Dr. Mathias Ginter, managing director of Abfallwirtschaftsgesellschaft des Neckar-Odenwald-Kreises mbH (AWN) at the biogas plant in Schöntal.

Great strides to the zero-emission region Bioenergy villages, zero-emission business parks, zero-residual-waste management and biogas plants: The energy revolution is clearly visible in the Hohenlohe-Odenwald-Tauber (short: HOT) region. Here, the development towards a “zero emission region” is in full swing because the people in the HOT region pursue a common goal: They want to produce as much electricity and heat from renewable sources as they consume. BY DIPL.-ING. MARTINA BRÄSEL

t all began with the “Bioenergy Regions” competition of the Federal Ministry of Nutrition, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV) in 2008. The three rural districts in the North of Baden-Württemberg worked out a joint strategy for the gradual development of the local generation and supply of electricity and heat from renewable sources, and they succeeded. HOT won against 200 competitors. In 2009, the region was nominated as a bioenergy model region, one of 25 such regions throughout Germany. The BMELV contributed 400,000 Euros subsidy as seed capital.

Regional green electricity for all The fact that the three rural districts joined forces for the benefit of bioenergy is based on their gigantic potential for biomass production: “More than ten per cent of the ag-

ricultural land of Baden-Württemberg can be found here,” Sebastian Damm explains. The journalist is managing director of the Bioenergy Region H-O-T GmbH, which was formed for this purpose. Its main task is to fill people with enthusiasm for bioenergy, show them what can be achieved and focus on common interests. Initially, cooperation among the authorities had been a main problem, Damm recalls: “We had to consider the expectations and needs of 400,000 people, 61 mayors representing different political parties, requirements and agreements with foresters and local officials.” The common goal of making good use of the available potential and develop into a zero emission region bound them together. The strategy worked: In terms of figures, the people of the region can be supplied with local green electricity today.

“We encourage people to invest in renewable primary energy sources,” Damm explains. Whether a biogas plant, a pellet heater, connection to the local heat supply system or cultivation of energy crops - all solutions are individual and based on need. “After less than two years, we had started projects involving investments of over 25 million Euros,” Dr. Mathias Ginter, managing director of Abfallwirtschaftsgesellschaft of the Neckar-Odenwald District (AWN), says - not without pride.

New cultivation concepts The land is farmed by over 4,500 farmers and some of them, energy pioneers, are about to venture into new cultivation concepts. For example, farmer Lothar Derr in Grünsfeld is gaining first experience with the cultivation of silphia. The benefits for

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Biogas Journal | June_2013

From left: Dr. Mathias Ginter, managing director of Abfallwirtschaftsgesellschaft des Neckar-OdenwaldKreises mbH (AWN), Gerhard Baar (mayor of Rosenberg) and Sebastian Damm, managing director of Bioenergie-Region H-O-T GmbH, collect recyclable waste for the “Yellow Bin” and the “Green Bin”.

Here the nearby biogas plant supplies energy to the firm Ziehl-Abegg. Plant manager Günter Kress (left) and Dr. Mathias Ginter, AWN, are pleased with this win-win situation.

Before the fans are painted, all remaining grease and dirt must be removed. For this process, the firm Ziehl-Abegg needs much heat and water.

the farmer are obvious: “The soil is covered with vegetation throughout the year; there is no soil erosion.” The perennial hardy crop needs neither pesticides nor fertilizer and grows up to two meters high. The flowers are visited by bees; other field herbs also grow in the silphia field. Once planted, the crop can be harvested for 15 years. “Unfortunately, the crop requires time-consuming presprouting and the young sprouts must be planted in the field,” Damm adds. However, field studies have shown that cultivating the crops is worth the effort because of the high yield of biomass. Regrettably, the number of farms on which this crop is grown in Germany is small. In addition to silphia, short rotation plantations should ensure the supply of solid bio-

mass. In Schefflenz, poplar trees are planted, in addition to the wheat and rapeseed grown. “Poplar trees add to the diversity of species because they are home to a number of animal and plant species,” farmer Roland Feil says. He adds that it is an advantage that the energy trees grow two to three meters a year and as such produces ten to fifteen tons of dry matter per hectare. They can be harvested every three to five years; the rootstocks remain in the soil. This protects the soil from erosion, and cost is kept low because poplars require neither fertilizer nor pesticides. Biogas pioneers are also at home in Siebeneich: Master butcher Günter Banzhaf, for example, grows miscanthus, heats about 700 square meters of living space with it and produces about 900 liters of hot water. Farmer

Rolf Weibler, to give another example, uses liquid manure from cattle as substrate for his biogas plant. He feeds electricity in the public grid and supplies half the village with heat.

Bioenergy villages The village of Siebeneich was nominated as a bioenergy village in 2011. This means: All the electricity the village needs is generated from renewable sources and at least half the heat the village consumes is provided from biomass. Fifty per cent of the bioenergy plants belong to customers and farmers. “It was important for us to take the excess heat where it was needed,” Damm explains. A reasonable heat utilization concept was part of the proactive planning of the villagers. Cooperative societies were set up in many villages to

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finance the construction of a local heating network; some villages even built such systems on their own. The first bioenergy village in the HOT region was Füßbach. Farmer Thomas Kahle has supplied most homes in the village and a near-by business park with heat from his biogas plant (500 kW) and a local heat network since 2009. Another eleven villages are well on the way to success: “There is a biogas plant in Untermaßholderbach whose heat is not yet fully used,” Ginter says; there is some spare capacity there. Biogas plants are under construction in many other villages in the region. These will supply local heat to homes and businesses. In this way, several zero-emission business parks have already emerged.

Zero-emission business parks In Schöntal-Bieringen, for example, the factory of a former producer of motors and fans is supplied with heat from a biogas plant. Farmers in the region supply the substrate for the roughly 9,000 cubic meters of biogas the plant produces. The associated cogeneration unit has supplied 800 kilowatts (kW) electric and 825 kW thermal power since November 2010. The firm Ziehl-Abegg and three homes are supplied with heat through heat pipelines about one kilometer long. As there is need for more energy, another cogeneration unit will be installed by the end of the year. “We can use the heat throughout the year,” plant manager Günter Kress says, because in addition to the heating system the factory operates several washing machines requiring a lot of heat. The fans the factory

Biogas Journal | June_2013

produces are washed in these machines to remove the grease before the fans are painted. ”We need about 1,000 megawatts electric power a month, this is more than 170,000 Euros,” Kress adds. The factory now saves money with the local heat from the bioenergy plant. “First and foremost, we wanted to save fuel oil,” Kress says and is pleased that the firm has already consumed 280,000 liters less. In this way, energy cost can be saved and production is environmentally friendly, which was a decisive advantage of the site. The “RIO” business park in Osterburken will fully convert to energy from renewable sources in the next few years. This also includes the firm Dietz Fruchtsäfte; it produces fruit juices consuming much energy in the process. Low energy cost is an advantage also in that industry. Never before in Europe has biogas replaced natural oil as energy source for a whole industrial area. The project was therefore lauded as “EU flagship project for innovative municipal development” and received two million euros as subsidy. The industrial areas “Hohenlohe”, “Öhringen Süd” and “Hollenbach” will follow suit.

Biogas from wet municipal waste The firms Getrag and the village of Rosenberg also take advantage of the local heat from a biogas plant. Besides, the village with 2,000 inhabitants is the site of a promising pilot project under which the inhabitants become suppliers of bioenergy substrate. “Private homes produce large quantities of green and garden waste,” the AWN manag-

ing director explains. If this was collected in a bio-waste container, it could be converted to electricity and heat in a biogas plant. For this reason, there have been only two containers in Rosenberg for the last three years. Dry waste that can be recycled is collected in the “Yellow Bin”. Wet waste, i.e., anything from kitchen waste to baby napkins, is thrown into the “Green Bin” to be converted to energy in the biogas plant. “The people are willing to follow, and actually they do not want another way,” mayor Gerhard Baar says. HOT would like to extend the system to all three rural districts. “400,000 people are an enormous potential for biomass that should be utilized,” Mathias Ginter underlines. Regrettably, the “Yellow Bag” was still a hurdle because both systems would have to run parallel. “The earnings from material that can be recycled should benefit the people and not private business,” he believes. Even if the project must fail in view of the legal situation, the HOT energy concept was a success: “Today, three rural districts save five million liters of fuel oil a year,” Ginter insists. This means, that four million euros are not spent but remain in the region. Besides, over 30,000 tons of carbon dioxide have been saved every year since the project started.

Author Dipl.Ing. · Dipl. Journ. Martina Bräsel Freelance journalist Grünewaldstr. 45 ∙ 70192 Stuttgart, Germany Phone +49 711/414 09 90 e-mail: braesel@mb-saj.de

English Issue

Photos by Steffen Bach

Biogas Journal | June_2013

High digestibility of large quantities of chicken dry feces

A Lehmann extruder crushes and macerates difficult-to-digest substrate in the Röblingen biogas plant.

Chicken dry feces are one of the substrates most difficult to handle for digestion. The high concentration of nitrogen and foreign materials such as metal, sand or stone requires equipment of a special design. Despite these difficulties, biogas can be produced successfully even when the substrate contains a high share of chicken dry feces. The high rate of nutrients suggests that the digested product should be treated. BY STEFFEN BACH

he former military airport on the outskirts of Köthen still exudes a touch of Cold War. The bunkers, in which the planes of the Soviet Red Army used to be parked, seem to have been abandoned only a few days ago. For decades, officers shouted commands in Russian over the gigantic square, and the jet engines of Russian MIG planes roared on the runway. Today, only a wheel loader mars the quiet of the summer day. It moves substrate to the biogas plant. Biogas has been produced on the disused military site since the end of 2007. The plant belongs to GM Biogas GmbH, a sister company of Wimex Agrarprodukte Import und Export GmbH. The latter produces day-old chicks and sells them to chicken

breeders. From his office on the third floor of the former airport building, plant manager Frank Krüger overlooks the whole site: three horizontal digesters, three round post-digesters also serving as storage, the hall in which the chicken dry feces are stored, the hall in which the digestion residue is treated and the bunker silo for the corn.

Large quantities of chicken dry feces in the ration The substrate fed in the digester contains up to 70 per cent chicken dry feces. On average, the rate is 50 per cent. The reason for the fluctuation is the irregular availability of the substrate. The animals are sent for slaughtering in certain intervals, and so the amounts of feces

English Issue

Biogas Journal | June_2013

pieces,“ Krüger explains. The fact that a cutter goes scrap from time to time was less costly than the expensive repairs when the biogas plant was clogged, Krüger insists. Since the chicken dry feces were treated in this way, there have been fewer problems, the plant manager points out.

Large amounts of sediment in the system A problem to which there was no solution was the sand in the feces. Each ton of chicken dry feces left 80 to 100 kilograms of sediment in the system. There had been no problems with layers settling in the three horizontal digesters from the company Rückert Naturgas. The dry matter content of the substrate in the digesters was between 13 and 15 per cent. Process water is added to keep the nitrogen concentration below four kilograms in each cubic meter of substrate. The large winch agitators with 15 paddles on a shaft 27 meters long keep the floating matter moving. However, inorganic material settled quickly in the heated post-digesters. As a result of this, the round vessels with a concrete cover and two stirrers had to be drained and the sediment cleared completely. In the meantime, the problem has been resolved by the installation of other stirrers. The substrate is then drained into the receiving pit of the decanter. In the pit, the material can settle and is removed by a sludge scraper. Considering 25,000 tons of chicken dry feces digested in the plant annually, about 2,000 tons of sand had to be separated this way, the plant manager explains.

To ensure that the aggressive chicken dry feces are transported to the digesters at low wear and tear, Agri Capital decided to install robust belt conveyors in Röblingen. produced is not always the same. The hall is large enough to store 1,000 tons of chicken dry feces. Chicken dry feces digested without extended periods in storage produce more biogas because composting processes start when the material is stored for a long time. Fluctuating substrate proportions are said not to have a negative effect on gas production as the bacteria strains do not respond quickly to such changes.

Metal in the feces is a problem The owners of the plant were faced with a number of problems during the last few years, and this was learning the hard way. The main problem was foreign material in the feces. A powerful electric magnet was installed above the transport belt to separate metal. This did not solve all problems, however. Therefore, the owners decided to remove the substrate from the store by a fodder mixer truck with a mounted cutter. “If the cutter hits foreign material when the feces are removed from the store, the truck driver can sort out larger

Stable biology in the plant The chicken dry feces had not created problems as far as the fermentation biology was concerned. High sulfur concentration was controlled by the addition of iron hydroxide. Process water from the digested product treatment is added to reduce the nitrogen content. After about 7 weeks’ retention time, the digested product is separated

Photo: Rückert Naturgas

Köthen plant: Nutrients in solid and liquid digested products

The solid phase contains, on average, 30 per cent dry matter, of which about 17 per cent is organic matter. The solid phase contains most nutrients: 6.36 kg/ton potassium (K2O), 11.41 kg/ton nitrogen (of that, 2.83 kg/ton ammonium-N), 2.58 kg/ton sulfur, 27.25 kg/ton phosphorus (P2O5), 9.98 kg/ton magnesium (MgO), and 33.21 kg/ton calcium (CaO). The liquid phase contains an average of 5.68 kg/ton dry matter (of that 2.82 kg/ton organic). The following nutrients were found in one ton of digested product: 8.58 kg potassium, 6.99 kg total nitrogen (of that 3.69 kg ammonium-N), 1.8 kg sulfur, 3.01 kg phosphorus, 0.30 kg magnesium, and 3.76 kg calcium.

English Issue

Biogas Journal | June_2013

first into a solid and a liquid phase in a centrifuge (see info box). More liquid is separated from the liquid phase by ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis; the liquid thus separated is returned as process water to the digester. All in all, ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis had not performed as well as expected, the plant manager explains. One reason for this was the high dry matter content in the liquid phase. Higher output can only be achieved at the cost of substantially more energy. The solid digestion product is sold to farmers in the area. The liquid phase is either spread over the plant owner’s fields or sold to farmers nearby.

Biogas instead of open-cast coal mines Another large biogas plant that will feed on large quantities of chicken dry feces is about 50 kilometers away from Köthen. AgriCapital have built a 3-megawatt plant on the overburden dump of an open-cast brown coal mine in Röblingen. The plant will feed on 18,000 tons of pig liquid manure, up to 20,000 tons of cattle solid manure, 23,000 tons of corn silage and about 8,700 tons of chicken dry feces supplied by the Agrargenossenschaft Barnstädt e.G. A total of 20,000 tons of poultry manure will be supplied by Alfra GmbH; that company breeds chicken in 14 houses just beside the biogas plant. Most of the biogas will be upgraded and fed in the natural gas network. A cogeneration unit with 889 kilowatts (kW) electric out-

Project manager André Illichmann, Astrid Palen of the investor Agri Capital, and Dr. Ute Baumeister (right) of the Gesellschaft für Nachhaltige Stoffnutzung (GNS) test a new method for treatment of the product digested in the Röblingen plant.

put supplies heat for heating the chicken houses and the digesters, as well as for the treatment of the digested product. An entirely new concept for the treatment of the digestion product in a large-scale plant will be installed in the plant for the first time. First, the product is separated into a liquid and a solid phase, Dr. Ute Baumeister of the Gesellschaft für Nachhaltige Stoffnutzung (GNS), the company hoping to be granted a patent for the new procedure, explains.

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The digested product must be separated in the ANA-Strip unit before treatment. The product is a stackable type of fertilizer with about 28 per cent dry matter. The liquid phase is processed to liquid ammonium sulfate fertilizer ASL.

Biogas Journal | June_2013

First-ever application of the ANAStrip method The solid material can be sold as organic fertilizer. The supernatant liquid is treated further in an ANAStrip unit. “With this method, ammonia is eliminated without the addition of acids or lyes,“ the chemist explains. The liquid is heated to 60 to 80 °C in the vessels, which causes the expulsion of ammonia. Calcium sulfate is added to the ammonia-containing stripped gas as FGD gypsum, a product obtained from flue gas desulfurization. Two types of useful fertilizer are obtained at the end of the process: Ammonium sulfate solution with five per cent nitrogen and six per cent sulfur, and agricultural lime. The liquid from which the nitrogen has been removed can be returned as process water to control the nitrogen concentration in the digesters, Bauermeister explains. It is expected that every day 27 tons of ammonium sulfate solution and eight tons of agricultural lime will be produced in the future. In view of the high share of chicken dry feces, project manager André Illichmann has installed robust equipment. From four receiving hoppers, the substrate moves on two transport belts to a central distribution place, from

which four round digesters are fed. On one line, an extruder, a product of the company Lehmann, can be integrated, which breaks up and grinds the substrate lumps. The plant is in the starting phase at present. Two of four digesters already produce gas; the average retention time of the substrate is 77 days. Now that the start-up phase is nearing its end, first batches of chicken dry feces are digested. No convincing system by which the sand can be removed from the digesters has been found. Because chicken dry feces from chicken production are used as substrate, it contains less inorganic material than feces from laying hens. The plant has six digesters and one digester can always be drained and cleaned without restricting production in the other digesters.

Hygiene Ordinance provisions must be observed Technically, the use of chicken dry feces in biogas plants is a challenging undertaking. From the legal end, there are hardly any restrictions, lawyer Dr. Helmut Loibl explains. The important thing was to observe the requirements of the Hygiene Ordinance and avoid emissions from the chicken dry feces store. One problem was that some local authorities were trying to put obstacles in the way of using chicken dry feces in biogas plants. For example, some authorities demanded that the material was hygienized, which was not required by law. If anyone wants to use chicken dry feces they should know that large amounts of nutrients are involved and the use of the digested product must satisfy requirements of fertilizer legislation, the lawyer adds. Author Steffen Bach Klußkamp 1 · 49163 Hunteburg, Germany Phone +49 547/513 13 e-mail: steffen.bach@gmx.org

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Biogas Journal | June_2013

Sound investment of time and money Where gas and large volumes of liquid manure that can harm the soil or water are handled, the safety of plant and equipment must be in focus. The decisive aspect of any safety management system is that it is applied meticulously, as can be seen by the example of the biogas plant in Reimlingen. BY CHRISTIAN DANY police department,” managing director KarlHeinz Geiß says. “It is important for us that everyone is briefed in the applicable safety regulations.” Every visitor entering the cogeneration unit room with two 20-cylinder gas engines of 1,064 kilowatts electric output each is not only reminded by a blue board that hearing protection is important, they can also obtain ear plugs from a dispenser.

Contractors: Complete checklist before starting work Instruction leaflets which every driver must read and sign were prepared for tractor and truck drivers. Before an external contractor can start work on the premises, they must complete a checklist. Precautions must be taken if required, for example, for welding work. However, in the first line, the safety of people and assets is the task of the five shareholders of the Bioenergie Reimlingen GmbH & Co. KG. All five of them deliver substrate to the plant they own together, and all five are shareholders of the company and managing directors of the administrative firm. When a shareholder died in 2010, his wife

Photo by Bioenergie Reimlingen

total of 84 biogas plants are sited in the Donau-Ries district. This means that the rural district in northern Bavarian Swabia has one of the highest biogas densities in Germany. A little less than three years ago, an accident occurred in one of the biggest plants of that district. An explosion in the digester caused damage running into millions of Euros. The explosion was so heavy that the concrete cover, which measured 20 meters in diameter, was lifted and destroyed completely when it dropped back onto the tank, the police said at the time. Luckily, nobody was hurt. Of course, news of this type makes people in a typical biogas region skeptical. Whoever visits Bioenergie Reimlingen notices very quickly that this is a very special biogas plant. Safety is very important here, also for external people: A chain separates the access road to the administration building from the rest of the premises. Before a tour of the plant starts, every visitor is briefed in safety matters, which must be signed. “We also welcome many groups on our premises, like - lately - from the Nördlinger

The shareholders of Bioenergie Reimlingen (starting left): Michael Kohnle, Klaus Schnehle, Karl-Heinz Geiß, Renate Kohnle, Jürgen Wörle, Thomas Hurler. and son succeeded him. The dry digestion plant feeding on renewable primary products started production as far back as 2006.

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Photos by Christian Dany

Biogas Journal | June_2013

Special provisions regarding explosion and fire protection are in place for the cogeneration unit building, a highly safety sensitive area.

The overpressure valve on the main digester prevents bursting due to overpressure.

Plant comes under the Industrial Accidents Ordinance

gester develops a leak?,” Geiß says: “As accident coordinator, whenever something like that happens, it is my job to see whether the remedial action taken has been correct and successful.”

Step by step, post-digesters and end storages were added to the two 32-meters long plug flow digesters. Because more than 8,000 cubic meters of biogas can be stored on the premises, the plant is subject to the Industrial Accidents Ordinance. The storage volume is equal to the limit of 10,000 kilograms of highly flammable substances, from which the basic requirements of the Industrial Accidents Ordinance (Article 3 to Article 8) become applicable. “We have complied with the reporting duty,” Geiß says: ”The Factory Inspectorate demanded that we establish a safety management system.” His experience was that the authorities worked very pragmatically. Nitpicking by the authorities was a prejudice often cited but hardly fitting. “Particularly the Factory Inspectorate did not want to drown in a flood of paperwork. The authority was very appreciative,” the graduated business economist insists. The scope and sales of the plant were in a healthy relationship with the requirements of the authority.

Define areas of responsibility The Reimling plant has had a safety management system (SMS) for a little more than a year; this is more an organizational than a material affair. The system involves little

spectacular “hardware”. The SMS has three dimensions: Firstly, areas of responsibility should be designed clearly. Secondly, an “Accident Coordinator” performs a control function for the department managers. A third body is an external safety officer organizing the exchange of experience among firms. The areas of responsibility are defined along the lines of the general distribution of tasks: Of the two plant managers, Klaus Schnehle is responsible for the “manure section” and Thomas Hurler for the “gas section”. The manure section includes everything from the feeding equipment to the removal of the digested residue. The gas section extends from the digester to the gas engine and the flare. Jürgen Wörle and Renate Kohnle represent Geiß as accident coordinators. In addition, Wörle as logistics manager, takes care that the requirements of the technical bulletins “Driving speed inside the plant” (walking speed) and “Silage” are met. “It is important that the areas of responsibility are clearly demarcated and assigned to a person and a deputy,” Geiß explains. If anything happens there is always a person to contact – including for the public prosecutor. It would be the public prosecutor’s job to find out if anyone had acted negligently. As a rule, remedial action must be taken if an accident happens. “For example, what should be done if a di-

External advice sharpens awareness A meeting with the external accident coordinator Toni Baumann takes place once a year. Baumann is an independent expert and a safety expert for biogas plants. He is able to recommend preventive actions on the basis of his experience with accidents in other plants. Baumann had also been involved in the development of the SMS. “At the beginning of the process, we met and tried to find out where there were hazard spots and how they could be neutralized,” Geiß says. “For example, we found that the main gas stop valve was installed upstream the branch to the gas flare and therefore the flare would not work if a fire broke out in the cogeneration unit building. So the gas pipeline was changed as required.” The commercial manager of the plant believes that the external input is very valuable because it helped avoid a blinkered attitude towards one’s own work. However, Geiß would not like to be regarded as the safety manager of the plant. Safety management should be a permanent sys-

English Issue

Biogas Journal | June_2013

Requirements on a safety management system (SMS) The safety management system contains safety-related requirements regarding: � Organization and personnel � Identification and assessment of the dangers of potential sources of accident � Monitoring operations � Safe implementation of changes � Planning for emergencies � Monitoring the effectiveness of the SMS � Systematic inspection and assessment Source: Gesellschaft für Umwelttechnik Bojahr

Firemen are trained on the plant once a year. Furthermore, the biogas company has installed a gas alarm device at the Reimling fire brigade. The device monitors hydrogen sulfide and methane concentrations. An audible and a visible warning are released when the concentration goes up to 50 per cent of the lower explosion limit.

Gas leak search every two weeks Gas leaks are dangerous because of the explosion hazard they involve. A gas leak detector has therefore been purchased; it detects methane concentrations in the ppm range and checks are made at critical places every 14 days. On the whole, Geiß is sure, the safety management system requires some input of time – both to set it up and to maintain it. In money terms, the gas monitor, the fire brigade plan and the external adviser have to be mentioned.

Despite that, he insists that safety should be a priority item for every plant: “Almost no biogas plant owner has ever had training in electrical equipment and systems. Generally, the safety awareness among farmers remained on a fairly low level, and because of this the accident risk is highest here.” If, despite shortcomings, everything went well for a time, people developed a routine, and this was a big risk. “A comprehensive safety management system costs time and money, but it is worth it.”

Author Christian Dany Freelance journalist Gablonzer Str. 21 ∙ 86807 Buchloe, Germany Phone +49 82 41/91 14 03 e-mail: christian.dany@web.de

tem practiced all the time. “Everyone here is responsible for safety,” he underlines. The concept should be part of the ingrained culture of the company. The SMS has already been laid down on paper and saved in electronic format. The extensive safety documentation fills a large file: The departments and who is responsible for safety there, including the deputies, is cast in tabular form.

Different emergency scenarios developed A list of hazards, including suitable control actions and consequences has been drawn up for every department. Besides, checklists representing different emergency scenarios were developed. Geiß: “A major scenario is power outage. This scenario contains the measures required to keep the plant operating without mains power.” Other scenarios relate to lightning and storm, gas release (for example, when a wheel loader hits a pipeline), personal injury or the manual start of the emergency flare which normally starts automatically when the gas bag above the final stores reaches a certain level. In addition to that, Bioenergie Reimlingen had a planning office draft a fire brigade plan. The plan defines escape routes, shows electric power line routes, emergency stop switches and the main gas shutoff valve. Geiß, a fireman himself, attaches great importance to good cooperation with the fire brigade.

English Issue

Photos: Thomas Gaul

Energy crop harvest: In addition to silage corn, Biogas sugar Journal June_2013 beet and| recently also silphia are digested in the biogas plant erected by MT-Energie GmbH. Corn merely accounts for ten per cent of the arable land in the region.

Satisfied pioneers Five farmers in Ronnenberg near Hanover are among the pioneers in the production of biogas for the natural gas grid. Together with the local energy supply company, they operate a plant that produces biomethane for cogeneration units in the urban area of Hanover. After a little more than four years, it is time for a first stocktaking. BY THOMAS GAUL

t was one of the first biogas plants feeding gas into the natural gas grid. The first biomethane was injected into Hanover’s gas grid on March 13, 2008. Eckehardt Baumgarte, one of the owners of BiRo (Biogas Ronnenberg), is very happy. The equipment works reliably, and the partnership with the Hanover public utility company is good. Asked about his experience after four-and-a-half years of biogas production for gas treatment, he says: “Things are going well.” The 54-year-old farmer manages the “BiRo” biogas plant together with the farmers Hermann Haller, Jobst Fricke, Christoph Burchard and Heinrich Möller. Before the biogas plant was built, they had already worked together in a farming machinery cooperative. The construction of the biogas plant meant they were breaking new ground. “We simply took up the biogas challenge,” Baumgarte says. The raw biogas the plant produces is sold to enercity (Hanover public utility company). Enercity treats the raw biogas to biomethane. For this purpose, the company had a treatment unit of company Haase built on its premises; it cost about 1.5 million euros and was paid by enercity. From there, 350 cubic meters of biomethane are injected into the

municipal gas grid. This is enough to supply 1,400 homes with gas. The sale of the raw biogas is agreed under a contract with a 20year term.

Farmers repair damage Both sides have to rely on each other. Despite that, the different parts of the plant were kept strictly separate. “It turned out that the separation was not a good idea,” Baumgarte recalls: “When a problem occurs, it is important to restore the plant to operating conditions quickly.” For this, the faultclearing team of enercity was simply too far away. So the faultclearing service was reorganized after the first year of operation, Baumgarte reports: “Since that, we farmers have been responsible for repairing defects. When a problem crops up, whoever is on duty looks to see what must be done.” Assistance for this is available from the Stöcken power plant. Shift supervisor Thomas Schulz, who works here, is now familiar with the biogas treatment equipment and is close at hand when needed. “Mostly, there is nothing big,” Eckehardt Baumgarte is quick to add. Occasionally, measuring instruments require recalibration. This happens whenever a short power outage occurs in the Eon grid (so called leap seconds).

The parameters of the measuring equipment also need resetting when temperatures change in summer and in winter. That the success of the new assignment of tasks can also be seen in the fact that the plant was available for 98.7 per cent last year.

Gas treatment: physical scrubbing The Ronnenberg plant is a demonstration project and is visited regularly by groups from Germany and other countries. “Maybe contractors have been taking greater care for this reason,” Baumgarte guesses. The gas is treated in the “biogas booster” of the firm Haase Energietechnik. This is a physical scrubber in which a circulation of polyglycolether as scrubbing liquid is maintained. “Of course, we were at first concerned when the company Haase was insolvent - where should be get the service from?” Baumgarte admits: “Where should we order spares or the scrubbing liquid we needed?” However, many components, such as compressors, are available from suppliers in the open market. Meanwhile the gas treatment equipment business of the firm Haase is running again in an orderly manner. But now another equipment supplier has become insolvent. The firm Greenvironment filed a petition for insolvency proceedings

English Issue

Biogas Journal | June_2013

Capstone micro-gas turbine with an electric output of 200 kW.

on August 31, 2012. That Berlin-based firm had installed a Capstone micro-gas turbine in the Ronnenberg plant in December 2010. The turbine converts 110 cubic meters of untreated biogas per hour into 200 kilowatts (kW) electricity and 150 kW heat energy that heat the digester. The plant has no cogeneration unit because the gas is upgraded to biomethane, and the treatment method does not produce heat. At first, the digester was heated by a natural gas-fired boiler. Asked about the consequences of the insolvency, Baumgarte says: “We will have to wait and see.” Actually the turbine would have had to be replaced in the near future.

Substrate mix Before that, however, silage corn had to be harvested from 520 hectares of field. Corn is still the number one substrate of the plant that feeds exclusively on renewable primary substrate. This does not mean that the owners were not open to new energy crops: “Last year we fed 2,500 tons of sugar beet. The gas yield from sugar beet was similar to that from corn, but the production cost is higher,” Baumgarte says. Silphia was planted on a smaller area; the crop was harvested for the first time this fall. To improve the acceptance of growing corn, the farmers created flowering strips of a total length of six kilometers – mainly near villages and along higly-frequented cycle tracks. The bright yellow flowers of the sunflower crops

Eckehardt Baumgarte is one of five farmers operating the biogas plant for feeding into the natural gas network in Ronnenberg. He is extremely satisfied with the operation and function of the plant.

The biogas booster, a product of Haase Energietechnik, is used in the biogas treatment process. This is a physical scrubber in which a circulation of polyglycolether as scrubbing liquid is maintained.

are a treat to the eyes, especially late in summer. The plants are chopped when the corn is harvested and added to the silage. A yield of 13 tons dry matter a hectare last year was also a good result financially. Corn is not the dominating crop anyhow; it grows on only ten per cent of the available area under tillage. Wheat and sugar beet are grown on distinctly larger areas in the southwest of Hanover. And the farmers say they will continue growing these crops in the future. So there are no plans of expanding the biogas plant. The public utility company also says that the cooperation has been successful. “The cooperation with the farmers is good and based on trust,” Frank Dollmann, enercity project manager, is full of praise. ”Everybody is doing what he is best at: The farmers grow the biomass and produce the biogas, we treat the raw gas and market the biomethane.”

enercity operates over 30 biogas plants Even though, a different owner model was found for other gas feeding plants now built in the Hanover region. In Giesen, situated be-

tween Hanover and Hildesheim, farmers and enercity formed an operating company. The farmers, as raw material suppliers, joined the company as limited partners. Together with the enercity Contracting GmbH, a subsidiary of the Hanover public utility company, the Bioenergie Giesen GmbH was formed. In the meantime, the enercity Contracting GmbH, together with Danpower GmbH Potsdam and the Energie-Projektgesellschaft Langenhagen (EPL), operates 31 biogas plants throughout Germany. Together, they produce about 450 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of biogas that is converted in heat projects and some 160 million kWh of electricity, which is what about 35,000 four-person households consume. The concept applied in the Ronnenberg plant was also considered exemplary for the planning, construction and operation of biomethane plants all over Germany by the jury of the German Energy Agency (dena). Before the year in which the plant started operating was out, the farmers from Ronnenberg and the Hanover public utility company won the “Biogas Partnership 2008” award. “The innovative and exemplary concepts of the winners are convincing; they show how the efficient integration of biomass into our energy system can be achieved at a small, as well as at a large scale,” dena managing director Stephan Kohler said at the prize awarding ceremony.

Author Thomas Gaul Freelance journalist Im Wehrfeld 19a ∙ 30989 Gehrden, Germany Phone +49 172/512 71 71 e-mail: gaul-gehrden@t-online.de

English Issue

Photo: Energiepark Hahnennest

Biogas Journal | June_2013

Biogas plant as village community project Five farmers in the Swabian village Hahnennest invested ten million euros in one of Baden-Württemberg’s biggest biogas plants.

eorg Rauch still remembers vividly the time when two long-distance gas pipelines were built on the outskirts of the village. “If anyone had told me that one day we would feed gas into that pipeline I would have thought he was crazy,” the farmer from the hamlet Hahnennest in Upper Swabia says. The hamlet is situated about 25 kilometers north of Lake Constance, between Ostrach and Pfullendorf, in the rural district of Sigmaringen. Then the feeding project became reality: Today, five full-time farmers on four farmsteads - virtually the whole hamlet - feed biomethane produced by their community plant into the gas network. “The pipeline runs on

one side of the village, the 20 kV power line on the other side,” Rauch says. “Conditions were optimal.” Their first idea was the construction of a simple biogas plant of 500-kW output. Like farmers in many other villages, the farmers at Hahnennest wanted to supply the village with locally generated energy. One day in October 2009, when the farmers were having a friendly beer, they decided on the spot that theirs would be a community project. One farmer as sole owner - nobody wanted that. “This would have been stupid,” Rauch says.

Project with no resistance And while they thus argued and disputed, they also thought of the gas pipelines of ter-

Photos: Bernward Janzing

Information on the biogas plant is provided on charts of different sizes.

BY BERNWARD JANZING

Biogas Journal | June_2013

A special feature of the biogas plant is that the digesters are constructed by the so called ring-in-ring system.

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ranets bw, which were crossing the territory directly next to the site where they intended to build their biogas plant. This constellation set the farmers thinking further. They calculated and planned - and finally decided to venture a very large project, one of the largest biogas plants in Baden-Württemberg. Soon, a 5.7 hectare area was registered as a “special area”. There never was a protest from anywhere, the village council approved of the project without objection, the farmers stress. Construction work began in September 2010. Together, the four farms invested well over ten million euros; each holds 25 per cent of the Energiepark Hahnennest GmbH & Co. KG. There are four farms and five farmers: Georg Rauch and his son Simon are shareholders as Rauch agro GbR. The other shareholders are Thomas Metzler, Edwin König and Egon Kaltenbach. Of course, negotiations with the financing bank were “tough”, Georg Rauch says - they were not easy, because the bank wanted to see gas contracts concluded with customers early. But all that was finally settled, and the farmers now own a project of large dimensions: The plant consists of two digesters, each holding 8,308 cubic meters, and two identical end stores of the same size. Gas feeding started this fall. “The site is located in a water protection area and so we could not build the digester into the soil,” farmer König explains.

Gas is fed into 60 bar natural gas grid Of 1,000 standard cubic meters of raw biogas that are produced in the digesters every hour, 250 cubic meters are converted to electricity in two cogeneration units of the company Völkl, each unit supplying 250 kilowatts (electric). The remainder is treated and fed into the natural gas grid at a pressure of 60 bar. “The project is unique in Baden-Württemberg,” the farmers explain. Unlike many

other biogas plants, biomethane of natural gas quality is the main product of the biogas plant. And most of all: The farmers manage everything themselves, from the production of the substrate to selling the gas to the end customer. The biomethane treatment unit is also fully owned by the farmers. More still, they also market all biomethane themselves: “We sell it directly to the end consumer,” Edwin König says. The farmers believe they are the first to practice this model in Germany. So far, the customers were all business enterprises. They include, for example, Geberit, a sanitation manufacturer in Pfullendorf, and the lime factory Eduard Merkle in Blaubeuren-Altental. The farmers from Hahnennest are looking for customers all over Germany because in the liberalized market the gas can be transported to any place without commercial problems.

Heat for the village “No doubt, the gas supply company would have bought the gas from us right away”, König says. “But we wanted to manage the gas sale ourselves, this is most rewarding.” The hamlet Hahnennest with 43 inhabitants was too small to buy the gas, because people here heat their homes and the stables with the heat produced by the two cogeneration units. All the substrate was grown in a distance of not more than four kilometers from the biogas plant site, Rauch says - also a matter to be proud of. The use of corn as a substrate will remain limited: “We have made a selfcommitment that we will not use more than 35 per cent corn by 2014,” the farmer says. The current figure was 37 per cent. This level - which is low in comparison with other biogas plants - is also due to the extensive use of liquid manure: “Based on tonnage, we use 53 per cent liquid manure,” Rauch explains the calculation.

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Biogas Journal | June_2013

The biogas treatment and feeding plant treats raw biogas to natural gas grade.

Most of the manure is obtained from the farms involved in the project; a small portion comes from nearby farms. The receiving pit built for this purpose holds 1,100 cubic meters of liquid manure. To save road transport, the liquid manure produced at the Hahnennest farms is pumped directly to the plant.

Extensive digestion of liquid manure The animals on the farms in the village produce sizable amounts of manure: The

Rauch farm has 1,800 fattened pigs, Thomas Metzler rears 250 sows and through the Metzler & Brodmann KG fattens 500 pigs, König farm has 45 heads of milk cattle. With 12 houses, the village as a whole has a population of 130 heads of cattle. Hahnennest is located on a hill at 645 meters altitude and “the climate is already sub-alpine,” the farmers explain. The annual rainfall amounts to 700 millimeters. The soil quality is in the medium range, the rating varying between 40 and 55 soil points. But, most importantly, the fields belonging to the farms are of a substantial size, which is not a matter of course in Baden-Württemberg. Rauch farms 200 hectares of arable land, Metzler - through a number of companies - more than 400 hectares of arable and grassland. Consequently, these two farms contribute more than 90 per cent of the substrate digested in the biogas plant.

The hamlet Hahnennest.

Varied energy crop mix Another thing the farmers are proud of is that they do not use genetically engineered organisms and no grassland is ploughed for the purpose of growing energy crops. The substrate is a varied mix: In addition to corn and liquid manure, grass, Sudan grass, sweet sorghum, green rye, sugar beet and flowering blends, such as silphia, are grown. Apple trester from a nearby fruit press is also digested. The plant is fed with 85 to 100 tons of plant material as well as 85 to 120 cubic meters of liquid manure a day. Together with the environment association BUND the farmers have developed a ten-point-plan of sustainability.

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Biogas Journal | June_2013

Starting left: The biogas producers Thomas Metzler, Edwin König and Georg Rauch.

The biomass is degraded at 44 °C in the two ring-in-ring digesters. The retention time of the substrate in the digesters is 95 to 105 days. The diameter of the outer ring measures 42 meters, that of the inner ring 26 meters, the storage space holds 850 cubic meters of gas. Digested residue can be kept in the final store for up to seven months before it is spread in the fields and meadows. “The digested residue from substrate delivered by external farmers is returned to them,” farmer König says.

Genosorb scrubber cleans the biogas The biogas that is not converted to electricity by the two cogeneration units on site is treated in a Genosorb scrubber of the company Haase-Energietechnik. By this process, the methane content is raised from 54 to 97 per cent. The remainder is two per cent carbon dioxide and one per cent oxygen. When the plant was started up, the company Haase said the project was an “agricultural flagship project”. Good cooperation among the par-

ticipating farmers was a precondition for success. Everyone knows that this is not always a simple matter in a village. In this case everything worked smoothly because the farms had a known record of good cooperation. Not the least reason for this was that every farmer could bring his strengths to bear: Rauch, as honorary chairman of the Baden Agricultural Main Association Überlingen-Pfullendorf, attended to all matters with the authorities, his son Simon worked as the plant manager, Metzler conducted the negotiations with customers and contractors, Kaltenbach and König were actively involved in the building work. Anyone visiting the site will notice that the farmers pay much attention to providing information to visitors. Illustrated charts explain - in a language easy to understand - the steps that must be followed to produce methane that is of natural gas quality and can be fed into the public gas grid from biomass. And there are all sorts of technical information. Today the biogas plant provides two full-time jobs and helps put farming in Hahnennest on

a secure long-term basis. Because, even if energy is coming from the field, Georg Rauch is very sure: “The farms will provide full-time jobs to the farmers also in the future.”

Author Bernward Janzing Freelance journalist Wilhelmstr. 24a · 79098 Freiburg, Germany Phone +49 761/202 23 53 e-mail: bernward.janzing@t-online.de

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Biogas Journal | June_2013

EtaMax biogas plant in the building of EnBW on start-up day.

Photos: Martina Bräsel

Biogas from apples and bananas

ur approach is to produce the highest possible quantity of biogas from waste and to treat the gas to fuel grade,” Dr.-Ing. Ursula Schließmann, project manager of the IGB Fraunhofer Institute, explains. Together with other research institutes, the energy industry, automotive and plant makers, the researchers from Stuttgart want to fully tap the potential energy bound in biodegradable waste. Partners of the project are the Karlsruhe-based Institute for Technology, the energy supply company EnBW and the car manufacturer Daimler. At the official start-up of the demonstration plant on the premises of the EnBW thermal power plant in Stuttgart-Gaisburg at the end of October, Franz Untersteller, environment minister for Baden-Württemberg, was enthusiastic: “The EtaMax demonstration plant is venturing a great stride ahead, technologically. If the method delivers what it promises, we have the almost perfect biogas plant.”The research project, which is subsidized with a total of 4.3 million Euros by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, focuses on aqueous biological waste with few lignified

The target of the EtaMax multi-partner project is to convert digestible waste almost completely into biogas. To improve the energy yield and close the process loop, the digestion plant has been combined with the cultivation of algae and a gasification plant. After treatment, the gas is used as fuel for natural gas-powered vehicles. BY DIPL.-ING. MARTINA BRÄSEL plant parts and low contents of lignin and lignocellulose. Initially, the plant feeds on fruit and vegetable waste, large quantities of which are collected at Stuttgart’s fruit and vegetable wholesale market every day. The market, a transshipment center for farm and garden produce supplying the whole state of Baden-Württemberg, produces about 3,000 tons of biodegradable waste every year. Of that quantity, the demonstration plant at first digests 160 tons or some 500 kilograms a day. “We want to develop a highly efficient method,” Schließmann says. The optimal arrangement is to have small need-oriented plants sited near where the waste is produced (the wholesale market is only about 100 meters away). “We succeeded in putting everything to good use – from the biogas to the liquid filtrate produced by digestion and the sludge-like residue that cannot be digested further,” the project manager is satisfied.

Flexible multiple-substrate plant The waste from the market is unmixed (only fruit and vegetable), but the composition is different every day and also fluctuates with the season. Whereas bananas are

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Biogas Journal | June_2013

determined automatically in the storage containers with the waste. A dedicated management system then calculates how many liters of waste from which containers should be mixed as feed for the microorganisms. During the anaerobic process in the digester the microorganisms degrade up to 90 per cent of the waste within eight days. “This is a major improvement on conventional biogas plants,” the engineer says. The EtaMax demonstration plant produces about 20 to 25 cubic meters of biogas a day from 500 kilograms of biodegradable waste. About two thirds of that volume is useful methane and about 30 per cent is carbon dioxide.

“We take advantage of the possibility of testing the regenerative fuel under practical conditions in our test and development cars” Dr. Christian Mohrdieck high in energy, citrus fruit contains much acid, which affects the acid balance or the pH. The microorganisms which convert the waste to biogas prefer constant ambient conditions. “For the best result, the substrate should be as uniform as possible,” engineer Steffen Görner explains. The wide fluctuations are compensated by an intelligent process control. A two-step crushing unit was designed specifically by the IVV Fraunhofer Institute, together with the company Netzsch Pumpen & Systeme GmbH: “In the unit, fruit and vegetable are crushed to the size required for the process with as little energy input as necessary,” Görner explains. The crushed substrate is put in store. Some parameters of the waste, including the pH, are

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The effluent from the digester, which contains nutrients, is a fertilizer and enters the so called flat panel airlift photobioreactors, which the firm Subitec developed in cooperation with the IGB. Algae grow in the reactors.

More biodegradable biomass Some types of fruit contain very much water, so the water obtained from the digestion process is separated in a rotating disk filter. “The biomass is retained in the digester, and at the same time the volume of the digestible material is reduced,” Görner explains. The solids obtained in this way are also converted to biogas. The effluent from the digester, which contains nutrients, is a fertilizer and enters the so called flat panel airlift photobioreactors, which the firm Subitec developed in cooperation with the IGB. Algae are produced in the photobioreactors and provide additional biomass for the process. Algae are non-demanding organisms, require little

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Biogas Journal | June_2013

“We succeeded in putting everything to good use – from the biogas to the liquid filtrate produced by digestion, and the sludge-like residue that cannot be digested further” Dr.-Ing. Ursula Schließmann

space, grow fast and produce a lot of biomass. Besides, they bind large amounts of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (w), use sunlight to convert it to chemical energy and release oxygen in this process. In the reactors, which are actually tclosed, vertical, transparent, plastic containers, the algae are provided with nitrogen and phosphate from the effluent to encourage their growth. By blowing in carbon dioxide obtained from the digestion process and due to the special geometry of the reactor, the solution is mixed and every single algal cell is nourished and provided with light in an optimal way. This closes the CO2 loop. “We are looking for the right alga that grows in flue gas and under lighting and temperature conditions that fluctuate with the season,” Schließmann explains. The target is an alga rich in lipid whose oil can also be used as biofuel. Good results have been achieved with the freshwater alga Chlorella vulgaris whose oil content compares to that of rapeseed and sunflower seeds. With a liquid volume of 4,300 liters, the pilot plant produces about three kilograms of algal biomass a day. The algae contain no lignin and are therefore very easy to digest: One ton of algal mass releases some 800 cubic meters of biogas. The CO2 footprint is also encouraging because the growth of one kilogram algal mass binds

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about 1.8 kilograms of carbon dioxide; this amounts to about a ton a year. All that is left of the market waste is the sludge-like residue from digestion - and that is also put to good use: To ensure that the lignin and other digestion residues are also converted to biogas, the Karlsruhe-based Institute of Technology (KIT) developed a new process together with the Swiss Paul Scherrer Institute. The wet remains are evaporated by so called “catalyst-backed hydrothermal gasification”. The process works at pressures of up to 50 bar, a temperature of up to 500 °C and needs a chemical catalyst. The products are the same as those obtained from digestion: Carbon monoxide and methane. Only some ash is left.

Treatment to biomethane

The biogas produced is treated by separation of the carbon dioxide by membranes. Every day, about 15 kilograms of treated gas with a methane concentration of the order of 85 to 95 per cent by volume are obtained. The treated biogas is compressed under high pressure and stored at a gas filling station. This part of the plant is planned and implemented by EnBW. The quality of the biogas fuel is optimized for mobile application together with the Daimler AG. “We take advantage of the possibility of testing the regenerative fuel under practical conditions in our test and development cars,” Dr. Christian Mohrdieck, MercedesBenz Cars Development of Daimler AG, says. The experience the company gains from this project will help advance the development of new gas-powered vehicles. The test car, a 156 HP Mercedes-Benz, B-class Natural Gas Drive car, covers about 300 kilometers with one fill of natural gas and Innovative.Experienced.Strong. consumes merely 4.2 kilograms for each 100 kilometers – this corresponds to a CO2 emission of 115 grams per kilometer. “If the tank is filled with biogas from sustainable producD-48488 Emsbüren tion, we can even reduce emissions by more Tel.: +49 5903/951- 0 www.bvl-group.de than 50 per cent,” Dr. Mohrdieck explains. 06.05.13 11:32

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“The EtaMax demonstration plant is venturing a great stride ahead, technologically. If the method delivers what it promises, we have the almost perfect biogas plant” Franz Untersteller

“The need-based supply of energy from renewable sources is a key factor for the success of the energy revolution,” professor Thomas Hirth, head of the Fraunhofer IGB Institute, puts it in a nutshell. The use of plant biomass as a basis for the production of bioenergy – electricity, heat or fuels – was playing an outstanding part. The EtaMax project could make a modest but very important contribution because it advances the local generation of energy from waste not at present exploited as a source of energy. In Stuttgart alone, a total of about 4,700 tons of waste are produced by industry and trade, some 3,000 tons coming from the wholesale market. According to a pre-

liminary estimate by the IGB, a future large biogas plant could produce 300,000 cubic meters of methane gas a year from the city of Stuttgart’s municipal biodegradable waste. Talks about possible areas of application will be held at the end of the project term if the method turns out to be efficient and profitable. The potential is large, considering that about 700,000 tons of biodegradable waste from the food industry are disposed of as waste or sent for composting throughout Germany. Author Dipl.-Ing., Dipl. Journ. Martina Bräsel Science & journalism Grünewaldstr. 45 ∙ 70192 Stuttgart, Germany Phone +49 711/414 09 90 e-mail: braesel@mb-saj.de

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An unusual business model Heat for the swimming bath and for public buildings: One of the cogeneration units in Niebüll is located in the center of the town.

Everyone contributes what they are best at. This is the basis of the cooperation between a biogas company and the public utility companies of the North Friesian town of Niebüll. Rather than selling electricity or heat to the public utility companies, as is usual, the owners of the biogas plant sell biogas; the public utility companies are responsible for the gas pipelines, the cogeneration units and the heat distribution grid. BY HEIKE WELLS

easonably priced heat from biogas is supplied by the Niebüll public utility companies together with the owners of a biogas plant in Northwest Schleswig-Holstein. This alone is nothing special. But in the town with 9,300 inhabitants, the biogas is not converted to electricity in the biogas plant, but the gas is transported through a pipeline to the local cogeneration units, where it is converted to electricity and heat. “We produce heat exactly where it is needed,” Rüdigr Wiese, manging director of the public utility companies, characterizes the principle. The basis for this is a business model that is (still) uncommon: Rather than selling electricity and heat, the eleven shareholders of the Uhlebüll Biogas GmbH sell most of the biogas to the energy supply company. This means they forego a part of the profit they could earn from the value-added chain. There are not many examples of this type in Germany so far. The negotiations were searching and always in an atmosphere of mutual trust, both sides underline.

“Everyone contributes what they are best at”

Photo: Andreas Birresborn

Dr. Peter Brodersen

From the onset, all involved were convinced that their model was captivating mainly for one reason: Both business partners focus on their respective core competence. “Everyone contributes what they are best at”, the managing director of Uhlebüll Biogas, Dr. Peter Brodersen, stresses. In practice, this means that the shareholders of the biogas plant look after the cultivation of corn and the operation of the biogas plant, i.e., the process of converting biomass to gas. The public utility companies are responsible for handling the raw biogas, i.e., the gas treatment, the construction and operation of the required pipelines, the conversion of biogas to electricity and heat and the distribution of these products. A total of five cogeneration units convert the biogas: one each at the site of the plant in the north of the town and on a nearby farm, both in the hands of the plant owners.

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Biogas Journal | June_2013

The managing director of the biogas plant, Dr. Peter Brodersen

A unit that “believes it is a tower” The unit has a few special features which public utility company managing director Wiese is particularly proud of: ”A cogeneration unit in a quiet residential area is not very common,” he explains. But thanks to the good relations with the town authorities the permission was granted, even if with a few extra requirements such as Dr. Peter Brodersen thicker concrete walls to kill sound. And the heat store – a kind of a high tower that did not fit the surroundings well – was “halved there and then and the two halves partly buried in the ground,” Wiese reports and laughs: “Electrically we control this in such a way that the unit believes it is a tower.” Another new feature, he insists, is that the cogeneration unit is shut down during the three summer months. “The need for heat is low in the warm season, and much of the heat would go unused.” According to Peter Brodersen, the biogas plant company is facing some problems other biogas plant owners also Photo: Heike Wells

Another unit is located at the Niebüll 130-bed hospital to which the public utility companies deliver gas. This unit is run by the E.ON Hanse Wärme, the parent of which, E.ON Hanse, holds 49 per cent of the shares in the Niebüll public utility companies. Another two cogeneration units are located right in the center of town where, in addition to public buildings such as schools, swimming pool, town hall and other authorities, the business offices of banks, a department store and some private homes are connected, and in a residential area. The biogas plant was built in 2009, the first cogeneration units started production in 2010 and the latest in the Mühlenstrasse residential area in the fall of 2011. In order to transport a required large volume of gas to the conversion units, a second compressor station was set up. Until today, a total of 5.7 kilometers of gas pipelines were constructed to the three cogeneration units and nearly three kilometers of heat pipeline, all by the public utility companies.

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Facts and figures of the local heat supply system in the town of Niebüll

Facts and figures of the Uhlebüll biogas plant

Length of the heat network in Niebüll: Network 1/inner town/ market square: 2,100 meters Network 2/ Mühlenstraße residential area: 750 meters

Output: 5 x 250 kW cogeneration units

Heat feeding into the network: 5.1 million kWh Total investment by the public utility companies: 2.7 million euros

Cogen unit 1 output: 2,000,000 kWhel, plus process heat, cogen

Photo: Heike Wells

Electricity production by the public utility companies from biogas: 5.2 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) by three cogeneration units, each 250 kW output

The company operates: 2 cogeneration units of 250 kW each

unit 2: 2,000,000 kWhel, plus 800,000 kWhth for the sty Gas storage capacity: 10,000 cubic meters

Work together on the basis of mutual trust: The managing director of the Niebüll public utility companies, Rüdiger Wiese (right), and the chairmen of the municipal building and planning committee, Karl-Heinz Schmidt.

Storage capacity: 18,000 cubic meters

know. One of them being the rising price of substrate. Then there is the difficult corn harvest due to “extremely bad weather in the region last fall” that almost completely prevented the spreading of digested residue: “The storage of the digested residue and its spreading are our main problems.” To solve this problem, another two covered digested residue stores, each holding 4,000 cubic meters, were built last year to increase the storage capacity. In order to develop a lasting solution to another problem, the experts

are already working meticulously on another idea: the construction of a treatment plant for liquid manure and digested product of the order of 500,000 cubic meters a year at a central site for several nearby pig and cattle farms and the biogas plant, Brodersen reports. As far as the Niebüll heat network and its special conditions are concerned, the positive expectations of everyone involved has given way to relaxation and satisfaction in what is the third year after the start-up of the project: “Everything is running smoothly,” Rüdiger Wiese says.

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NO METHANE SLIP

100% CO2 RECOVERY

Modest project based on renewable sources: The power for the compressor station at the biogas plant is produced by a small wind power plant.

“We are also very satisfied,” plant managing director Brodersen adds. However, there was still “some need for coordination every year.” “Yes, indeed, we meet and discuss things whenever there is a need for it,” Rüdiger Wiese confirms. For example, if the public utility companies want to work on their equipment, this affects the gas production. But the mutual trust that existed from the very beginning makes everything easier: “Such cooperation would not work without mutual trust.”

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The town believes that the project is a success story: “We are proud of this innovative heat concept,” Karl-Heinz Schmidt, chairman of the municipal building and planning committee, says. The town was attaching most importance to the environmental aspect of the supply of heat from renewable primary sources. Besides, all decisions also focused on the town’s role - not only as the institution responsible for development planning but also as main shareholder (51 per cent) of the public utility companies. Compressor stations, gas pipelines, cogeneration units, heat network: The public utility companies invested no less than 2.7 million euros. Besides, a second compressor station was built near the biogas plant by the public utility companies to transport the biogas into the gas pipeline system. The electric power for the second compressor station is generated by a small wind power plant, another project supplying energy from renewable sources.

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Author Heike Wells Freelance journalist Küstenkurier Agentur Nordbahnhofstr. 29a 25813 Husum, Germany Phone +49 48 41/628 77 e-mail: wells@kuestenkurier.de

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Biogas Journal | June_2013

European Biogas Association’s year 2013 Brussels — “Today EBA represents 30 national biogas associations from 22 countries and 28 of the most important companies working in the field of biogas internationally. This means that EBA covers over 98 per cent of all biogas plants in Europe.” This was the proud message announced by European Biogas Association’s (EBA) President Arthur Wellinger at the fourth General Assembly of EBA in Leipzig in January. In addition to the Europe-wide, ever-growing network of biogas stakeholders, EBA has established good relations with various other associations in Brussels in the four years of its existence. It has also achieved a role as a reliable partner of the European Institutions, particularly the European Commission: EBA provides the executive body of the EU with technical expertise on anaerobic digestion, biogas and the by-product digestate. The main driver that pursues EBA’s activities is the aim to advance sustainable production and the use of biogas all around Europe while promoting EBA members. In addition to the positive news about EBA’s steady growth, the election of the EBA Board was one of the highlights of the beginning of the year. EBA’s Executive Board, which administers and manages the association, is composed of representatives of the national biogas associations.

New EBA Board As a result of the vote, EBA President Arthur Wellinger remains in his position. Two new Executives were elected to the Board: Göran Strandberg from the Swedish Gas Association and Stefano Bozzetto from the Italian Biogas Association. They replace Caroline Marchais, director of ATEE Club Biogaz, France, and Piero Gattoni, president of the Italian Biogas Association. The remainder of the total of seven Board members were reelected. Additionally, Charlotte Morton, Chief Executive of the AD & Biogas Association of the United Kingdom was invited to attend the Board meetings as a guest. The European biogas industry is challenged by legislative changes both at national and

European levels. Regarding the national levels, the future prospects of the biogas industry differ from country to country. In Germany, the industry is currently threatened by cuts to the existing support scheme whereas the industry booms in France, for example and contributes to the French government’s plans on an energy transition towards greener and more sustainable energy sources.

Delicate iLUC Like the national associations at national level, EBA advocates for a beneficial legislative framework as a prerequisite for the continued success of the industry in Brussels. The current hot topic at the European level is the sustainability of biofuels and biomass. The European Commission released a legislative proposal in autumn 2012, which suggested restrictions on energy crop-based biofuels and introduced the so called iLUC factors to help calculating the CO2 emissions from indirect land use change caused by biofuels. The iLUC topic has turned out to be highly delicate: there are as many opinions as there are stakeholders. Also within EBA, several exchanges of opinions took place before the compromise position paper could be finalised. In its final paper, EBA calls for more stable policy environment, comprehensive modelling and impact assessment and rejects the proposed 5% cap on crop-based biofuels. The European transport sector must become decarbonised but not all crops should be grouped under the same classification. There are significant differences between crops. Additionally, some rotational crops effectively improve the overall productivity including food and feed production of the farm.

Fertilizer regulation In the near future, the whole solid and gaseous biomass sector will face new legislation as the European Commission is coming up with a long-awaited proposal. In 2013, EBA is also expecting the Commission to introduce a new harmonised fertiliser regulation, which will be of benefit to biogas digestate, and new

CO2 reduction and renewable energy targets post 2020. Furthermore, the Council is trying to hammer out a consensus on the energy taxation revision. And the CEN standardisation group for biomethane where EBA is represented by its President Arthur Wellinger is concluding its work on standards for biomethane being either injected into a grid or used as a vehicle fuel. To discuss policy topics and particularly the iLUC legislation with European policy-makers and various stakeholders, EBA organises two sessions dedicated to biogas during the conference of AEBIOM, European Biomass Association, in June in Brussels. The first sessions will focus on the EU policy on biomethane production, injection and the international market and the second one will be devoted specifically to crop-based biogas as an advanced biofuel. Speakers from EU institutions and the industry will certainly generate heated debates. EBA looks forward to welcoming the industry to its sessions in large numbers! Author Susanna Litmanen Policy Advisor, EBA

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