Spring 2022 EN

english issue
German Biogas Association | ZKZ 50073
www.biogas.org
Spring 2022
Including Country Reports from
Mexico, Peru,
Belgium, West Africa
and Serbia
The hype about hydrogen –
wonderful or insane? 6
German Biogas Industry:
Figures 2020 and 2021 28
Technological cascade
breaks down manure 38

English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
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Biogas Journal | Spring_2022
Editorial
Biogas –
Energy for
Freedom!
Dear Readers,
We certainly expected 2022 to turn out
differently. Our hopes were high that the
corona pandemic would end quickly and
that a new government would finally bring
the energy transition forward, especially
from the point of view of the biogas sector.
While we were still very concerned about
the EU Commission’s proposals regarding
the categorisation of natural gas and
nuclear energy, the events on 24 February
changed the topic of discussion with
a single blow.
Russia started a completely needless war
against Ukraine. This military escalation
involving our European neighbour shows
just how fragile Germany’s and Europe’s
energy supply is today, and especially how
dependent it is on Russia. This dependency
that has increased over the years,
became starkly evident within a matter of
days.
In light of these events, the EU and other
countries have jointly imposed sanctions on
Russia. In this context, they are also considering
stopping the import of fossil energy
sources, such as gas, oil and coal. The EU
wants to dispense with Russian oil and coal
completely before the end of the year.
Both the German and the European biogas
industry have been considering how biogas/biomethane
could significantly contribute
to ensuring supply in the short and
medium term. The outcome is as follows:
In the short term, existing biogas plants in
Germany could increase their output by 20
percent by the winter of 2022/2023.
In the medium term, current biogas production
in Germany could even be doubled,
which corresponds to one third of
natural gas imports from Russia. These
potential outputs, which can be utilised in
the short term, were presented at a press
conference organised by the German Biogas
Association at the beginning of March,
generating a wave of demand of unprecedented
proportions through the media.
This was further reinforced by an announcement
made by Frans Timmermanns
from the EU Commission at the beginning
of March that it wants to increase the
amount of biomethane in Europe to 35 billion
cubic metres per year by 2030 and to
double the annual 3 billion cubic metres
of biomethane currently produced in the
EU by the end of the year.
In Germany, the sceptics at the Ministry of
Economic Affairs and the Ministry for the
Environment are still the biggest obstacles
to a short and medium-term increase in
the output of the biogas sector. The complexity
of biogas is apparently causing so
much anxiety within the ministries that
they are even considering making supply
agreements with dubious Gulf states rather
than ensuring bold, pragmatic framework
conditions for biogas plants in the current
Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG).
Companies in the biogas industry are also
amazed at how fast approval was obtained
for a Tesla factory in Brandenburg or how
quickly LNG terminals are to be built in
the North Sea. A floating landing platform
is to be erected and commissioned in Wilhelmshaven
by the end of this year.
If the current German government is serious
about the domestic production of
“energy for freedom” and foodstuffs to improve
assured supply and to end the country’s
dependence on imports, the framework
conditions require extremely urgent
adaptation. In other EU states, these opportunities
are being debated in specific
terms and adjustments are already being
made to these conditions. While Germany
has been a major driver of biogas development
worldwide, many partner countries
from the EU are showing us how biogas
can be used pragmatically and in the short
term in order to ensure sustained, reliable
supply in line with food production.
As members the Biogas Association, we
never tire of making these demands time
and time again. Just as we have been doing
so for 30 years in our role as the world’s
largest lobby group for biogas.
Rest assured in these difficult times!
Biogas can do it!
Best regards,
Dipl.-Ing. agr. (FH) Manuel Maciejczyk
COO of the German
Biogas Association
3

English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
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Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
Editorial
3 Biogas – Energy for Freedom!
By Dipl.-Ing. agr. (FH) Manuel Maciejczyk,
COO of the German Biogas Association
4 Imprint
Germany
6 The hype about hydrogen – wonderful or insane?
By Christian Dany
18 Green not grey for a whole region
By Dipl.-Journ. Wolfgang Rudolph
23 “Biogas in – green hydrogen out”
By Dipl.-Ing. Heinz Wraneschitz
23
28 Industry Figures 2020 and 2021
Biogas is becoming more flexible
By Dipl.-Ing. agr. (FH) Manuel Maciejczyk
31 Storing heat – and if so, how much?
By Christian Dany
38 Technological cascade breaks down manure
By Dipl.-Ing. agr. (FH) Martin Bensmann
44 Examination of the Direct Use of Biogas
in Metallurgical Plants
By Elisabeth Grube, Patrick Heinrich,
Marcus Röder and Nico Steyer
Country reports
47 Mexiko and Peru
Sludge to Energy: Biogas helps the urban water
sector reduce greenhouse gases
By Elaine Cheung and Carolin Escherich
51 Belgium
The country’s first biogas farm filling station
By Eur Ing Marie-Luise Schaller
55 West Africa
Biogas Industry needs to Boost Development
By Michel Peudré Digbeu
58 Serbia
Chamber and Association Partnership
between the German Biogas Association (GBA)
and the Serbian Biogas Association (SBA)
By Udruženje Biogas
CoverPhotograph: adobe stock_Corona Borealis
Photographs: Heinz Wraneschitz, LAVA Architekten Berlin, Marie-Luise Schaller
31
51
5

English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
Energy sources for green H 2
:
Photovoltaics
Wind power
Geothermal energy
Hydropower
High export potential for
green H 2
(selection)
Strong H 2
technology competence
Countries capable of producing hydrogen and those
with strong H 2
technology competence
The hype about hydrogen –
wonderful or insane?
A key to achieving climate targets is decarbonising the heaviest users: the gas grid,
the transport sector and even the steel and chemical industries. Hydrogen promises all
of this and induces enormous planning, also by Germany’s government. For critics, its
National Hydrogen Strategy is mainly an import strategy – with unknown consequences.
The downsides are already known, such as the exorbitant costs for infrastructure
construction or the meagre overall efficiency!
By Christian Dany
By early 2021, more than 30 countries
had published hydrogen roadmaps and
announced more than 200 major projects
along the value added chain. The
impressive number of hydrogen projects
currently in the pipeline worldwide can significantly
contribute to achieving global climate targets. If all
the 228 projects announced today are realised, the
total investment in hydrogen would reach 300 billion
(bn) US dollars by 2030.” This is the optimistic
tone of an article by the Hydrogen Council.
The initiative’s membership list of 109 companies
sounds like a “Who’s Who” of global corporations:
from Airbus to Mitsubishi and from Shell to Uniper.
Around the globe a race has broken out for “green”
hydrogen, the proclaimed energy carrier of the future,
which is set to enable transport, steel and
chemicals to become clean.
World’s largest single project planned
in the Netherlands
The Netherlands is planning the largest single project
in the world: North H 2
is the name of a mega
offshore wind farm in the North Sea near Groningen,
which will produce 800,000 tonnes of hydrogen
(H 2
) per year with its electricity. According to figures
from business magazine “Wirtschaftswoche”, Australia
and Europe are the world’s regions with the
graphic: Zentrum Wasserstoff.Bayern (H2.B)
6

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
Use of hydrogen at the
thyssenkrupp Steel
site in Duisburg. For
tests on a blow mould
the hydrogen is still
delivered by truck. In
the next phase the
plan is for this to be by
pipeline.
The science of colours for hydrogen
Grey and blue hydrogen are produced through steam reforming from fossil fuels,
generally natural gas. With blue H 2
however, the CO 2
produced is captured and
stored (CCS – carbon capture and storage). Turquoise hydrogen can be produced
by methane pyrolysis. Instead of CO 2
, solid carbon is produced, which is either
stored or reused. The process, which to date has only been used in the laboratory,
is now being tested for continuous operation in an initial pilot plant funded by the
German Ministry of Education and Research.
Green hydrogen is produced by electrolysis, with only electricity from renewable
sources being used. It is therefore free of CO 2
. H 2
-based green fuels can be produced
from biomass, but there is no hydrogen colour for them.
“The future belongs to
green hydrogen alone”
Germany’s former Minister for
Research Anja Karliczek
Photograph: thyssenkrupp Steel Europe
largest planned electrolysis capacity, boasting over
20 gigawatts (GW) each. They are followed by Asia
(5.5 GW) and the Middle East (4.3 GW).
Following the Trump era, no gigantic plans for hydrogen
are (as yet) known from the USA. The European
Union is promoting development of the hydrogen economy
in conjunction with interconnection of the energy
system (sector coupling) up to 2027 in the shape of
the 750 billion euro “Next Generation EU” development
package. In Europe Germany – of course –
has set up the largest national hydrogen programme
worth 9 billion euros.
Hydrogen is supposed to solve energy problems – and
not for the first time – although it is anything but
suited to being a source of energy. Although it is the
most common chemical element in the universe, on
planet Earth it is practically only ever found bound
in molecules. It thus first has to be produced in an
energy-intensive way: by steam reforming, in which
hydrogen is extracted from hydrocarbon chains, or by
“water splitting” using electrolysis. With the recent
hype about hydrogen, a separate “colour theory” has
emerged, depending on the type of energy input and
the process.
The EU Commission has already announced certification
for the CO 2
emissions associated with the types
of hydrogen. “The future belongs to green hydrogen
alone,” says former Federal Research Minister Anja
Karliczek, citing the preferences. “In the National
Hydrogen Strategy we should think green, global and
great,” is her appeal to all. According to the motto
“Shipping the sunshine”, green hydrogen could be
produced in regions with plenty of wind, sun and water
and exported from there to meet the world’s energy
needs. Thus somewhat slighting the bio-energy
sector, whose trademark colour has actually
7

English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
Electricity grid
H 2
Fossil fuels
Synfuel
Import of H 2
and H 2
-based energy
sources and basic materials
Wind turbines
Solar plants
Large-scale storage
Steam reforming
Electrolysis
Pyrolysis
Synfuel generation
and storage
Power station
Small-scale
storage
Industry (basic materials)
Biomass
Quarters
(electricity and heat)
Production, storage,
distribution and use of
hydrogen.
Hydrogen strategy
Hydrogen is the key to decarbonising industrial
processes and the energy and transport system.
Traffic
been green. However, biogenic
hydrogen is left out of this play
of colours: H 2
could also be
produced via thermochemical
biomass gasification or
biogas reforming – with the
latter even being significantly
cheaper than with
electrolysis.
The efficiency of the powerto-gas
process, which is favoured
by climate policy, is often
given as 80 %. But this value
is a peak. Losses of a quarter to a third
can be expected, especially under fluctuating
operating conditions of the electrolyser with solar
and wind power. However, the entire processing
chain has to be considered here. Although hydrogen
has a significant energy density in terms of mass, at
33 kilowatt hours per kilogram (kWh/kg), it has an
extremely high volume per weight. Under standard
conditions, it weighs 90 grams per cubic metre (g/
m³) and is thus 15 times lighter than air. 10 kilowatt
hours (kWh) of electricity are thus converted during
electrolysis to around 7 kWh of hydrogen gas, which
must be first compressed or liquefied by cooling it
down to minus 253 degrees Celsius.
Refuelling and storage –
not made simple!
In the transport sector, which in Germany has 92
hydrogen filling stations, a pressure of 700 bar for
refuelling cars has become established. But it’s the
“If anything, green
hydrogen should be used
as a chemical feedstock –
it’s unsuitable as an
energy carrier”
Dr. Ulf Bossel
logistics chain that is the big problem
here. As reported by the
newspaper “Die Welt”, petrol
pumps for hydrogen cost
around one million euros per
system, while a pump for petrol
or diesel would be around
30,000 euros. Converting
liquefied hydrogen into gas at
different pressure levels up to
a vehicle’s tank is hugely complex
and costly.
The plan is therefore to process hydrogen
further into various power-togas
and power-to-liquid fuels. However, these
“electricity-based fuels” have yet to be developed to
market maturity involving billions in funding from the
German government. The end result is that they stifle
overall efficiency even further.
Hydrogen is very volatile. It diffuses through certain
materials, which can lead to problems with storage
and transport. The storage concepts of stationary and
mobile compressed gas and liquid hydrogen (LH 2
)
storage facilities and large caverns have thus been extended
to include indirect H 2
storage: Besides methanol,
some liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC) are
suitable here. In LOHC systems, hydrogen is chemically
bound to an unsaturated compound through a
chemical reaction. This is called hydrogenation.
In principle, the loading and unloading of a non-explosive
carrier fluid should provide for efficient and
safe hydrogen logistics. The best-known LOHC system
is based on the hydrogenation of toluene
Source: NOW GmbH, National Organisation Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology
8

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
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English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
The heart of transformation
Direct reduction plant with smelter produces "electric pig iron"
PROCESS INNOVATION WITH CLEAR
ECO-LOGICAL AND ECONOMIC BENEFITS
CLASSIC BLAST FURNACE
Carbon as reducing agent and
energy carrier
DR PLANT WITH SMELTER
Hydrogen as reducing agent in DR plant
Green electricity as energy carrier in smelter
• Innovation: First use of a smelter in the
iron sector
• Technical innovation: Engineering of the
smelter
• Ecological benefit: Hydrogen and green
electricity replace carbon and eliminate CO 2
• Electric pig iron is used like pig iron,
so enabling all products to still be produced
Use of
process gas
Coke,
ore+fluxes
(pellets,
sinter, lump
ore)
Wind (O 2 ,
N 2 ),
Coal
Process gas
Supply of ore/
pellets
Preheating
zone
Reduction
zone
Carburisation
zone
Smelting
zone
Recycling of
process gas
Ore+fluxes
(pellets)
Reduction gas
(hydrogen,
natural gas in
transition)
Electricity
(renewable)
Liquid iron, slag
Tapping
Liquid iron, slag
1
Comparison of blast
furnace steel production
with the direct
reduction plant using
hydrogen.
to methylcyclohexane. As Reinhold Wurster from
the German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association explained
at a forum of the association CARMEN, all
H 2
carrier concepts require energy-intensive hydrogen
separation at the point of end use, so costing about
30 % of the energy contained, post-purification and
compression. “Depending on the application, they
can make sense or are inferior to transport by pipeline
or liquid hydrogen delivery,” he says. When it comes
to where H 2
will be economical first, Wurster sees the
greatest revenue potential in the mobility sector.
“You quickly reach the conclusion why the hydrogen
economy did not exist before, why it’s struggling today
and why it will probably never arrive in the future: It’s
basically a huge energy-loss game. And we don’t have
any energy to lose, but have to see that we use the
energy we gain wisely,” says Dr Ulf Bossel. The Swiss
mechanical engineer develops fuel cells himself.
With his energy balance analysis of a hydrogen economy,
he puts the often unfounded promises from
proponents of H 2
into perspective: “At the end of the
conversion and distribution chain, it is only 20 to 25
percent of the electrical energy originally used that
remains.” Bossel’s analysis provided the basis for
newspaper “Die Zeit”, which investigated, as it put
it, the myth of hydrogen in its major dossier “Die Mär
vom Wasserstoff”. That was already in 2004, but even
if 30 percent energy now remains thanks to leaps in
efficiency, there is no fundamental change in what
is wasted here. “If anything, green hydrogen should
Source: thyssenkrupp AG
HEAVY-DUTY
MIXERS
10

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
be used as a chemical feedstock,” says
Bossel. “It’s unsuitable as an energy carrier
because the electricity required to
generate it could be used directly with far
greater efficiency.”
The “energy story” of hydrogen can be
read as one of major research projects
and financial budgets (see box). To date
however, hydrogen technology has hardly
progressed beyond publicly financed projects.
Nevertheless, the high-tech nation
of Germany is now tackling the issue in a
big way with the National Hydrogen Strategy
(NWS), which is intended to give Germany
a pioneering role in a global market
worth billions. It comprises 38 measures.
The central goal is the market ramp-up of
hydrogen technologies in order to decarbonise
areas with the help of renewable
energies that are difficult to supply directly
with electricity such as production
processes and heavy goods, ship and air
transport.
And the NWS doesn’t think small, but big:
Besides the existing programmes for living
labs and so-called hydrogen regions, 7 billion
euros of funding is to be made available
for ramping up the market. Another 2
billion euros will be added for international
partnerships. Gigantic projects within
large industrial consortia are already in the
pipeline. The aspect of foreign trade can
be reduced to a common denominator: exporting
technologies, importing hydrogen.
It is true that the NWS talks about CO 2
-
free hydrogen. Imported green hydrogen is
given priority over blue hydrogen, mainly
due to concerns about the acceptance of
CO 2
storage with CCS technology.
The German government foresees a hydrogen
demand of around 100 terawatt hours
(TWh) by 2030. Of this only 14 TWh is to
be covered by green H 2
production within
the country, with the sizeable remainder
being imported. Because many countries
in Europe do not want to develop a hydrogen
economy themselves, people are
turning their eyes beyond this continent,
namely to Africa, especially to North Africa,
the Middle East, Australia and South
America. The German government has already
concluded a partnership agreement
with Morocco. The first industrial plant for
green hydrogen in Africa is to be built near
the city of Ouarzazate. Here the German
government has also co-financed the biggest
solar thermal power plant on Earth.
Desertec 2.0?
All of this brings back memories of the
Desertec project, which was a resounding
failure. German politicians and corporations
aimed to produce solar power on a
grand scale in the desert and transfer it to
Europe. While the reasons for its failure
are many, one above all stands out: The
host wasn’t consulted about the bill! In
the meantime many solar parks have been
built in North Africa and the Middle East.
But for the time being these countries want
to use the clean electricity themselves.
The new plans for hydrogen are also criticised
for not taking sufficient account of
the own needs of the supplying countries.
The nasty word “neo-colonialism” is doing
the rounds. It also fell at a webinar of the
Greens’ parliamentary group in the Bundestag.
Ingrid Nestle, spokesperson for energy
economics for the Green party, could
imagine diverting water from electrolysis
for hydrogen production for the local population.
How generous of her!
Nestle is hitting a sore spot with the issue
of water: It takes 9 to 10 litres of water to
produce 1 kilogram of hydrogen with electrolysis.
There’s not enough fresh water in
the Earth’s Sunbelt for this, so seawater
has to be desalinated. The possible sites
are thus concentrated on the coast, but
this is pretty convenient for the recipient
countries.
Seawater desalination not without
environmental consequences
Seawater desalination is already a no-go
for conservationists and marine biologists.
There are 16,000 plants worldwide,
which leave behind 140 million (m) cubic
metres of brine every day. This saline solution,
now polluted with chemicals and
dissolved metals, is mostly pumped back
into the sea, where it damages the ecosystems.
To cover the hydrogen demand of a
worldwide energy transition, the number of
desalination plants would need to be multiplied
many times over. But this would only
be ecologically justifiable if gigantic brine
lakes were created for evaporation.
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English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
Photograph: Privat
Dr. Ulf Bossel, mechanical engineer and fuel cell
developer, comments: “We don’t have any energy
to lose, but have to see that we use the energy we
gain wisely.”
This in turn would render the
cost of the hydrogen economy
exorbitant.
“In some studies the costs
for the provision of water
only play a minor role,” says
Alexander Scholz of the
Wuppertal Institute for Climate,
Environment and Energy
at a webinar organised
by the CHP Info Centre. In
a meta-study his institute
joined forces with DIW Econ
to examine the “advantages
and disadvantages of hydrogen
production in Germany
compared to importing hydrogen”.
The key findings:
Transport by ship is estimated
to be three times more expensive than by pipeline
due to the energy-intensive liquefaction of hydrogen.
Sea transport only pays off from approx. 4,000
kilometres. Preference should therefore be given to
candidates for export within the radius of pipeline
solutions. At 16 cents/kWh, the production costs of
green hydrogen are currently around twice as high as
for blue hydrogen and about three times higher than
for grey.
Domestic or imported H 2
?
Scholz and his co-authors are not expecting significant
cost reductions for electrolysers until after
2030. The authors warn against focusing just on the
costs of provision. The disadvantages of importing
such as dependency and supply risks should not be
neglected here. While imports could lead to “rebound
effects” in the supplying countries, i.e. to increased
dependence on fossil fuels, opportunities for making
the electricity market more flexible and for sector coupling
would remain unexploited in Germany.
It should be borne in mind that a future high demand
would raise trading prices and cancel out the locational
advantages of countries like Morocco. A strong
domestic market is important in order to exploit economic
effects: Depending on the extent of domestic
demand coverage from 0 to 90 percent, the gross
value added would be between 2 and 30 billion euros
per year. 20,000 to 800,000 extra jobs could be created
by 2050. Priority should be given to expansion
“at home” because domestic H 2
can be competitive.
In addition to the focus on imports, the preference for
green H 2
also comes in for criticism. The EU Parliament’s
Industry Committee recently decided to recognise
low-CO 2
hydrogen as a medium-term bridging
technology. What’s meant here is blue hydrogen. Norway
already offers blue hydrogen in this country, because
it has both natural gas to produce H 2
and huge
caverns under the North Sea. It should be possible to
safely store the CO 2
two kilometres (km) deep under
the seabed.
Enervis for “multicoloured hydrogen”
Management consultancy Enervis is putting yet another
colour into the mix: Multicoloured, electricity
market-based hydrogen is better suited to building a
hydrogen economy swiftly, affordably and, in the long
term, in a climate-friendly way. This was the outcome
of a study commissioned by the Mining, Chemical
and Energy Workers’ Union. “Multicoloured” means
that electrolysis simply operates with electric-
The path to climate neutrality on site
Example of a transformation path of a fictitious, sectioned gas distribution network area
H 2
-backbone
H 2
-backbone
Fictitious sectioned distribution
network
The entire network
is climate-neutral.
Starting point Initial phase Development phases Target
ab from 2030 2030/2035/2040 / 2035 /2040
status by 2050
Supply with natural gas
Biomethane feed-in
H 2
-ready
20 % H 2
produced regionally
100 % H 2
produced regionally
20 % H 2
backbone
100 % H 2
backbone/with backbone
Biomethane with 20 % H 2
100 % EE methane from backbone H 2
and with bio-CO 2
80 % methane from backbone H 2
and
with bio-CO 2
with 20 % backbone H 2
Graphic: DVGW
12

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
The hydrogen story: Research!
Promotion! Yield?
Following the oil crisis in the 1970s, alternative
energies were feverishly sought everywhere and
hydrogen was discovered. In the 1980s the solar
hydrogen project was set up in Neunburg vorm
Wald/Bavaria with a photovoltaic system, three
electrolysers, compressed gas storage and two
fuel cells. The Euro-Quebec Hydro-Hydrogen
Pilot Project ran from 1989 to 1998 in Canada,
Germany, Italy and Belgium. The hydrogen was
produced in the east of Canada using hydropower
from a large storage reservoir. Buses with
different H 2
drive technologies ran on the roads
in several cities. Emissions tests and studies
were carried out. As the money quickly ran out,
the project was scaled down in 1991.
The German government and industry had already
invested several billion Deutschmarks
in research into the hydrogen economy before
the world’s first public hydrogen filling station
opened at Munich Airport in 1999. MAN tested
fuel cell buses, and BMW developed its first hydrogen
car. After two years however, the filling
station was demolished, and the two vehicle
manufacturers ultimately abandoned their hydrogen
tests (2009). By then BMW had built a
hundred of its Hydrogen 7 vehicles, which were
able to run on hydrogen and petrol as a hybrid,
and the cars were leased by celebrities and politicians.
It is still unclear whether the fuel cell for transport
is superior to the use of hydrogen in conventional
combustion engines, which are simple to
adapt, as in the case of the Hydrogen 7. Only
Toyota, Hyundai and Honda sell fuel cell cars. The
sales figures are however negligible. Mercedes-
Benz has discontinued its GLC fuel cell model because
battery technology is superior in the passenger
car sector. The company is concentrating
on developing fuel cell technology in buses and
trucks. VW also sees no future for the fuel cell in
passenger cars. Some manufacturers are working
full steam on developing hydrogen trucks. So
far, there is only one liquid H 2
truck with a fuel cell
from Hyundai. 50 of them are already on the roads
in Switzerland.
Nonetheless, operating conditions for the fuel cell
in traffic are far more difficult than stationary operation
in a boiler room. From 2008 to 2016, the
German government funded the development of
power-generating fuel cell heating appliances to
the tune of over 50 million euros under the “Callux”
programme. The result is lousy. Thanks to
generous broad-based funding, there has been
an uptick in recent years, but most of the units
sold rely on Japanese fuel cells. Three manufacturers
offer fuel cells developed in Germany but
they are solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) that directly
utilise natural or liquid gas in place of hydrogen.
PERFECTLY
PERFECTLY
A LL. R U N S.
Development
stage 1
Development
stage 2
The area-based supply
of hydrogen via the gas
distribution networks
grows in line with the three
development stages of the
prospective H 2
backbone
around
2030
Development
stage 3
around
2035
around
2040
graphik: DVGW
HIGH-
PERFORMANCE
LUBRICANTS
made in Germany
13
www.addinol.de

English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
Outline of a possible
infrastructure for
sustainable supply
to Europe, the Middle
East and North Africa.
Imagine the red lines
as hydrogen pipelines –
this comes pretty close
to hydrogen planning in
Europe.
ity from the grid, which also includes gas, coal and
nuclear power.
Plants could be built close to the point of consumption,
transport costs would be eliminated and the
electrolysers could be better utilised. Through the expansion
of renewables, multicoloured would become
green by itself over the years. An important factor
for this option would be abolition of the surcharge
of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), which
has to date only been regulated for green hydrogen.
The German Chemical Industry Association calls for
openness to technology for the supply of hydrogen,
at least for a lengthy transition period. The chemical,
steel and gas industries are already busy preparing for
the age of hydrogen. The gas industry is eager to store
solar and wind power in the form of hydrogen in its gas
network. The organisation for sector marketing is now
no longer called “Initiative Zukunft Erdgas” (“Initiative
for the Future of Natural Gas”, but “Future for
Gas”). It aims to stand for natural and “green” gas,
i.e. biogas and hydrogen, in equal measure.
H 2
instead of CH 4
For the gas industry, entering the hydrogen economy
represents one of the greatest challenges in its history
as the entire gas infrastructure with its grid of
500,000 km is to become “H2-ready”; i.e., able to
accommodate and distribute 100 percent hydrogen.
An important player here is the German Technical and
Scientific Association for Gas and Water (DVGW). It
will not only adapt the rules and regulations to hydrogen,
but is also going to massively invest in the areas
of research, certification, education/further training
and communication over the next five years. In addition
to the grid, the gas storage tanks and all possible
gas terminal equipment must also become H2-ready
– from condensing boilers to combined heat and
power plants. Today, the DVGW regulations already
allow up to 10 percent (%) H 2
in the network. The
DVGW is busy working on a 20 % blending level with
natural gas. A completely new set of regulations for
100 % hydrogen is also set to be created. The heating
industry is marching in step: While existing gas heaters
can cope with 10 % H 2
, the new generation should
be able to manage as much as 20 %. The gas industry
plans to essentially upgrade the existing gas network
for hydrogen instead of building new pipelines. The
mainstay is to be the “H 2
backbone”. The plan is to
complete this 100 %-hydrogen long-distance pipeline
grid by 2040 at the latest, proceeding from the
H 2
starter grid in the Ruhr region. Supply via the gas
distribution networks is to grow in line with the three
development stages of the H 2
backbone and the local
generation options (see chart).
As part of the H 2
vorOrt project, 34 gas companies
have worked with the DVGW to develop a transformation
path for an infrastructure all the way to the consumer.
As H2vorOrt project manager Florian Feller
Source: Desertec Foundation, Wikimedia CC BY-SA 2.5
14

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
“We wouldn’t even get a
comparable infrastructure in
the ground by 2050”
Florian Fellner
Photograph: Private
H2vorOrt project
manager Florian Feller
from Erdgas Schwaben
comments: “There will
be regions that are set
to switch to 100 % H 2
,
and others where the
feed-in of biomethane
or synthetic methane
is the right choice for a
climate-neutral supply
at the location.”
from Erdgas Schwaben explains, expansion of the climateneutral
gas supply will be geared to local conditions: “There
will be regions that are set to switch to 100 % H 2
, and others
where the feed-in of biomethane or synthetic methane is the
right choice for a climate-neutral supply at that location. In
both cases the early blending of hydrogen is important for
reducing CO 2
.”
The DVGW had put the costs for the theoretical, separate construction
of a hydrogen grid equivalent to the gas distribution
grid in Germany at 270 billion euros. “We wouldn’t even get
such a comparable infrastructure in the ground by 2050,”
muses Feller. In contrast, establishing H 2
readiness in the
existing distribution grids is far cheaper and much faster,
with costs running into the low double-digit billions range.
“Most pipelines in the distribution grid are made of plastic,
which is suitable for up to 100 % H 2
. With steel pipes,
it depends on the type of steel, but the sorts used in the
distribution grid are normally not critical,” explains Feller.
He advocates not increasing the blending rates in line with
H2-ready expansion arbitrarily: “20 % blending shouldn’t be
followed by an intermediate stage of 50 % or 60 % but by a
switch to the supply of pure hydrogen straight away. This will
avoid another marketplace ‘changeover’ involving the costly
adaptation of terminals.”
The target status for 2050 envisages climate neutrality being
achieved through grid sections with 100 percent H 2
, methane
in pure form or with blends of methane and 20 % H 2
. “Most
of the project partners assume that there will be conducive
co-existence in different grid sections,” says Feller.
15

English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
The climate-friendly metallurgical plant
Das klimafreundliche Hüttenwerk
Renewable electricity
Erneuerbarer Strom
Dampf aus Abwärme
Steam from waste heat
Sauersto
Oxygen
Wassersto
Hydrogen
GrInHy2.0 GrlnHy2.0
Zukunft Future
Erneuerbare Renewable
Energies Energien
Use of Einsatz renewable von
erneuerbarem electricity
Strom
Dampf-Elektrolyseur
Steam electrolyser
Electrochemical hydrogen -
production erzeugung based on auf steam Basis
von Dampf from aus waste Abwärme heat
Hydrogen processing
Compression, Komprimierung, drying
Trocknung and feeding und of
hydrogen Ein speisung into existing von
infrastructure -
hende Infrastruktur
Annealing Glühprozesse processes
Hydrogen for reducing
inert gas reduzierende atmosphere
Schutzgasatmosphäre
during annealing of
beim cold-rolled Glühen steel von
kaltgewalztem Stahl
Direct Direktreduktionsanlage
reduction plant
Core Kernaggregat unit of the der
hydrogen-based, low-CO 2
steel CO 2-armen production Stahlherstellung
der
plant of
tomorrow Zukunft
Integriertes Integrated Hüttenwerk smelter
Einbindung Integration in in bestehende existing
lnfrastruktur infrastructure und and supply
of steam von from Dampf waste
Bereitstellung
aus heat Abwärmequellen sources in steel der
Stahlherstellung
production
Strong demand likely from the
steel and chemical industries
There may well be doubts that the resulting
patchwork with methane “islands”
of 100 % and 80 % is also ideal from an
economic and technical viewpoint. Some
actors want a separate infrastructure for
pure hydrogen right away, like the Federal
Association of Offshore Wind Farm Operators,
which wishes to “preserve the value
of green hydrogen”. The greatest demand
for hydrogen is likely to soon come from
energy-intensive industry: Both the German
steel and chemical industries want
to contribute to greenhouse gas neutrality
through hydrogen by 2050. Germany
currently consumes 1.8 million tonnes (t)
of hydrogen (60 TWh) per year, with the
chemical industry accounting for around
1 million tonnes. Refinery processes for
cracking hydrocarbon chains, ammonia
production and methanol synthesis are
the biggest sectors with a demand for H 2
that is covered with grey hydrogen. In the
Source: Salzgitter AG
Save the date!
» the future of biogas worldwide
» biowaste to biogas
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» innovative approaches
» regulations
» case studies and best practice
» country reports
Lectures in German or English
7 – 11 November 2022
Biogas exhibition:
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16

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
chemical industry the first step is to decarbonise
existing processes with green
hydrogen and then use it as an energy
carrier.
Hydrogen as a reducing agent
For the steel industry, the key to decarbonisation
lies in direct reduction, which
is intended to replace the traditional blast
furnace process. Coke is used as a reducing
agent for producing crude steel in the
blast furnace. Here CO 2
emissions are
1,800 kg per tonne of crude steel. With
direct reduction on the other hand, natural
gas and/or hydrogen is used to reduce
iron ore to sponge iron, which is processed
further in an electric arc furnace. In contrast
to the blast furnace, liquid pig iron is
no longer produced. CO 2
emissions can be
reduced to as little 100 kg/t.
With the Salzgitter Low CO 2
Steelmaking
project, Salzgitter AG wants to develop a
purely hydrogen-based direct reduction
process and also replace as much of the
fossil fuel used as possible with green
hydrogen. For this purpose, the company
is intending to produce its own H 2
from
wind power. Following the experimental
injection of hydrogen as a reducing agent
in blast furnaces, Thyssenkrupp plans to
connect them to the hydrogen network operated
by Air Liquide in the Ruhr area. The
first large-scale direct reduction plant is to
be built in 2024 and from 2030 onwards,
three million tonnes of climate-neutral
steel will be produced per year.
The plans for green steel in Sweden are
even more audacious: The start-up H 2
Green Steel wants to build a brand-new
steelwork for climate-neutral steel on a
greenfield site in the northern Swedish
region of Norrbotten. An electrolysis plant
for hydrogen production is incorporated in
the 2.5 billion euro project. The region not
only has hydro and wind power but also
high-quality iron ore and the port of Lulea.
Large-scale steel production is scheduled
to begin as early as 2024. From 2030
Sweden wants to produce 5 million tonnes
of green steel per year.
H 2
Green Steel is the first showcase project
of the European Green Hydrogen Acceleration
Center, which aims to develop
a green hydrogen economy with annual
sales of 100 billion euros by 2025. While
it is under the leadership of EIT InnoEnergy,
a European Union body, financial
support comes from the cleantech fund
Breakthrough Energy. The investors and
the board of Breakthrough Energy include
entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates,
Jeff Bezos (amazon), Richard Branson
(Virgin Group), Jack Ma (Alibaba, the Chinese
counterpart to amazon) or Michael
Bloomberg, media tycoon and ex-mayor
of New York. When the richest men in the
world are working together for hydrogen,
nothing can really stand in the way of a
breakthrough.
Author
Christian Dany
Freelance Journalist
Gablonzer Str. 21 · D-86807 Buchloe
00 49 82 41/911 403
christian.dany@web.de
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17
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English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
Green not grey for a whole region
The suitability for
hydrogen of components
from the gas
infrastructure such as
gas meters and flow
monitors is assessed
in the test container of
the HYPOS H 2
-Network
project.
The HYPOS consortium wants to switch the supply of fossil-based natural gas to green
hydrogen and biogas area wide throughout the so-called “Chemical Triangle” located
in the centre of Germany. The highly industrialised conurbation of this region offers
optimum conditions here.
By Dipl.-Journ. Wolfgang Rudolph
Green hydrogen, produced without releasing
greenhouse gases, is set to play a key
role in a climate-neutral energy system
of the future. It not only offers options
for the seasonal storage of renewable energy
and is a central medium for sector coupling, but
also for the provision of raw materials to industry with
climate-neutral manufacture.
It was this conviction that prompted the founding of
the HYPOS consortium (Hydrogen Power Storage &
Solutions East Germany) back in 2013. It is an association
of 130 small and medium-sized enterprises,
companies from basic industry and the energy industries,
as well as research facilities and institutions,
mostly located in Central Germany. According to HY-
POS press spokesman Florian Thamm, they are all
pursuing the ambitious aim of establishing a crosssector
hydrogen economy in the conurbation around
Leuna, Schkopau and Bitterfeld in Saxony-Anhalt,
which is known as the Central German Chemical Triangle.
Biomethane should also play a role
According to the HYPOS roadmap, the share of natural
gas in the region’s pipelines is to be gradually
reduced over the next ten years and the amount of
green gas stepped up instead until the fossil-based
energy source has been completely replaced. Green
gashere primarily means hydrogen produced from renewable
electricity. But biomethane also plays a role
in this project. After all, Leipzig-based Verbundnetz
Gas (VNG) AG – a comrade-in-arms to HYPOS from
the very start – itself operates 36 biogas plants with a
total capacity of 150 megawatts (MW) via its subsidiary
Balance, so making it one of Germany’s largest
biogas producers.
The most recent commissioning of a plant took place
in Gordemitz, Saxony. Since the end of January 2021,
this plant has been feeding up to 700 standard cubic
metres (m³) of biomethane per hour into the grid of
VNG’s subsidiary Ontras. Efforts to make hydrogen
marketable are not new. Germany already had concrete
plans and a series of research projects in this
sector back in the 1970s, prompted by the oil crises.
The consortium are now hoping these efforts will at
last come off. “And HYPOS wants to spearhead this
process,” emphasises Thamm.
Incidentally, the strategy selected for transitioning
from a natural gas to a green hydrogen economy is
based on an idea developed by scientists from the
Photographs: MITNETZ GAS/newsdoc
18

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Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
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At the test site in the Bitterfeld-Wolfen Chemical Park, tests on suitability for hydrogen have been
carried out on pipelines with a total length of 1.4 km laid above and below ground since 2019.
field of industrial chemistry back in the
mid-1980s. At that time it wasn’t feasible.
Now, however, the situation is far
more favourable to this objective thanks
to the climate protection targets and in
the context of the National Hydrogen
Strategy adopted by Germany’s federal
cabinet in the June of last year.
The world’s fourth largest H 2
pipeline grid in the HYPOS region
“The infrastructure for switching to green
gases is actually ideal in the HYPOS region,”
is the view of Thamm. After all, it
already has the fourth-largest hydrogen
pipeline grid in the world with a total
length of around 200 kilometres. The primary
and secondary sections of the route,
which are operated by Linde AG, connect
industrial consumers with companies
based at six sites, e.g. TOTAL’s high-productivity
refinery in Leuna, where hydrogen
partly takes the form of a by-product.
These consumers require 3.6 billion (bn)
m³ hydrogen per year for the production
of various basic chemical substances. According
to the calculations of the HYPOS
consortium, in the medium term a good
third could be replaced with the green
version of the gas. With a potential energy
supply of 105 terawatt hours (TWh)
per year from onshore wind power and
33 TWh from photovoltaic systems, the
quantity of renewable electricity required
for electrolytic generation is available in
the region.
Another plus: Storage potential – frequently
an issue in the hydrogen economy
– lies ready waiting on a huge scale. In
Bad Lauchstädt, just 20 kilometres from
the pipeline, VNG operates several salt
caverns as storage facilities for natural
gas. One of the underground caves with a
storage volume of 50 million (m³) is currently
being prepared for use with pure
hydrogen. This capacity exceeds the energy
buffered in pumped-storage power
plants in Germany by a factor of around
four. At the same time, a natural gas pipeline
for H 2
with a capacity of 100,000 m³/
hr is being repurposed for connection to
the existing hydrogen grid in the Chemical
Triangle.
That sounds easier than it is proving to
be in practice. Besides a complicated approval
procedure, there are many technical
problems to be solved. This is because
pure natural gas behaves differently to
pure hydrogen, which has moreover never
been stored in such quantities in a gas
cavern anywhere in the world. HYPOS’s
joint project “H 2
Research Cavern” is
therefore initially concerned with questions
of gas dynamics, tightness and
microbiological properties. At the same
time, it will give rise to standards for the
use of caverns for hydrogen storage at
other locations in Germany.
Many problems still to solve for
the hydrogen economy
Storage is only one aspect here. “There
are still plenty of issues to deal with
when it comes to building a green hydrogen
economy,” comments Thamm. This
concerns the entire value creation chain,
from the production of hydrogen via water
electrolysis using solar and wind power or
through biological processes involving biomass,
to distribution, storage and
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English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
The reversible
high-temperature
electrolysis developed
as part of the HYPOS
rSOC project, opened
here for demonstration
purposes, not only
produces hydrogen,
but can also generate
electricity and heat in
fuel cell mode.
efficient use. Much of this is the
subject of the 34 HYPOS joint projects
funded by Germany’s Ministry of
Education and Research to the tune of a
total 45 million euros.
The H 2
-Network project for example deals with the
transport of hydrogen via pipelines and increased security
of supply through mobile storage units. “The
problem here is the pipelines that were installed
in the ground during the massive expansion of the
natural gas grid,” explains Patrick Becker, project
coordinator at Mitteldeutsche Netzgesellschaft Gas
(MITNETZ GAS). One of the partners in the HYPOS
H 2
-Network project, the company operates a gas distribution
network with a total length of 7,000 kilometres.
Only gas with a maximum hydrogen content of 20 per
cent is permitted to pass through the network areas
designed for natural gas – that are most of them. The
pipes laid before then on the other hand
were designed for so-called town gas,
which contained 51 percent hydrogen.
More recently, MITNETZ GAS has been
working towards the “H 2
-Ready” standard
with an eye on the transition to a hydrogen
economy. This means that all pipeline
components and valves are
100 % hydrogen-compatible.
There is a risk of H 2
permeating
the intervening
sections of piping that
are not suitable for hydrogen.
This ability of
gases to penetrate solids
is particularly marked
in the case of hydrogen.
“For the hydrogen molecule
with the smallest
atomic weight of all elements,
every material is ultimately just
a lattice that offers more or fewer escape
holes,” says Becker, illustrating the
physical background. This means losses can never be
completely prevented when transporting H 2
. Instead,
the aim is to minimise the permeation rate to 1 to 2
per cent and, where possible, to do so using plastic
pipes as their installation is around a third cheaper
than with pipelines made of steel materials.
The solution here is multilayer composite pipes with
an embedded aluminium coat. As part of the H 2
-Netz
research project, various designs of such pipelines
have been tested since 2019 for their suitability to
hydrogen in conjunction with modern installation
techniques such as flush drilling or the soil displacement
hammer method on a test site at the Bitter-
“For the hydrogen
molecule with the smallest
atomic weight of all elements,
every material is ultimately just
a lattice that offers more or
fewer escape holes”
Patrick Becker
Photograph: Carmen Rudolph
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Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
The HYPOS H2-Network research project uses measuring
cells to test the permeation rate (gas permeability) of
different multilayer materials for pipelines.
Photographs: MITNETZ GAS , inhouse engineering GmbH
feld-Wolfen Chemical Park. The project partners are
additionally working on a mobile, short-term storage
facility with a modular expansion capacity for the
supply of gas in the case of peak loads. The smallest
unit of the current variant stores 23 kg hydrogen at
425 bar, corresponding to the energy content of just
under 70 litres of petrol.
Research into the use of H 2
in
real estate
Another element of the research involves odourisation
of the hydrogen. However, the odorants used in this
process must not have a negative impact on systems
that use hydrogen as an energy carrier in building
services or for mobility. This has resulted in cooperation
with the HYPOS project H 2
-Home. This project
involves the development of systems to supply electrical
and thermal energy for apartment buildings and
commercial facilities.
The hydrogen CHP unit built by the company inhouse engineering is responsible for
air-conditioning the HYPOS exhibition pavilion at the test site in the Bitterfeld-Wolfen
Chemical Park. Electrical efficiency is 50 % and overall efficiency 95 %.
The latest status can be seen (when Covid restrictions
end) in the Hydrogen Village at the Bitterfeld-Wolfen
test site. This takes the form of a hydrogen CHP unit
based on a low-temperature PEM fuel cell with an
electrical output of 5 kilowatts (kW) and a thermal
output of 4.7 kW built by the project partner inhouse
engineering. This unit is responsible for air-
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English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
When expanding the gas network
or carrying out repairs,
MITNETZ GAS has already been
working to the “H2-Ready”
standard for several years.
This means that all pipeline
components and valves are
100 % hydrogen-compatible.
conditioning an exhibition pavilion via heating and
cooling elements in combination with a hydrogenbased
heat generation module with a thermal output
of 14 kW.
The solid oxide fuel cell with an output of 180 kW el
on
the HYPOS “rSOC” project is designed for applications
on a larger scale. One special feature is the possibility
of switching from hydrogen production mode
using green electricity to hydrogen consumption for
the generation of electricity and heat. The plant thus
achieves a higher utilisation rate and is more attractive
from an economic point of view.
Dresden-based company Sunfire, which is also involved
in the project, produces synthetic fuels (e-fuel)
from hydrogen. “Most of the HY-
POS research projects, which
dealt not only with technical
aspects but also with issues of
safety, economic viability and
acceptance by the population,
have now either been completed
or are very close to it. The wealth
of scientific results and practical
experience that has resulted
is now being incorporated in
the second phase of establishing a nationwide green
hydrogen economy, which is scheduled to run until
2032,” comments Thamm.
Large electrolysers in living labs
The core element is the GreenHydroChem Mitteldeutschland
project, which was selected by Germany’s
Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action
(BMWi) as one of the winners in the “Reallabor der
Energiewende” ideas competition. The project due to
be realised by 2024 comprises in detail the construction
of large-scale electrolysis plants with a capacity
of up to 100 megawatts at the Leuna site and up to
40 megawatts at Bad Lauchstädt.
In Bad Lauchstädt the interaction of all components
in the H 2
value creation chain will also be tested for
the first time in practice using electricity from an adjacent
wind farm with a peak output of 40 MW for the
electrolyser, including the above-mentioned research
cavern as well as transport of the hydrogen to largescale
consumers such as the Leuna refinery.
This undertaking would be no less than a trial run for
sector coupling in a green hydrogen economy.
The Opel HydroGen4 fuel cell vehicle can do up to 420 km on a tank of 4.2 kg H 2
.
Filling with precooled hydrogen is said to take just 3 minutes. Mobility is a key application
area for green gases due to virtually emission-free energy conversion.
Author
Dipl.-Journ. Wolfgang Rudolph
Freelance journalist
Rudolph Reportagen - Agriculture,
Environment, Renewable Energies
Kirchweg 10, D-04651 Bad Lausick
0049 3 43 45/26 90 40
info@rudolph-reportagen.de
www.rudolph-reportagen.de
Photographs: Carmen Rudolph
22

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
How does the
BtX reformer
work as a system?
It really doesn’t sound like witchcraft: The biogas
is compressed to 10 bar. It then arrives at
the reformer. CH 4
is converted to H 2
and CO 2
with
steam (400 °C) using a high burner temperature
(850 °C) with the help of a catalyst.
For the H 2
to be used for example at the filling
pump, it has to be compressed to a pressure of
350 bar after passing through 12 absorber columns
and buffered. The residual gas – whose
utilisation is a major plus of the patented FLOX ®
burner – is returned to the biogas inlet of the
reformer. At the end of the process the CO is
analysed: The level in the hydrogen must be less
than 0.2 ppm.
The process needs little preparation. The
biogas must above all be stripped of the hydrogen
sulphide (H 2
S) it contains, and the
clean water must have the ions removed –
like with a steam iron. “Biogas in – green hydrogen
out” is how Andy Gradel sums the process
up in five words.
WRA
Photographs: Heinz Wraneschitz
“Biogas in – green
hydrogen out”
A local hydrogen economy at the biogas plant: The BtX reformer of
a Swabian-Franconian cooperation is set to make this possible.
By Dipl.-Ing. Heinz Wraneschitz
What is currently being created
at BtX energy GmbH
in Hof/Saale is not directly
linked to the current
hype of green hydrogen.
It is also not receiving millions, if not billions
of funding offered by Germany’s federal
government and from its states. The
focus of what has been recently packed
into two containers in Renningen near
Stuttgart is a system which a start-up
from the Hof University of Applied Sciences
plans to put on the market. It is a
technology component used by the company
WS Reformer GmbH from Swabia to
carve out a niche for itself some time ago:
a steam reformer that produces hydrogen
(H 2
) from natural gas.
344 kilometres of highway separate Hof
in the north-east of Upper Franconia and
Renningen in the district of Böblingen.
No one knows how often Dr. Andy Gradel
has travelled this route back and forth in
recent years. The 30-year-old mechanical
engineer and senior engineer at the Institute
for Water and Energy Management
(iwe) at Hof University of Applied Sciences
already worked closely with the WS
Group while studying for his doctorate.
In the case of BtX, Gradel and his industry
partners from WS have even teamed up on
a contractual basis: The new business is
jointly managed by the young PhD graduate
from Hof and the two experienced WS
managers Dr. Martin Schönfelder and Dr.
Joachim Wünning. The BtX team also
includes Professor Dr. Tobias Plessing,
Gradel’s supervisor at iwe in Hof.
The members have chosen two areas in
which they see good market opportunities:
Firstly, innovative wood gasifier
technology, the subject of Gradel’s thesis.
“Our gasifier is based on using the process’s
own charcoal as a tar filter. This
means operation of the plant requires far
less maintenance while ensuring more
flexibility compared to the current state of
the art. This makes our wood gasi-
23

English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
Many safety and measuring devices are necessary.
Gas and air ducts with sensors.
At the heart of the reformer is the
tried and tested FLOX ® burner.
“Despite such
miniaturisation, efficiency
is no worse than with
large systems”
Martin Schönfelder
fier financially attractive,” he says with conviction.
But there is still a lot of research to be done before the
system is ready to enter the market.
System packed in containers
The second business field of BtX is the reforming of
biogas into hydrogen (H 2
). With a container-based
system, biogas plant operators will now be offered an
alternative to power generation from biogas With the
end of the first 20-year EEG subsidy approaching,
many plant owners, especially farmers, see two key
options: either shut their systems down or make them
flexible at great expense. This involves adding combined
heat and power plants (CHPs) and increasing
gas storage to enable them to supply the grid operators
with higher electricity outputs at short notice.
BtX sees H 2
generation “as a solution to the problem”:
This is the shared view of Dr. Gradel, Dr. Schönfelder
and Dr. Roland Berger. Berger is Managing Director
of e-flox GmbH, a company that primarily builds incineration
plants for power engineering. In 2011 the
inventors at WS received the German Environmental
Award from the German Federal Environmental
Foundation for their flameless combustion technology
(FLOX®). Today, the spin-off e-flox is responsible
for special burner and plant production, naturally
24

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
The biogas reformer features quite a bit of conventional mechanical engineering in steel.
also based at the WS site in Renningen. Traditionally,
the WS Group has mainly manufactured energyefficient
and low-emission gas burners for heat treatment
plants, as well as reformers that extract H 2
from
natural gas as an energy source. Steam reforming is
primarily a large-scale industrial process. But thanks
to the extent of preliminary work and its wide-ranging
experience, Renningen found itself able to also produce
components suited to the gas quantities produced
by customary biogas plants at sites such as
farms, i.e. for the 400 or 500 kW el
category.
“We have scaled down the entire process over the
last 20 years so it fits into two containers,” explains
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English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
system is the patented FLOX burner, which ensures
the necessary temperature in the reformer. “Despite
such miniaturisation, efficiency is no worse than with
large plants,” he emphasises.
In February 2021 one of these miniaturised reformers
– albeit still weighing over 2.5 tonnes – stood ready
for shipment from the WS factory. It has meanwhile
been packed, complete with the necessary ancillary
equipment, into two 40” containers, with a total
weight of 6 tonnes. After the system test on the factory
premises, the system will then undergo field testing
at a biogas plant-however, the exact location has
not been revealed.
Hof in Franconia is the WS Group’s third site after
Renningen and Haiger/Hesse. It employs a total of
around 150 people but “only a few of them are in
Hof,” as Martin Schönfelder remarks. But if the ideas
for the BtX subsidiary become reality – integrating
turnkey systems built by e-flox in a wide variety of
projects – staffing levels could quickly increase there
as well. But the man from WS also clarifies: In the future
the company will not only offer complete plants,
but also the biogas reformer component on its own,
e.g. for system integrators or biogas system manufacturers.
Generating local added value
“We believe that our system could be the solution
to enterinto local value creation with green hydrogen.
Many biogas plant operators are urgently looking
for an alternative way for their post-EEG plants.”
He thinks that the plant could give operators a new
business opportunity: “Green hydrogen for mobility
and other local applications, thus putting the regional
value creation into their own hands. And support from
citizens is more likely with decentralised concepts.
The benefits are obvious: fast availability and reliable
production day and night due to the high number of
full-load hours and consistent production from the
biogas plant,” says Martin Schönfelder.
Andy Gradel cites specific energy quantities: With
BtX technology a biogas plant that previously supplied
a 400 kW combined heat and power plant (CHP)
could produce 160 tonnes of H 2
per year. He adds
that the conversion efficiency is at least as good as
with electroly sis. Approx. 50 kilowatt hours of energy
are required to produce 1 kilogram of H 2
. Compared
to electrolysis with biogas-generated electricity, direct
material conversion in the steam reformer more
or less doubles the quantity of H 2
. Like a CHP, the
biogas-to-hydrogen technology also generates be-
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26

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
tween 20 and 30 percent of heat that can be used for
example to heat the fermenter or as local heat. And,
because the exhaust gas is very clean, the CO 2
can
be captured and utilised for instance by farmers as
fertiliser in greenhouses, adds Gradel.
The technology itself “is nothing revolutionary. But
it has to fit together and work,” and Roland Berger
points out that this has been achieved thanks to WS’s
years of experience. The price of such a system ranges
from 1.5 to 2.5 million euros, depending on the size
category. “That’s currently cheaper than electrolysis,”
he adds. BtX researcher Gradel makes the situation
clear: “It is only research that’s currently funded,
not the actual application. We are bearing the costs
and risks of this demonstration project ourselves.”
Fuel for local fleets
But what does a plant operator do with the hydrogen
produced? It could be sold as pressurised or liquid H 2
to local companies, e.g. in the chemical industry. But
it would also make a lot of senseif municipal waste
biogas plants convert their waste collection trucks to
fuel cells and used the H 2
themselves at their filling
stations. Thisalso applies to the agricultural machinery
from farmers. But supplying public H 2
filling stations
is likewise conceivable: “using a swap trailer. It
just shouldn’t be too far away, because that’s exactly
when the decentralised concept shows its greatest
strength,” says Andy Gradel.
“I don’t want to talk bad about electrolysisin the long
term, all technology paths must be utilised. But here
we’re giving the biogas sector a chance to ride the
‘hydrogen wave’.” Seems that the researcher has also
the current H 2
hype in his mind.
Author
Dipl.-Ing. Heinz Wraneschitz
Freelance journalist
Feld-am-See-Ring 15a
D-91452 Wilhermsdorf
00 49 91 02/31 81 62
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www.wran.de
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Knowledge in 27 motion

English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
Industry Figures 2020 and 2021:
Biogas is becoming more flexible
The survey of industry figures for 2020 and for 2021 showed further flexibility in
existing plants and increasing stagnation in the construction of new plants.
By Dipl.-Ing. agr. (FH) Manuel Maciejczyk
Unfortunately, expectations on calculating
the sector figures more intensively on the
basis of the market master data register
were also considerably dampened last
year, as the plant data stored in the register
is either often still incorrect (for example number
of decommissioning procedures) or cannot be clearly
evaluated (inconclusive distinction between biogas
production plant and biogas recycling plant).
Extensive analyses made for 2020 have resulted in
the following changes in the portfolio: The number
of biogas plants increased by 97 plants to 9,632 last
year (see figure 1). However, it should be noted that
the market master data register contains no validated
data on the shutdowns in the portfolio, which is why
an even higher number of shutdowns is most likely to
be expected.
Lower Saxony leads the ranking
of installed power
As shown in Figure 2, the installed capacity increased
by 376 megawatts (MW) to 5,666 MW, of which two
thirds (3,793 MW) are work-related and not covered
by a superstructure. A significant proportion of the
additional capacity is thus further flexibilization of existing
biogas plants. The distribution of biogas plants
in the states has not changed significantly. Most of
the biogas plants are still located in Bavaria
Figure 1: Net increase of new biogas plants in Germany per year from 2009 to 2021
1.800
1.600
1.526
Plant construction per year
1.400
1.200
1.000
800
600
400
1.314
1.107
454
357
200
97
150
195
122 113 91 97 60
0
© German Biogas Association
Years
Forecast
28

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
Figure 2: Power increase due to biogas plants in Germany
Number of installations
10.000
9.500
9.000
8.500
8.000
7.500
7.838
Number of biogas plants
Installed electrical capacity incl. superstructures [MW]
Work-related electrical capacity [MW]
8.292
8.649
3.637
8.746
3.905
9.014
4.018
9.209
4.237
9.331
4.550
9.444
4.953
9.535
5.288
9.632
5.666
9.692
5.787
3.723 3.755 3.769 3.800 3.794 3.793 3.793
3.352
3.604
3.720
3.097
7.000
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Forecast
2021
© German Biogas Association
Years
8.000
7.500
7.000
6.500
6.000
5.500
5.000
4.500
4.000
3.500
3.000
Electrical power
Overview of industry figures
Number of plants
(of those bio-methane entry stations)
2020*
9.632 (235)
Increase of work-related electrical power
in MW per year (excl. decommissioning)
10
Increase of electric power by superstructure
381
in MW per year (excl. decommissioning)
Electrical power capacity in MW
(incl. electricity feed by bio-methane and decommissioning)
5.666
Gross electricity production in TWh per year
(without superstructure)
33,23
Households provided with biogas electricity in millions 9,49
Externally used heat quantity in TWh per year 12,79
2021**
9.692 (241)
9
124
5.787
33,23
9,49
12,79
Households theoretically supplied with externally
available biogas heat in millions
1,09
Reduction of CO2 due to biogas in m. of tons 20,1
Sales volume in D in b.Euros 9,7
Jobs 46.000
© German Biogas Association
1,09
20,1
9,0
46.000
* Our own projection based on data by the state authorities/market master data index
** On the basis of an expert interview/projection market master data index
29

English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
Figure 3: Distribution of biogas plants
in the German states in 2020
Figure 4: Installed electrical capacity in the
biogas plants in German states in 2020
Source: German Biogas Association
with 2,588 plants, followed by Lower Saxony and
North Rhine-Westphalia (see Figure 3). In terms of
capacity, Lower Saxony leads the ranking with 1,426
MW, followed by Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg
(see Figure 4).
The gross amount of electricity that was produced
was 33.23 TWh in 2020 and theoretically can supply
9.49 million households with electricity. The heat
used outside of the biogas plants can supply an estimated
1.1 million households with heat. All in all,
this would enable 20 million tons of CO 2
to be saved
and 46,000 million jobs to be ensured, mainly in rural
areas (see chart).
Figures for 2021
The figures for 2021 is more restrained. Besides a
continually decreasing number of new biogas plants
with a net increase of 60 plants, it is highly likely that
flexibilization in the plant portfolio will also lose momentum
and only amount to around 124 MW. Thus,
Fachverband Biogas estimates that around 9,692
biogas plants with an installed power of 5.787 MW
will be in operation by the end of 2021. As hardly
any changes will occur in work-related performance,
there are not expected to be any significant changes
in the produced amount of electricity (33.23 TWh),
in avoided carbon emissions (20.1 million tons)
and in jobs (46,000). There are two main reasons
for the increasing reluctance to introduce flexibility
and build new plants. Firstly, the currently valid EEG
lacks appropriate remuneration models that also do
justice to the real increased costs of the plants, and
secondly, the hardly manageable legal requirements
and specifications are causing increasing frustration
among plant operators. However, the current energy
price developments, which will renew interest in the
flexibilization of biogas plants in particular, could
raise the willingness to invest.
Author
Dipl.-Ing. agr. (FH) Manuel Maciejczyk
Director
Fachverband Biogas e.V.
Angerbrunnenstr. 12 · D-85356 Freising
00 49 81 61/98 46 60
info@biogas.org
www.biogas.org
30

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
Stadtwerke Heidelberg
wants to create both an
urban and architectural
landmark with its
“energy and future
storage system”.
Storing heat – and if so, how much?
Large-scale heat storage systems uncouple the generation of electricity from combined
heat and power (CHP) plants from the provision of heat in terms of time. For a certain time
they supply both additional quantities of heat and a greater heat output. Using an example,
we discuss parameters for the design and planning of heat storage systems. We also provide
an overview of the most important types of storage tanks and tank construction forms,
as well as their costs and funding.
By Christian Dany
Photograph: LAVA Architekten Berlin
The energy available must be used efficiently
before I think about generating any
more,” says Gerd Neidlinger. This 45-yearold
is not only a biogas plant operator and a
farmer, but also a man of Christian conviction.
When it came to making his plant more flexible,
the basis here was clear to him: Use of the emergency
cooler, which is an inefficient waste of electricity,
should be avoided as far as possible. The plant
supplies a local heating grid with 36 connections in
Orsenhausen, south of Ulm, as a monovalent heat
generator. This grid is operated by a heating technology
company.
After Neidlinger had called in a consultant from the
Flexperten network and numerous variants had been
calculated, he took action in 2019: The plant capacity
of 450 kilowatts of electrical power (kWel) was expanded
to include a combined heat and power plant
(CHP) with 1.5 megawatts (MWel). The farmer from
Swabia had already increased his gas storage tank
to 3,300 cubic metres (m³). “It’s the large flexible
CHP that does most of the work,” explains the qualified
industrial electronics technician. The two small
CHP units only remain at the plant for emergencies.
Electricity and heat production is thus concentrated
in four hours in the morning and four in the evening,
when electricity prices are highest; compared to before,
heat is produced in two large bursts. This called
for a suitably dimensioned heat storage system.
First of all it was going to be 150 cubic metres (m³) in
size, and then a capacity of 300 m³. “With expansion
of the grid however, that could quickly have become
too tight,” explains Neidlinger. So he also asked about
a 500 m³ storage tank, or alternatively one 1,000 m³
in size – which is what he actually ended up with.
“Despite being twice the size, the 1,000 m³ tank was
only marginally more expensive. In winter I have a
heat demand of up to 550 kilowatt per hour. Even at
that level, the storage system is now sufficient to supply
the heating network for two days in the event of
a CHP failure,” Neidlinger explains. With his storage
tower 16 metres tall, he has set a totemic symbol to
the energy transition on his farm!
Heat storage as a key technology
Like Neidlinger, many local and district heating suppliers
are currently working on the planning and design
of heat storage systems – a key technology
31

English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
Section through the two-zone storage
system of Stadtwerke Heidelberg.
Graphic: Stadtwerke Heidelberg
of the energy transition for uncoupling electricity generation
and heat provision in terms of time. Heat storage
offers benefits by offering additional usable reserve
capacity and ensuring security of supply. Such
systems can hold in store both, quantities of heat and
heat output to avoid generating additional heat with
back-up boilers in the event of peak demand (peak
load “capping”).
We distinguish between two types of thermal storage
depending on the tome of storage. In flexible CHP
plants with electricity-oriented schedules, buffer
storage is used to compensate for variations in heat
load and heat generation over the course of the day.
In some cases heat can be stored for several days, as
with Neidlinger’s plant. In contrast, seasonal storage
systems are above all used to store solar thermal heat
from the summer period of high yield into the transitional
period or even into winter.
To date only a few large-scale solar thermal plants for
district heating grids have been built in Germany. The
largest of them was recently completed: A 14,800
square metre (m²) collector field with a peak thermal
output of 9 megawatts (MW) has been built in
Ludwigsburg-Kornwestheim. For combined use by an
existing wood-fired power plant, a 2,000 m³ pressurised
storage tank with a capacity of 130 megawatt
hours (MWh) has been built for this purpose by the
plant manufacturer Kremsmüller from Austria.
Gas section with activated carbon filter (with the funnel-shaped tank in the middle).
The Danes store heat in heat pits
However, “true” seasonal storage systems for district
heating usually take the form of heat pits in the ground.
Projects with storage volumes running into several tens
of thousands of cubic metres are mainly found in Denmark.
According to Jan Erik Nielsen from the Danish
company PlanEnergi, it has already been possible to
build such storage systems at a cost of less than 40 euros
per m³. To reduce heat losses, Nielsen recommends
a lower storage temperature level. But this requires
the use of heat pumps, which then raises costs on the
grid operation side. As heat pits take up a lot of space,
few have been built in this country to date, either on a
smaller scale or at neighbourhood level.
The total volume of district heating storage projects in
Germany is around 600,000 m³. “The storable heat
quantity of 25 gigawatt hours, compared to the total
district heating quantity of approx. 110 terawatt
hours, shows the still very low expansion level of heat
storage systems which can store less than 0.3 per
thousand of the annual quantity.” These figures were
calculated by a group of experts, who produced a paper
documenting their findings on heat storage facilities
in North Rhine-Westphalia (see box).
Apart from the required storage period, the temperature
level is a decisive criterion for the design and
planning of heat storage systems – namely, “the flow
temperature in the grid at the time of the greatest stor-
Photograph: Christian Dany
32

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
Funding for heat
storage systems
New storage systems receive a subsidy (the
KWKG uses the term “premium”) of 250 euros
per m³ of storage capacity, whereby the
subsidy is capped at 30 percent of the eligible
investment costs. The storage volume must
be at least 0.3 m³/kWel of the CHP system and
the heat loss less than 15 watts per square
metre of the tank’s surface area.
Funding applications are processed via the
Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export
Control (BAFA). Renewable heat storage facilities
exceeding 10 m³ which are not eligible for
aid under the CHP Act are funded by the Kreditanstalt
für Wiederaufbau (KfW Development
Bank) under comparable conditions. Further
incentives for the construction of heat storage
systems are meanwhile on offer for “Innovative
CHP systems” that are especially eligible
for support under the CHP Act, and with the
Heat Networks 4.0 programme of Germany’s
Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs. The
comprehensive programme “Federal Funding
for Efficient Heat Networks” (BEW) is set to
replace “Heat Networks 4.0” in 2021 and to
address both new and existing heat networks.
age demand”, as described by Dr. Jens
Kühne, Section Head of Generation, Sector
Coupling and Storage at AGFW. Unpressurised
(atmospheric) storage tanks
can be operated up to max. 98 degrees
Celsius (°C). Pressurised storage systems
could cope with higher temperatures of
up to approx. 150 °C. “Safety requirements
are needed for pressure vessels
with dished heads, in particular recurring
tests,” says Kühne. As the construction of
pressurised storage tanks on site is both
complex and costly, several small tanks
in a modular configuration are frequently
preferred.
Containers up to 4 metres in diameter
and in sizes up to approx. 350 m³ can
be manufactured at the factory and still
transported by road. In 2014 Leipzig’s
public utility company, Leipziger Stadtwerke,
had for example nine pressure
tanks built for its 3,000 m³ heat storage
plant (capacity 225 MWhth). Rules of
thumb can be used to roughly calculate
size dimensions: 30 m³ volume per MWh
of heat is required for unpressurised storage
systems with a typical flow/return
temperature difference of 30 Kelvin. This
means that the storage density is 30 to
35 kWh/m³. The density of pressurised
storage systems can be doubled or tripled
depending on the pressure and storage
temperature.
Two-zone storage: Store 100 °C
and operate unpressurised
“The two-zone storage system is a sort
of hybrid between the unpressurised and
pressurised storage type,” says Dr. Armin
Kraft from consulting firm EEB Enerko,
a co-author of the findings document on
heat storage. With the help of this technology,
heat storage systems capable of
withstanding temperatures of over 100
°C could be built without pressure. This
would work by means of an intermediate
ceiling that separates two water-filled
zones, one on top of the other: “The
zones are connected by communicating
pipes. In the upper zone there is hot water
with a temperature of 60 to 90 °C,
which creates pressure through its own
weight. This ensures that the hot water
with a temperature of over 100 °C in the
lower zone does not start to ‘boil’,” explains
Kraft. The maximum temperature
of the storage tank would depend on the
load of the upper zone. He cites 115 °C
as the “economically ideal” temperature
and approx. 10,000 m³ as the minimum
economical size.
The two-zone storage systems in Duisburg
and Heidelberg were planned by EEB
Enerko. These storage types are built by
Bilfinger Industrial Services GmbH from
Austria, which holds the patents of the
inventor, Dr. Anders Hedbäck. What all
storage types have in common is that
they use water as the storage medium.
Other materials, e.g. phase-change material,
have to date not managed to gain a
foothold for cost reasons, partly also due
to environmental concerns. Steel is the
main material used for tank construction.
“Site-built storage tanks are assembled
from rings, vertical or circular segments
and the elements then welded together,”
explains Kühne. An alternative here is to
use lozenge-shaped wall elements or long
metal sheets that are “spiralled up” with
a lifting-rotating machine.
The company Hans van Bebber Heizungsbau
from Straelen in the Lower
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MADE IN DINKLAGE

English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
“Battery” storage:
Leipziger Stadtwerke
has divided its 3,000
m³ heat storage plant
built in 2014 (right)
into nine pressure
tanks.
Rhine region manufactures unpressurised storage
tanks: factory-built tanks from 100 m³ and large
site-built storage tanks assembled from circular segments
up to 5,000 m³ in size. The firm built Gerd
Neidlinger’s turnkey storage system and also carried
out the necessary installation and commissioning
work. “We start with the floor,” says Managing Director
Thomas Paes, explaining the construction process.
“The next step is to build the roof. Then one ring
after the other is welded and moved upwards with a
hydraulic lifting machine. Depending on the statics,
the steel elements are between 5 and 8 millimetres
(mm) thick. They are welded on both the inside and
out.” Sand soaked with oil is added as floor insulation
and covered with a glass plate. As soon as the
pure-steel tank is ready, the storage water is poured
in. Only once the tightness test has been passed is
the insulation fitted – in Neidlinger’s case, 300 mm
thick insulation mats from mineral wool – and cladding
made from trapezoidal sheets.
Nitrogen injection against corrosion
Nitrogen is injected above the filling level to protect
against corrosion. “The plant therefore has a nitrogen
Photograph: Leipziger Stadtwerke
Heat storage with additional benefits
Large-scale heat storage facilities are gigantic structures.
They need lots of space, with some towering
into the air, visible from afar. Of course, this raises
the question whether these buildings can be provided
with additional, functions not related to energy.
Heidelberg‘s public utility company, Stadtwerke Heidelberg,
wants to create both an urban and architectural
landmark with its „energy and future storage
system”. The roof of the 55 m high storage tower is to
be open to the public, complete with a viewing platform,
catering facilities and an events space.
The wall of the tank, which has a gross capacity of
20,000 m³, will be covered over with a net and moving
plates that orient themselves to the wind and sun.
An “energy and exercise park” is to be built around
the two-zone storage facility in cooperation with an
orthopaedic and rehabilitation technology company.
The shell of the tank is already finished. According to
Ellen Frings, Stadtwerke‘s spokeswoman, comprehensive
testing is currently underway and the 15 million
project is scheduled to open in spring 2022.
In 2008 the City of Munich took the opposite route,
hiding its storage system away in the ground when
it built a 6,000 m3 seasonal heat storage system to
supply the “Am Ackermannbogen” housing estate
with solar heat. It boasts a diameter of 26 metres and
a clear height of 16 metres. The concrete shell is lined
with stainless steel on the inside.
Outside, a thick layer of insulation prevents heat
being lost from the storage tank. The tank is integrated
in the green space in the form of a hill, allowing it
to act as a sound barrier against the hustle and bustle
of Ackermannbogen and to serve as a toboggan run
in winter.
Munich: Heat storage system supplying
the “Am Ackermannbogen” housing
estate. The storage system is integrated
in the green space in the form of a hill.
Photographs: Landeshauptstadt München
34

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
“In future we
want to use our product
ourselves to supply areas
of new development
with 100 percent solar
thermal energy”
George Wetterling
generator that automatically
refills
the gas in a
controlled manner
according to
the fluctuations
in level,” says
Paes.
As the volume of the
water expands when it
warms up, this level varies
slightly. The storage water
must also be demineralised and oxygen
removed to protect it from corrosion. It is
a major advantage that the storage tank
can thus be directly integrated in the
heating grid. This means that everything
from the heating circuit distributor of the
biogas plant through the storage tank to
the network is a common system.
“This way, the storage tank can be used
to maintain pressure in the grid,” comments
MD Paes. Neidlinger’s storage
system was therefore designed to be 16
metres in height. This means that the
hydrostatic pressure of the tank is at the
level of the static pressure in the network
of 1.6 bar, as 1 metre of water column
corresponds to 0.1 bar.
In general, the heat storage tank can take
over other functions for the grid’s hydraulic
system, acting
on the one hand
as an expansion
tank which accommodates
expansion and
contraction volume
of the grid.
On the other hand,
it acts as a water reservoir
for the grid, allowing
the water treatment systems in
the grid to be dimensioned smaller. Built
directly at the generator site, the storage
tank performs the function of a hydraulic
separator that hydraulically uncouples
generator and grid operation.
However, indirect integration of the storage
tank via heat exchangers is also possible
on both the generator and consumer
side, so making the tank hydraulically independent.
As the storage water does not
leave the tank, tanks made from concrete
are possible here. Cupasol GmbH from
Ravensburg has already built several heat
storage systems 1,000 m³ or 3,000 m³ in
size for biogas and biomass plants using
prestressed concrete. Vertical prefabricated
elements are used here in combination
with prestressed steel inserts designed to
counteract the formation of cracks.
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Photograph: Gerd Neidlinger
Gerd Neidlinger at the site of his biogas plant.
ARMATEC-FTS.COM/EN
35

English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
Brochure about heat
storage systems
The findings paper on heat storage in NRW: thermal storage
in heating grids and in commercial and industrial applications
was produced by a group of experts from the company
EnergieAgentur.NRW. With this paper the 14 co-authors
wish to “bring thermal energy storage out of the shadows,
offer an overview of the technologies available and present
current and future options for use with examples from North
Rhine-Westphalia”. In addition, the brochure provides information
on the obstacles that still stand in the way of the
economical use of heat storage systems.
The first chapter deals with thermal storage in district
heating networks, followed by the topics of neighbourhoods,
buildings, industry and thermal power plants.
Technology, application, examples of projects in NRW as
well as implementation and barriers are discussed for each
area. The 48-page brochure was published in June 2020
and can be obtained free of charge from EnergieAgentur.
NRW or downloaded from www.energieagentur.nrw (path:
Publikationen/Broschüren).
Construction of the heat storage tank at
Gerd Neidlinger’s biogas plant.
“No corrosion protection is needed so the
container can be filled with tap water to
which hydrochloric acid has been added,”
observes Georg Wetterling of Cupasol – a
major benefit. Tightness is ensured by an
inner lining of high temperature-resistant
polyethylene film. In the systems manufactured
by Cupasol, the lid plus insulation
rests on a construction of steel cables,
and when they are filled to the brim,
it floats on top.
As the storage volume increases, concrete
tanks are not so much built upwards
as outwards in the footprint. As a
result, the quantity of storable heat grows
more than the surface area. The specific
heat losses thus decrease. Wetterling
sees possible problems with liability as a
disadvantage of direct integration if the
responsibility for the grid and storage lies
on different sides, but the grid water and
the storage water are the same.
According to the project manager, Cupasol
has extended its sales strategy: ”Our
focus is no longer just on product sales of
heat storage systems. In future we additionally
want to use our product ourselves
to supply new development sites with 100
percent solar thermal energy.” Cupasol
plans to operate the heating systems itself
and sell the heat produced to end customers
in a contracting model.
In the case of heat storage systems for
district heating suppliers, planners usually
prefer direct integration, also because
building upwards allows for pronounced
stratification: “The storage medium has
two layers, a warm and a cold one that
are separated from each other by a naturally
formed separating layer. These areas
with different temperature levels must not
mix during operation,” argues Dr. Armin
Kraft. “The higher the storage tank, the
more stable the separating layer and the
less impact it has on operation.”
The cost of a heat storage tank of course
largely depends on the type and size of
the tank. “The third aspect to consider
is the highly cost-effective charging and
discharging capacity of the storage tank,”
advises Dr. Jens Kühne of the association
AGFW. The greater the performance, the
Photographs: Gerd Neidlinger
36

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
Nitrogen is injected above the filling level to protect against corrosion.
The plant thus has a nitrogen generator that automatically refills the
gas in a controlled manner according to the fluctuations in level.
Construction of a 1,000 m³ pre-stressed concrete storage
tank at the Lebrade-Rixdorf biogas plant near Kiel.
Photograph: Christian Dany
larger and more costly the pipework system
with valves and pumps will be. It can
be assumed here that the costs of hydraulic
and thermal integration including the
measurement and control technology are
as high as the cost of the tank.
Pressurised storage tanks are
specifically more expensive
From experience Kühne has created cost
graphs based on a calculation of 50 percent
for the cost of the tank plus 50 percent
for connection. It is apparent here
that pressurised storage tanks are specifically
more expensive than unpressurised
ones when costs are related to the tank
volume. In terms of storage capacity however,
pressurised storage is cheaper up to
a capacity of approx. 150 MWh because
standardised tanks can be used here. “But
many projects diverge widely from the
curves in the graph,” comments Kühne as
regards the huge variations in pricing seen
in practice. He underlines that heat storage
systems have however been the subject of
funding more or less continuously since introduction
of Germany’s CHP Act (KWKG)
in 2012 (see box).
In Gerd Neidlinger’s case, 330,000 euros
of the total investment of 1.8 million euros
in making his biogas plant more flexible
went on the heat storage tank, with
220,000 euros of this being spent on the
tank itself, including its concrete foundation.
Neidlinger used the flexibilisation
project to effect a full upgrade and optimisation,
renewing the biogas pipework
including the gas compressor and activated
carbon filter. In addition, the Swabian
farmer purchased an automatic gas burning
unit with a gas boiler that permits heat
generation even with a lengthy CHP outage.
“Together with the larger CHP system
and the heat storage tank, I thus take responsibility
for the peak load and security
of grid supply. That’s why I was able to get
a higher price for my heat from the grid operator,”
comments the energy producer.
Besides the financial aspect, he has spotted
another important benefit: The heat
storage system should make his weekends
quieter in future. “I have invested in quality
of life,” says Neidlinger.
Author
Christian Dany
Freelance Journalist
Gablonzer Str. 21 · D-86807 Buchloe
00 49 82 41/911 403
christian.dany@web.de
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37

English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
Technological cascade
breaks down manure
The clever linking of different technologies gives rise to new fertiliser products and reusable
materials. A circular-based solution cascade for farms and biogas plants in regions
with surplus nutrients from accumulated farm fertiliser.
By Dipl.-Ing. agr. (FH) Martin Bensmann
It is now seven years since I visited the company
REW Regenis – Regenerative Energie
Wirtschaftssysteme GmbH in Quakenbrück
(Lower Saxony). At that time separation and drying
technology was reviewed both in terms of
production and practical operation – see the report in
Biogas Journal 6_2014, pages 48 to 51. Even then
the company had numerous ideas up its sleeve. It was
now time to take a look at the latest developments.
There have been changes in the basic principle of the
separation technique. The screw press – unlike many
other models on the market – draws the fermented
fertiliserdigestate or liquid manure through the separator,
providing for a fully closed process – with a
penetration-proof annular gap plug separate from
the screen basket. This plug is not structured and
secured by wear-producing and energy-consuming
counterflaps, but is rendered penetration-proof as
such through its shape and construction.
“What is new is that the shaft is supported at the front
and rear, which means that the screen basket and
shaft are always fully centred. This way, we reduce
wear and tear and also increase the operational safety
of the separators,” explains Managing Director Dr. Dieter
Schillingmann. Regenis has recently customised
the overall system of the shaft, screen basket and
annular gap plug in such a way that the manure slurry
either gets more into the solid (e.g. with the “GE Super”
model as a maize economiser) or selectively into
the filtrate (GE Super dry for producing e.g. litter with
a high dry matter content).
From left: André Schillingmann, Managing
Directors Dieter and Hartmut Schillingmann
Stationary and mobile separators
There are two sizes of separators that can be configured
into four different types with different throughput
rates ranging from 1 m³ to 100 m³ per hour. The
separators can be operated as stationary systems, for
example at the biogas plant, and/or as mobile ones,
either individually or connected in parallel – for example,
mounted on trucks. These separators are capable
of producing solids with a dry matter (DM) content
of up to 45 per cent, depending on the objective,
Photographs: Martin Bensmann, Regenis
38

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
In a 40-foot container: Here at one end is the separator at the top,
which is supplied with fermentation substrate from the round
container underneath. The pressed solid fraction is transferred
from the separator to the downstream dryer
View of the evaporation dryer. Here you can see the high-quality insulation.
50% of the flue gas heat “pumped in” can be recovered.
structure and input material. However, the higher the
dry matter content, the lower the throughput per hour.
“The solids mainly contain the nutrient phosphorus,
but organic nitrogen is also present in large quantities.
The separated liquid, the filtrate, can be adapted
to the farm gate balance in terms of fertiliser technology
with separation, in livestock farming without
biogas plants. This is possible, for example, with simple
processes such as sedimentation, precipitation,
flotation, MAP extraction, etc., or it can be processed
further in synergy with a biogas plant and our GT dryer/evaporator,”
says, Dieter Schillingmann explaining
further options.
Only fermentation of liquid the manure
ingredients
At Regenis the mobile separators are called “maize
economisers”. Dieter Schillingmann explains the
idea behind it: “We’re convinced that the liquid manure
as produced in the barn should not be fermented
because, firstly, the liquid content is too high and
the energy-containing solids content too low and, secondly,
emissions can be reduced by the separation
of fresh liquid manure. You sometimes have to ask
yourself, particularly in winter, whether more energy
comes out of the liquid manure than has to be put
in through heating, pumping and stirring. We advocate
separating cattle or swine manure near the barn
and then fermenting the separated solids as freshly
as possible,” Schillingmann emphasises. Trials have
shown that about 2,000 tonnes of solids can be separated
out from 10,000 tonnes of fresh cattle manure
per year. This saves over 1,000 tonnes of maize per
Pyrolysis plant: This is likewise housed in a 40-foot container. At the front left is the
burner, which can also be fired with biogas. The container includes a dryer module,
which is located above the pyrolysis boiler.
year, hence the name “Regenis ME”, where “ME”
stands for “maize economiser.” In the technology
chain, the dryer/evaporator unit can be optionally
connected after the separator for further treatment
of the separated solids and the production of liquid
fertiliser. Both process stages, i.e. separation and drying/evaporation,
work “hand in hand” and can be accommodated
in a 40-foot container. The basic
39

English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
Pyrolysis plant: The dryer above and the pyrolysis boiler below. The hot vapours
from the dryer are discharged at the top right via the angled box.
Pyrolysis plant viewed from the other end of the container: The
electric motor drives the screw conveyor in the dryer. On the left
marked No. 1, the dried solid leaves the dryer. Below marked No. 2,
there is a screw that feeds the discharged solids into the pyrolysis
boiler. The hot vapours are discharged for condensation via the
duct (No. 3).
Pyrolysis plant with solids input on the far left.
drying/evaporation concept with the double-jacket
pipe heated by flue gas has not changed. New to the
GT dryer/evaporator, however, are the so-called FLEX
tools. This means that
a. an additional discharge conveyor can be installed
between the separator and the dryer, that
b. additional filtrate can be injected into the evaporation
chamber of the indirectly heated dryer, that
c. instead of a single-shaft dryer, a double-shaft
dryer/evaporator can also be supplied as an option.
Thus, depending on the input, a throughput of 5,000
to 50,000 tonnes per year of fermentation residuedigestate
can be processed per container plant. Downstream
of the separator it is then possible to achieve
between 60 kilograms per hour (kg/h) and 600 kg/h
of separated solids with a dry matter content of 15 to
30 percent, and downstream of the dryer a dry matter
content of 30 to 90 percent, depending on the targets.
Regenis prepares a mass and fertiliser balance
in each case to ensure it can design a system that is
right for the customer.
In addition to fertiliser application, the dry product
can also be dried with precision thanks to a moisture
sensor so it can then be used
a. as litter animal bedding with e.g. 40 to
60 percent dry matter,
b. as an input product for composting or as a peat
substitute with 50 to 70 percent dry matter,
c. as a fibre substitute for compostable flower
pots or as a paper substitute for insulation
and packaging processes etc. with 75 to 85
percent dry matter or
d. to produce energy pellets and/or energy
briquettes from it.
40

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
The solid matter introduced remains in
the dryer at 70 to 90 degrees Celsius
for about an hour until it finally arrives
at the single solid fermentation residue
digestate store storage at around 30 degrees
Celsius. In the discharge screw the
temperature of the dry material and the
moisture can be measured online. There
are also spray nozzles that can be used to
spray in water if the material has become
too dry. The hot CHP exhaust gases flow
through the double-jacket pipe at a temperature
of up to 500 degrees Celsius,
for indirect heating via radiation and
contact. Another new feature is that two
dryer pipe units can be installed and operated
side by side in the same container,
which increases throughput.
Dryer exhaust air cleaned without
sulphuric acid
The dryer’s exhaust air purification system
is also clever. The superheated steam
leaves the dryer pipe at around 110 to
140 degrees Celsius, which Schillingmann
also describes as a high-temperature
thin-film degassing reactor. In the
centre above the dryer, the steam flows
out next to the container into a nitrogen
separation unit. The very hot exhaust air
contains ammonium nitrogen, which is
partially condensed out in the multi-stage
scrubber through targeted cooling.
80 per cent of the ammonium nitrogen
contained in the fermentation residuedigestate
is in the filtrate and about 20 per
cent in the separated solid matter to be
dried, which is degassed during drying.
The so-called ammonium water is collected
in a closed tank under the scrubber
and cooling column. A screw conveyor
is installed at the bottom of the tank. The
dust sediments deposited are pumped, together
with the ammonium water produced
and together with the filtrate separated out
in the separator, into the fertiliser store as
ammonium-rich fertiliser, without much in
the way of fibrous substances.
This liquid fertiliser produced by combining
the separator with the dryer/evaporator
is a high-quality, pH-neutral, liquid fertiliser
low in organic nitrogen but high in
ammonium nitrogen that is very suitable
for use in crop farming. “The liquid fertiliser
is easy to pump, goes to the plant root
quickly without much loss of nitrogen into
the soil, avoids burns to plant leaves
Condensation column: The hot steam from the
drying material flows up and down through the two
boxes. The steam is cooled and condenses out. The
ammonia water produced without any use of chemicals
is collected at the bottom of the tank.
View into the drying container from the other end.
The drive motor for the screw conveyor in the dryer is
clearly visible here. The hot gases leave the doublejacket
pipe via the vertical pipe on top of the dryer.
The hot vapours from the solids are discharged in
the centre above the dryer.
On the right the drying container, on the left the desorption unit in a tank container frame.
The filtrate (liquid phase) leaving the separator is pumped into the desorption tank. The
desorption plant is also supplied with the hot flue gases from the dryer’s double-jacket pipe
and the hot vapours from the solid material to be dried. The ammonium nitrogen is then
expelled here from the filtrate and from the fed-in gases as ammonia. The ammonia then
passes to the adsorption column.
41

English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
Adsorption plant in which the ammonia is washed out with sulphuric acid in a
counterflow process, producing ammonium sulphate solution. A Regenis employee
engaged in pre-assembly of the system in the factory hall at Quakenbrück. All
components are always assembled in the factory halls on a trial basis.
André Schillingmann shows the circulation pumps (red) for the filtrate
and the displacement pump (blue) used to pump off the degassed filtrate
at one end of the desorption plant.
and is readily available to crops, especially at peak
growing season,” explains André Schillingmann, Dieter
Schillingmann’s son who has been with the company
for three years.
“The trick here,” adds Schillingmann Junior, “is
that this way the relatively inert, organic nitrogen
is predominantly contained in the solids, together
with the high carbon content and about half of the
phosphorus. This sanitised solid can then be ideally
utilised as a humus builder as part of crop rotations,
while the liquid fertiliser produced in the GT with
the main nutrients ammonium-N, phosphorus and
potassium is used directly in the crop, leading to
optimum growth.”
Further value creation options with pyrolysis
The very dry and almost nitrogen-free solid can be
refined into other products, such as biochar. Regenis
offers a pyrolysis system that has been developed inhouse
for this purpose. Schillingmann emphasises
that for proper operation, pyrolysis requires a dried
solid that is virtually nitrogen-free. The developers
have also housed the pyrolysis unit in a 40-foot container,
which is bolted horizontally to the container
floor. The standard GT dryer/evaporator is installed in
a horizontal position above the pyrolysis boiler. Solid
material is fed into the dryer from outside via a feed
hopper. At the other end of the dryer the dried solid
material leaves the dryer via a discharge screw. It is
connected to a feed screw that conveys the dry solid
material into the pyrolysis boiler. According to André
Schillingmann, charring takes place at a temperature
of approx. 700 degrees Celsius. Solid matter from
liquid manure or better, fermented fertiliser is completely
charred after about 20 minutes and can then
be discharged at the other end of the pyrolysis pipe.
Here the mineral fertiliser components are not burnt
or vitrified but leave the reactor together with the biochar
as solid fertiliser available to plants.
To heat the pyrolysis pipe, the container includes a
specially developed burner which burns raw biogas
during the heating phase. “When the pyrolysis process
has reached a temperature of approx. 350 degrees
Celsius, this produces pyrolysis gases that only
supply the burner in the continuous heating phase, so
providing the necessary process energy,” says André
Schillingmann, outlining the process.
The pyrolysis boiler is also a double-jacket pipe with
a process screw that can be heated inside, as in the
case of the dryer/evaporator, with the difference that
a different temperature level is used here. After pyrolysis
one third to half of the input dry matter can be
skimmed off as biochar. The remainder has passed
into the gas phase and is utilised as process energy.
42

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
YOUR PARTNER FOR CONVEYING,
DOSING AND FEEDING
Desorption and ammonia
stripping
Now back to the separator and the filtrate
produced there, i.e. the liquid phase
separated out. For its further treatment,
the team at Regenis has developed a fertiliser
unit that consists of a desorption
and evaporation column as well as an absorption
column. The desorption stage is
a high-quality, fully insulated V4A stainless
steel tank installed in a tank container
frame.
With a volume of approx. 24 cubic metres,
this column is positioned right next
to the drying container. The filtrate leaves
the separator in the direction of the desorption/evaporation
column. The column
is always filled with filtrate to about one
third. The filtrate is removed from the
tank and sprayed into the gas chamber of
the desorption column via several nozzles
located directly above the tank.
Another nozzle is located in the pipe
above the tank, also passing the hot exhaust
gases from the dryer to the desorption
column. In this variant, the superheated
steam produced in the dryer itself
is not partially condensed for ammonia
water recovery, but is also fed synergistically
into the desorption/evaporation
column for desorption (separation of the
ammonium from the filtrate to ammonia
into the air). The supply line includes another
nozzle, which sprays filtrate into the
vapour generated in the dryer/evaporator
for virtually nothing.
At one end of the tank container frame
there are two circulation pumps (redundant
system) for the filtrate and a screw
displacement pump for pumping off
the degassed filtrate. The temperature
in the desorption tank is set to approx.
75 degrees Celsius. The ammonium is
outgassed from the filtrate through this
temperature level and the targeted process
control. The average dwell time of
the filtrate in the desorption/evaporation
column is approx. six hours. This fully automatic
process operates on a continuous
basis.
Absorption column produces
ammonium sulphate solution
(ASS)
The nitrogen-rich, moisture-saturated
gas produced in the desorption stage
is drawn in by a paddle fan and forced
into the absorption column. The approx.
10-metre-high absorption column has a
single-stage design, with the flow of gas
passing upwards.
The absorption column contains plastic
filling material through which 78 % sulphuric
acid trickles down in the opposite
direction. The ammonium sulphate solution
(ASS) accumulates at the bottom of
the scrubbing column and is temporarily
stored in a double-walled tank underneath.
The tank holds 2,000 litres and is
always around half to two-thirds full.
Some of the ASS is pumped out at regular
intervals once the set concentration is
reached so it can be used for fertilising
purposes. Inert gases from the CHP units
and the dryer/evaporator leave the flue of
the absorption column together as a carrier
for the humid air.
The technological cascade presented
here shows the feasibility of local circular
economy, which could also be combined
to excellent effect with sewage treatment
facilities as well as composting plants.
Energy and nutrients can be recovered
in a targeted and efficient manner from
organic residues such as farm fertilisermanure,
sewage sludge, fermentation
residuedigestate or biowaste and the fertiliser
then returned to the cycle for crop
farming.
With consistent implementation in particular
also by sewage treatment plants,
it would be possible to increasingly dispense
with the highly energy-intensive
production of mineral fertilisers in agriculture
and horticulture. This way, local
energy transition with combined cycle
power plants of renewable energy generation
types – with biogas plants playing a
key role here – can thus become the cornerstone
of a transition in terms of agricultural
and horticultural nutrients.
Author
Dipl.-Ing. agr. (FH) Martin Bensmann
Editor, Biogas Journal
German Biogas Association
0049 54 09/90 69 426
martin.bensmann@biogas.org
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English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
Examination of the Direct Use of Biogas
in Metallurgical Plants
In the AiF project “Direct Use of Raw Biogas in Metallurgy for the Reduction of Carbon
Emissions (MetaCOO)”, the use of biogas was examined in thermal processing plants as
an alternative source of energy to substitute natural gas. The goals of this project included
calculating the Germany-wide demand for power and/or gas and the potential of biogas.
In addition, the effects of using biogas on process and product quality was examined with
regard to technical implementation for the supply of heat in metallurgic thermal processes.
The findings gained from this study could enable the implementation in a demonstration
project to receive decisive impetus.
By Elisabeth Grube, Patrick Heinrich, Marcus Röder and Nico Steyer
Metallurgy is one of the German industries
with high energy requirements
and causes high greenhouse gas emissions.
The reportable PRTR operations
(PRTR: Pollutant Release and Transfer
Register) in raw iron and steel production alone account
for 6.4 percent of Germany’s carbon emissions
(status 2018; sources available from the authors
upon request).
The supply of process heat in particular is usually
provided by burning natural gas. Biogas is currently
being used in Germany, either partially processed in
combined heat and power plants (CHP) for the generation
of power and heat or supplied into the natural
gas grid after complex processing into bio-methane.
As EEG (EEG is a law in Germany, defining the Feed in
Tarif for electricity) payments have been ceasing for
more and more biogas plants this year, the search for
new and lucrative applications for the produced biogas
is becoming an increasingly important issue. Use
in metal industry could be a worthwhile alternative.
The use of biogas as a blending component to the process
gas can result in “greening” the manufacturing
processes in the metal industry by directly saving CO 2
and improving the carbon footprint of the products.
Changing the process gas to biogas can generally be
a way of achieving the climate policy targets for the
highly energy-intensive metallurgy sector.
Photographs: GWI
Mobile combustion chamber of GWI at the biogas plant of
the public utility companies in Dornberg, Bielefeld.
Removal of heat-treated metal
specimens.
44

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
Comparison between the biogas plants (according to production volume) and metallurgical operators.
Source: GWI
Examination of the admixture of
biogas for combustion behavior
Compared to natural gas, biogas has a
different gas composition and thus has
a different calorific value and a different
density. To evaluate the burner function at
different substitution rates, experiments
on low- and high-temperature test units
were carried out at the pilot plants of the
Gastechnologisches Institut gGmbH
(DBI) and the Gas- und Wärme-Institut
Essen e.V.(GWI) .
The low-temperature unit was a test flue
with a combustion performance of 30
kilo watts (kW). Two different industrial
burners were examined in a high-temperature
test furnace using different methods
[conventional diffusion burners, flameless
oxidation (FLOX ® )]. The aim was to
determine the effect of the fluctuating energy
content with varied gas composition
(natural gas and biogas).
The biogas was made synthetically as
a gas mixture consisting of natural gas
(>91 percent by volume CH 4
in fuel gas)
and carbon dioxide. During the tests, the
admixture of biogas was tested up to full
substitution of natural gas (corresponding
to 50 volume percent CH 4
respectively
natural gas and 50 volume percent CO 2
in
the fuel gas). Blending biogas was found
to be feasible for conventional natural gas
burners up to high substitution rates, but
flame instabilities occur above a biogas
content of 80 percent by volume.
The use of biogas generally caused lower
combustion temperatures, which has a
mitigating effect on the formation of nitrogen
oxide, but which must be taken
into account in process control. Modifications
to the burner periphery were not
required in the test cases, but the larger
performance-related fuel gas volume
flows must be taken into account with regard
to, for example, more effective pipe
cross sections and inlet pressures in real
application.
Field test on the biogas plant in
Bielefeld-Dornberg
A field test was made at a biogas plant
belonging to the public utility of Bielefeld
in Dornberg to examine the effects of the
changed combustion atmosphere and of
(raw) biogas on the properties of metallic
materials. For the field test, DBI connected
gas purification and analysis to a GWI
mobile combustor. In the tests, the biogas
was extracted via a bypass at the gas flare
of the biogas plant. In order to remove
both the residual concentration of ammonia
and hydrogen sulfide from the gas, a
gas purification system consisting of two
columns (filled with activated carbon and
iron mass, respectively) was manufactured.
A gas analysis was made on both
the raw gas (without passing through the
columns) and the clean gas (after passing
through the columns) and could thus also
be performed in the tests with unpurified
gas, in which the gas treatment columns
were bypassed completely.
The combustion chamber is divided up
into three zones that can be loaded separately
from below and in which there are
different temperatures. A conventional
natural gas-forced draught burner with
a maximum power of 110 kW was
45

English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
used for the tests. In the tests, non-ferrous metal and
steel samples were heat-treated at different temperature
levels and dwell times, and aluminum melt samples
were generated.
In long-term tests, temperatures of between 750
and 1,100 degrees centigrade were constantly
maintained for periods of 10 to 20 days. These were
deliberately chosen to be longer than typical dwell
times of corresponding heat treatment processes in
order to record any (negative) influences more clearly.
The tests included homogenization and annealing
processes of unalloyed and alloyed steels as well as
bronze, gunmetal and the melting of aluminum.
Metallurgic examinations were made of samples
treated with purified and unpurified biogas using optical
and scanning electron microscopes and energydispersive
X-ray spectroscopy and the results were
then compared. No effects on fuel gas or alloy could
be detected in the analyzed stainless steels and aluminum.
For real processes with significantly shorter
dwell times, an influence of raw biogas on product
quality is therefore considered unlikely. In the case
of non-ferrous metals and unalloyed steels, deposits
of trace elements from the combustion atmosphere
were detected when raw biogas was used. More precise
quantification and consideration of the influence
of dwell time in detailed investigations are recommended
here.
Nationwide analysis of the possible
application of biogas by metallurgical
plants in Germany
In order to be able to use biogas in metallurgical
plants, the biogas plants have to be located near the
metallurgical plants. Most of the biogas plants in
Germany are located in states that are heavily reliant
on agriculture, such as Lower Saxony and Bavaria.
However, there are relatively few metallurgical operations
in these areas. In Germany, metallurgical plants
mostly operate in heavily industrial regions, like in the
Ruhr area. There is already a disparity between areas
that have the biogas and areas that need the power.
Despite all this, about 90 percent of the metallurgical
plants under consideration have at least one biogas
plant within a radius of 10 kilometers.
The aim of the analysis was to identify metallurgical
plants that have sufficiently large biogas potential in
close proximity so that economic operation can be
guaranteed. Germany has a wide range of metallurgical
plants, from medium-sized companies to large
industrial corporations. This results in greatly varying
energy requirements per operation.
The energy required by the few but very big industrial
corporations is much higher than the available biogas
potential. However, they have a significant share
of the overall energy demand in the industry, as well
as the GHG emissions. However, at about half of the
metallurgical plants considered, one biogas plant was
enough for a 100 % supply of energy. They were only
small plants that did not need much energy.
The project showed that from the natural gas needed
by the metallurgical plants in Germany about 9 percent
might be substituted by biogas. But this could
not reduce the total carbon emissions in metallurgy,
which also come from coal combustion, by more than
0.5 percent.
Conclusion: The result of the project shows that the
use of biogas as a substitution for natural gas in metallurgy,
from a process engineering point of view, is
not a problem up to a high level of substitution (up to
80 percent by volume in the tests) and with regards
to heat treatment of the metal products. However, a
large part of the energy needs, particularly of large
companies, cannot be met by nearby biogas plants.
On the other hand, the (partial) use of biogas as an
energy source could be an option for farms with low
energy requirements and short distances to nearby
biogas plants, thus generating emission savings potential
for these farms.
Note: The IGF-Project 20155 BG of the Research
Association Gas and Heat Institute Essen (GWI) was
funded by the AiF as part of the Industrial Community
Research Programme (IGF) funded by the Federal
Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy on the basis
of a resolution of the German Bundestag.
Authors
Elisabeth Grube
Project Manager
DBI – Gastechnologisches Institut gGmbH Freiberg
00 49 37 31/41 95 329
elisabeth.grube@dbi-gruppe.de
Patrick Heinrich
Project Manager
DBI – Gastechnologisches Institut gGmbH Freiberg
00 49 37 31/41 95 374
patrick.heinrich@dbi-gruppe.de
Marcus Röder
Project Manager
Gas- und Wärme-Institut Essen e.V. (GWI)
00 49 2 01/36 18 288
roeder@gwi-essen.de
Nico Steyer
Project Manager
DBI – Gastechnologisches Institut gGmbH Freiberg
00 49 37 31/41 95 336
nico.steyer@dbi-gruppe.de
46

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
Mexico City
At the wastewater treatment facility of
SITRATA in San Francisco del Rincón in Mexico.
Diego Dávila, Direktor of SITRATA (left), speaking
with GIZ employee Andrés Rojo.
Lima
Mexico and Peru
Sludge to Energy: Biogas
helps the urban water sector
reduce greenhouse gases
In the struggle to cope with climate change, anaerobic digestion and biogas could play an
important part as a source of renewable energies. Biogas can be converted into electricity
and heat through cogeneration, making it re source-efficient and sustainable. But what role
does biogas play in climate mitigation in the urban water sector?
By Elaine Cheung and Carolin Escherich
Photograph: GIZ
The impacts of climate change pose a threat
towards water supply and sanitation systems.
In order to ensure a functioning water
supply and wastewater management
under the changing conditions, the urban
water sector has to find solutions to adapt to the risks
brought on by climate change. At the same time,
the provision of potable water and the treatment of
wastewater also contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions.
Water and wastewater systems are energy intensive
and can account for as much as 40 % of municipal energy
use, whereby this energy often comes from burning
fossil fuels. The loss of water results in even higher
energy consumption, and untreated or poorly treated
wastewater emits methane and nitrous oxide, which
are gases with much higher global warming potential
than carbon dioxide. Fortunately, water and wastewater
utilities can improve their carbon footprint by converting
their technologies and management processes
into more energy-efficient systems, as well as recovering
energy and nutrients from wastewater.
This is where using cogenerators for energy production
in wastewater utilities can be of great benefit as, on
average, the energy content of wastewater is five to
ten times higher than the energy that is used for its
treatment. Up to 0.56 kWh/m 3 can theoretically be
produced from sewage sludge, but in reality, this number
is significantly lower due to inefficiencies in the
digestion process and conversion to electricity.
47

English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
Technical professionals from SITRATA are trained in
ECAM to quantify GHG emissions in the wastewater
company (Mexico City).
SITRATA wastewater
treatment facility in
Mexico.
Biogas can be used to produce electricity, fuel or heat,
either to meet the demand of the plants or to be fed
into a district heating grid. Generally, small plants
with a capacity of 5 million liters per day can only generate
electricity if digesters are integrated in the plant.
Global Action for Climate Change Mitigation
The “Water and Wastewater Companies for Climate
Mitigation” project – WaCCliM for short – has developed
the “Energy Performance and Carbon Emissions
Assessment and Monitoring” Tool – ECAM for short
– to measure GHG emissions and the energy performance
from urban water services on a system-wide
level and to identify areas of improvement.
WaCCliM is a project backed by the German Government
which is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft
für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
GmbH and the International Water Association. The
aim of the project is to help the urban water sector
to become climate-friendly and sustainable through
higher power and water efficiency as well as reduced
GHG emissions, both of which are directly achieved
by adequate management of sewage sludge and indirectly
by reducing energy consumption.
Mexico: Implementation of Biogas
Technologies in a WaCCliM Partner
Operation
The WaCCliM project is being implemented in three
partner countries, two of which are Mexico and Peru.
Mexico is unconditionally committed to reduce its GHG
emissions by 22 % by 2030 compared to a businessas-usual
scenario. However, further obligations would
enable increased emissions mitigation of up to 36 %.
Mexican water utilities will need to contribute to this
reduction, but they are already facing the difficult
task of satisfying the demands of users. Obstacles
like low tariffs, high water consumption and a complicated
legal framework have led to unsustainable water
withdrawal, high energy costs, water losses and inadequate
wastewater treatment. In Mexico, GIZ works
with the National Water Commission, the Ministry of
Environment and Natural Resources and the National
Water Association of Mexico. These partners have
contributed to spreading the low-carbon approach in
the urban water sector. This includes network meetings
with utilities and developing standards for biogas
and energy generation projects.
The wastewater treatment facility SITRATA (Servicio
de Tratamiento y Deposición de Aguas Residuales)
in the city of San Francisco del Rincón is adapting
measures for sustainable, low-carbon wastewater
management. The wastewater treatment plant is
based on an activated sludge system. Currently, emissions
of ~2,500 t CO 2
e per year are being avoided.
This was mostly achieved by expanding wastewater
treatment coverage from less than half of the city to
more than 80 %.
The utility is now investigating further measures to reduce
emissions and operational costs and to increase
resilience to climate risks in the city’s wastewater system.
In this context, sewage sludge plays a significant
role. Although sludge has very little monetary value
and many utilities struggle with its management, it
can be a source of renewable energy that can replace
fossil fuels.
Photographs: GIZ
48

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
Álvaro Flores Boza (2nd from the right), General Manager of SEDACUSCO
taking part in technical discussions on the chances and risks of implementing
low-carbon technologies in the Peruvian wastewater sector.
BIOGASANALYSIS
SSM 6000
the classic for the discontinuous
analysis of CH 4
, H 2
S, CO 2
, H 2
and O 2
with and without gas preparation
* proCAL for SSM 6000 fully
automatic calibration
without test gas
for NO x
, CO und O 2
, several points
of measurements
*
Photograph: SEDACUSCO
Reducing Operating Costs
At the moment, biogas is only being used
at SITRATA for the production of thermal
energy. However, the utility is thinking
of setting up a cogeneration system to
convert biogas to electrical energy as this
would produce several benefits. Firstly,
operating costs and GHG emissions of
the wastewater treatment plants could
be reduced, as the utility would produce
its own electricity, making it less dependent
on price fluctuations of the national
grid. Secondly, the utility would increase
its efficiency as the biogas would not be
flared off.
Only a small number of wastewater treatment
plants in Mexico have the infrastructure
to acquire biogas, which hinders
an effective supply chain structure
and increases costs for replace-
FOS/TAC
automatic titrator for the
determination of VOA,
TAC and VOA/TAC
SSM 6000 ECO
GAS ANALYSIS EQUIPMENT
BIOGAS ANALYSIS EQUIPMENT
WATER ANALYSIS EQUIPMENT
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PRONOVA Analysentechnik GmbH&Co.KG
Granatenstraße 19-20
13 4 0 9 BERLIN / GERMANY
Tel +49 30 455085-0 I info@pronova.de
SEDACUSCO wastewater treatment facility in Peru.
49

English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
ment parts. However, recent studies have identified
27 large facilities that have potential for cogeneration
systems for the use of biogas in the country. The
WaCCliM project has enabled participation in different
network meetings with other utilities that operate
wastewater treatment plants with cogeneration systems.
There is hope that more utilities will go this way
by establishing partnerships and sharing experiences
for up-scaling.
The legislation for the production of biogas in Mexico
is still under development. So far, there has not been
any specific regulation for the management and use
of biogas. However, there are several national standards
on the subject that can serve as an orientation
for the establishment of a norm that regulates the
production and use of biogas for energy generation.
Regardless of that, the anaerobic treatment of wastewater
is generally considered to have high potential in
Mexico and Latin America: even if biogas is not used
widely yet, the reduction in GHGs and good results in
life cycle assessments show that the use of biogas for
electricity generation is a technological option that
should be given preference in the future.
Therefore, a standard must be developed that contains
all the aspects involved, from the subsidization
of biogas, its storage, incineration, treatment
and use, with special emphasis on security aspects.
Furthermore, competence standards for engineers,
technicians and operators of wastewater treatment
plants need to be specified in order to ensure proper
management and maintenance of biogas technologies
in the utilities.
Peru: Implementation of Biogas
Technologies in a WaCCliM Partner
Operation
In Peru, the WaCCliM project cooperates with the
General Directorate for Environmental Affairs under
the Ministry of Housing, Construction and Sanitation
(MVCS). Supported by WaCCliM in collaboration
with PROAGUA II, the MVCS introduced Mitigation
and Adaptation Plans for Climate Change (PMAC-
Cs; Planes de Mitigación y Adaptación al Cambio
Climático) as planning instruments to cope with climate
change in the area of responsibility of water and
sanitation utilities.
They started looking for practical solutions to reduce
carbon emissions, such as the utility in Cusco, SE-
DACUSCO. For instance, improved sludge management
has proven to be highly effective in the city,
with multiple benefits. It has avoided emissions of
~7,454 t CO 2
e per year while bringing a serious local
odor problem under control.
The utility is currently installing a cogeneration system
for biogas utilization. SEDACUSCO has a surplus
production of biogas of almost 3,000m 3 per day,
which was flared off and released into the atmosphere
up to now. Now the goal is to recover the biogas and
generate electricity for internal use, thereby saving
€ 260,000 in annual electricity costs and to avoid a
further ~544 tCO 2
e in emissions per year.
Compared to Mexico, Peru has a smaller number of
biogas installations and cogenerators. Several water
and wastewater-related measures prioritized by utilities
have been included in Peru’s nationally determined
climate contributions, thus contributing to the
commitments made by the Peruvian government to
reduce 20 % of its GHG emissions by 2030, as well
as a more ambitious target of 40 % as was announced
during the climate summit in 2020.
To discuss increasing energy efficiency at utilities
nationwide, the MVCS organized the “International
Forum: Use of Biogas Generated in the Municipal
Wastewater Treatment Plants of Peru, in the Context
of Climate Change” with the support of GIZ. Sectoral
decision-makers from MVCS and the regulatory body,
operators of utilities, additional government entities
related to the topic (Ministries of Finance and Environment),
as well as representatives of the private
sector and civil society, were brought together to identify
the chances and risks of introducing low carbon
technologies in the Peruvian sanitation sector.
There are no funding programs available to date. The
MVCS is now integrating the climate mitigation approach
into sectoral strategic plans and guidelines in
order to lower operating costs, enhance operational
efficiency and reduce GHG emissions in the urban
water sector. Applying anaerobic technology can be
done in Peru due to its warm weather, particularly in
the Amazon region; moreover, biogas technology can
be easily imported.
To exploit the full potential of biogas technology, however,
these factors must be adapted to local conditions
(e.g. high altitudes), which requires cooperation
between the sciences and suppliers. In addition, policies
to increase overall investment, through publicprivate
partnerships have to be developed, as well as
regulations allowing utilities to export excess energy
to the grid or to enforce energy recovery.
Authors
Elaine Cheung
Carolin Escherich
Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit
GIZ GmbH
elaine.cheung@giz.de
www.giz.de . www.wacclim.org
50

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
Belgium
The country’s first biogas
farm filling station
Brussels
Biomethane plants process mainly larger quantities of biogas from 700
standard cubic meters per hour and usually supply it to the gas grid.
But for off-grid locations on farms with smaller gas yields, it is worth
considering a system with a farm filling station. The Belgian farmer,
Eric Jonkeau, has implemented a project like that so that he can run
his farm in the Ardennes according to the principle of a closed circular
economy as far as possible.
By Eur Ing Marie-Luise Schaller
On his farm, that has almost 1,000 head
of cattle, Eric Jonkeau uses anything
that can be fermented in the biogas
plant, except energy crops. He supplies
a combined heat and power unit (CHP)
with a local heating grid and, parallel to that, microbiogas
treatment with the farm filling station. That
way, he fuels up a vast array of his own vehicles. This
pioneering initiative that combines energy
self-sufficiency with circular added
value, is relatively unique, but
trend-setting.
The small, idyllic hamlet of
Taverneux is part of Houffalize
in the Belgian province
of Luxemburg. Eric
Jonkeau’s farm, that lies
right on the edge of the village,
is remarkable: Firstly,
because the barns and the
biogas plant are amazingly
“I often encounter
scepticism with my ideas,
but I persistently pursue my
goals and successfully
implement them”
Eric Jonkeau
close to the village housing development, emit hardly
any odor and blend harmoniously into the village
landscape. And secondly because the farmer and his
family combine traditional framing with progressive
concepts.
He feeds his cattle (breeding, dairy and fattening
farm) as far as possible from his own sources, always
striving to be self-sufficient in energy supply as well.
For him, just like for other Belgian farms, the use of
energy crops is completely out of the question, as he
states right from the start.
Jonkeau explains his principles: “I often encounter
scepticism with my ideas, but I persistently pursue
my goals and successfully implement them. I believe
that it is better to use the available resources sensibly
than organic agriculture, simply for reasons of
climate protection. I’ve been striving to use biogas as
a fuel for a long time now.” Jonkeau has now achieved
a milestone. In June, he was the first person to start
operating a biogas plant with biogas treatment and a
filling station.
51

English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
Jens Topa: “Bio-CNG
filling stations can also
be set up in Germany.”
Feed chute of the
Sauter biogas plant.
After extensive research at trade fairs and in practical
discussions with other biogas farmers, he started
making concrete plans for a biogas plant with CHP
in 2016. As it mainly processes manure, slurry and
crop residues from foodstuff production, he chose a
robust, flexible unit made by Sauter.
A characteristic feature of the Sauter plant concept is
that the feedstock is sprinkled on the substrate in the
fermenter in liquid form by way of a pump and nozzle
system. There are no agitators, the fermentation
passes through the fermentation zones without mechanical
mixing. Active biomass particles are added
at the top, and the nearly digested substrate is then
discharged at the bottom.
Mixing without Agitators
The fermentation is controlled by various irrigation
intensities of individual areas. Sauter promotes this
principle with the motto “Sprinkled, not stirred”,
which eliminates the investment, operation and maintenance
of the agitators. Because there are no fixtures
in the fermenter, there is no source of damage, which
would mean having to empty the container.
There is also no need for complex bunker and loading
technology as the solid substrates are introduced via
a very simple solids feed. This is an insertion shaft
with a slope into the fermenter and base below the
substrate level, so that the liquid substrate in corresponding
liquid level is on the outside. Solid substrate
is introduced at flexible feeding intervals of up
to three days. Dissolved substances (organic acids)
from this reservoir are distributed in the fermenter.
A hydrolysis and acidification zone is thus formed at
the entry point.
Together with Eric Jonkeau, Jens Topa leads us
through the plant. He worked as a project developer
for Sauter, managing the project in the concept and
planning stage until 2019. Today, he runs his own
company, TOPA energie projekte biogas, with the aim
of establishing small and medium-sized treatment
facilities at existing biogas plants in Germany.
He has found that the great of versatility of raw materials
used requires operators to have a certain amount
of know-how. Eric Jonkeau is quite satisfied in this
Photographs: Marie-Luise Schaller
52

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
Mobile CNG filling stations housed in a trailer.
Mixer-wagon with CNG drive.
respect because there have not been any significant
outages in the past two years of operation. He commends
the plant’s low internal power consumption,
saying that 5,900 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electrical
energy are generated and supplied per day by the
CHP. According to Jonkeau, a heat exchanger heats
the manure up to 40 degrees centigrade and he can
supply three households and the dairy farm via the
district heating grid, which saves 30,000 liters of fuel
oil per year.
Funding has eased investment
The biogas that is produced is converted into electricity
at about 125 cubic meters per hour in a CHP
plant with an electrical output of 254 kW. In Wallonia,
there is no compensation for electricity fed
into the grid. There are only Certificats Verts, green
certificates from a scheme that supports renewable
energies. In addition, construction of the facility was
supported by the European FEADER program, a rural
support fund. The aim early on was to create further
added value with the production of bio-CNG.
After lengthy preliminary planning and a prototype
phase with another scrapped type of plant, construction
of the biogas treatment and the farm filling station
began in 2020. The whole system of the Dutch
enterprise Bright Biomethane was put into operation
after only eight months. Processing is done with
membrane technology and generates up to 30 cubic
meters of bio-CNG per hour. The pre-cleaning and
pressure stage, as well as the three-stage membrane
treatment and the CNG compressor are compactly
housed in two containers. A storage module with several
gas cylinders and the fuel pump round off the
simple, fully automatically operated fuel system.
First, water is extracted from the biogas by condensation
via a cooling system in the first container with
the pre-treatment stage. Hydrogen sulfide and other
impurities are then removed there by means of an
activated carbon filter. The quality of the biogas is
monitored at several points of the process.
The farmer Eric Jonkeau (left) and Jens Topa,
TOPA energie projekte biogas.
High methane yield through permeate
gas recirculation
In the second container with the treatment unit, the
gas is brought to the pressure of 12 to 15 bar required
for the membrane plant. After being reheated, the gas
is fed to the three-stage membrane plant. The patented
process recycles permeate gas at each stage,
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English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
achieving a high methane yield of 99.5 percent. Finally,
the pressure is increased to 250 bar with the
CNG compressor and the gas is stored temporarily
in cylinders to which the filling station is connected.
Jens Topa calculates the entire investment volume
– including the extensive excavation work – to
be around 3.5 million Euros. The proportion of the
treatment and the filling station is about 20 percent
of that. According to Topa, the benefits of the
Bright Biomethane system lie in the fact that they
are modular, standardized units which have over nine
years of practical experience. Before transport to the
construction site, every plant is tested in factory trial
operation. That enables the three-stage membrane
method to be optimized in order to achieve the high
methane yield of 99.5 percent.
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Purchase of fodder mixing wagon
with gas drive
Eric Jonkeau consistently develops solutions that enable
him to use the fuel he produces himself. So he
acquired a gas-powered feed truck and built a mobile
fueling station in a trailer during the discarded prototype
phase of the processing. His SUV is a Toyota
vehicle imported from the USA which he converted to
CNG-operation. His family drives an Audi operated by
bio-CNG. Large stickers designed by his son indicate
the special feature. Jonkeau is looking forward to receiving
a New Holland tractor to test in the fall while
he is harvesting corn.
He feels confident about the future. Due to additional
procedural capacities, he is able to double
bio-methane production in order to feed green natural
gas into the gas grid. He is already conducting
contract negotiations with the transport network operator
Fluxys, whose network runs only 400 meters
from the farm.
He and his son are also planning a Tiny House facility
to accommodate tourists, which he plans to provide
with green (waste) heat. At the end of the visit, Eric
Jonkeau sums up: “I never stop querying things and
trying out new ways of using resources in the best
and most sensible way possible. It means that we are
continually improving.” In his down-to-earth manner,
he thus implements principle of innovation in
his company that is applied, among other things, in
Kanban processes in industry and is an agile method
for evolutionary change management.
Author
Eur Ing Marie-Luise Schaller
ML Schaller Consulting
mls@mlschaller.com
54

Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
Biogas Industry needs
to Boost Development
West Africa (WA) is involved in the fight against the climate change, among other things
by promoting sustainable energy production. For countries in West Africa, access to
sustainable energy is an important factor for their independence and their economy.
Renewable energies will contribute to decarbonizing the energy sector, which was
dominated by the use of fossil fuels for a long time.
By Michel Peudré Digbeu
West Africa
Photograph: adobe stock_Quality Stock Arts
The West African countries founded the
ECOWAS Center for Renewable Energy
and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) for the
support of renewable energies. It was inaugurated
in 2010. The aim is to facilitate
access to sustainable energy and to create favorable
conditions for the implementation of the renewable
energy market. Among these energies, solar energy
and bioenergy are developing thanks to the availability
of appropriate resources. According to ECREEE,
the estimated proportion of solar and bio energy in
West Africa will be 26 and 28 percent by 2030.
WA has huge biomass resources (agricultural waste,
etc.) which are suitable for use in biogas production.
Better use of this biomass can make it a main
source of energy for 70 to 90 percent of the population,
particularly in rural areas that have little access
to energy. The industry can also benefit from this in
most of the West African countries, like Togo, Burkina
Faso and the Ivory Coast. For instance, the potential
of biomass in the Ivory Coast was estimated to be
more than 6 million tons as of 2016, of which only 5
percent have been valorized according to the Ministry
of Oil and Energy. The Ivory Coast is planning
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Biogas Journal
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Characteristic waste production in Abidjan (2018)
Fermentables
45%
13%
Other
7%
6%
15%
9%
2%
3%
Inerts: fines,
stones, glass
Metals
Textiles
Plastics
Paper and cardboard
jobs. Moreover, 25 tons of organic fertilizer are available.
In addition, biogas will replace the firewood
used for cooking. The Fasobiogaz Project, which was
initiated by the Fasobiogaz Plant in 2012 with an
installed capacity of 275 KW, generates electricity
that is supplied to the grid from the methanation of
slaughterhouse waste and other organic waste.
Next to the Fasobiogaz Project, a major part of the anaerobic
fermentation projects is based on setting up
domestic biogas digesters. The biogas in these countries
is used as fuel. Besides these projects, many
private enterprises, like Theogaz, Bieco or Agriforce
have emerged to promote this sector in the region.
Plants
Source: World Bank (2018)
to install 500 megawatts of biogas plants by 2030.
On one hand, there is enough biomass, but on the other
hand, most of these countries do not have enough
biogas know-how on using this form of energy. There
is also a lack of funds and investments to set up biogas
plants. In order to promote sustainable energy,
organizations like the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale
Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) are implementing
various development projects that complement
the work of public and private players.
Biogas Market Potential in WA
Biogas is a sustainable source of energy, the use of
which reduces the consumption of fossil fuels in WA.
Biogas production is facilitated by the availability
of organic biomass. Although the use of biogas has
many advantages, there is little knowledge about the
biogas market, nor is it used much in most of the WA
countries. To raise awareness for the use of biogas,
several national and international partners, such as
SNV or the GIZ, have been supporting and strengthening
the countries in the development of biogas programs
for several years.
In Mali, for example, several programs have been
launched for the promotion of domestic biogas production.
This includes the Biogaz Familial Mali project
that is co-financed by the GoodPlant Foundation
and the Agence Française de Développement. It enabled
biogas plants to be set up according to the Indian
Deenbandhu model in 108 households in the Kita
and Bougouni districts between January 2012 and
March 2016. They had a digester volume of 4 cubic
meters (m³), 6m³, 8m³, and 12m³.
Thanks to the national biogas program and support
by SNV, 13,000 biogas digesters (10m³, fixed domeshaped
digester) have been installed in Burkina Faso
since 2009, mostly on farms. This has created 250
Situation and Market Potential of Biogas
on the Ivory Coast
GTZ (now GIZ) and ANADER (Agence National
d’Appui au Développement Rural) performed the first
biogas tests on the Ivory Coast in 1990. Since then,
the sector has gradually developed thanks to various
measures and the availability of biomass. The development
program developed by the United Nations set
up five biogas plants for primary schools in the northern
region in 2013 to promote this type of energy
production in the municipalities.
Companies like PALMCI produce biogas on an industrial
scale for their own power consumption. There
are also some activities on a semi-industrial level: for
example, like the construction of pilot plants among
producers of shea in Korhogo by FIRCA and among
female manioc semolina producers in Bouaké by
the French NGO Nitidae in 2019. At the same time,
many private companies (LONO CI - https://www.lonoci.com/Services
and others) have become active,
although their products are still expensive, especially
for people in rural areas.
Today, the German cooperation supports initiatives
for the promotion of the biogas industry with programs
like the Water and Energy for Food (WE4F)
project. WE4F West Africa is part of the international
WE4F Initiative, which is funded and implemented
by five donors, the German Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the European
Union, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the
Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Swedish International
Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and
the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID). This project contributes to the diffusion
and promotion of innovations in connection with
green foods and the production of biogas.
In this context, a partnership project was signed with
the Ivorian fruit juice producer (pineapple, mango,
passion fruit, etc.). Africa Foodies has been in production
in Abidjan since December 2018. The company’s
products are sold in large supermarkets in
Abidjan.
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Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
Type of digester that will be installed at Africa Foodies
The aim of this project is to recover the
Biogas kit line 9
company’s waste for the generation of biogas.
The company generates an average of
one ton of waste (peelings, etc.) per week
8 Biogas filter-1
and uses power from the grid as well as butane
10 Water trap
gas for the purpose of producing and
preserving fruit juices, which involves substantial
costs. In future, biogas will be produced
4 Feeding tank 3 PVC Connections
from a continuous, tubular, prefab-
ricated, modular, flexible biogas digester.
The whole plant consists of several parts,
including a mill and a gas pump. The estimated
production capacity of the plant is
20 m³ of gas per day (corresponds to 10 kilograms
of liquid gas per day). In the future,
7
it will process 40 tons of waste per year.
Pressure relief valve
The selected process equipment will be Source: © SIVEBIO Sarl and Sistema.bio
installed by the Ivorian company SIVEBIO
(Société Ivoirienne de Valorisation Energétique
de la Biomasse), which is a partner
to the Columbian company Sistema.bio, that developed
the system. After production, 40 percent of
the biogas is used as fuel for pasteurization of the
fruit juices. The remaining 60 percent is converted
to electricity in order to e.g. provide the cold storage
room with power. The fermented manure is later
put at the disposal of the farmers who are partners to
Africa Foodies.
Thanks to the biogas plants, Africa Foodies can optimize
its production and reduce its costs and its energy
consumption. The flagship project will enable
the GIZ to contribute to promoting the biogas industry
of the Ivory Coast by means of various actions, such as
e.g. by organizing demonstration events on the premises
of Africa Foodies for fruit juice producers and
partners or by taking part in trade fairs and workshops
to present the results of the projects. Apart from the
private sector and international organizations and
NGOs, the Ivory Coast government is trying to regulate
the industry by passing legislation, but this still needs
to be done locally.
Opportunities, Challenges and
Recommendations for the Biogas Industry
The development of the biogas industry in West Africa
can help reduce the effects of the climate change,
create jobs, reduce poverty, increase agricultural output
and improve access to cleaner energy for cooking
or electricity. Despite all the opportunities, the
biogas industry also creates some challenges and
restrictions. There is a lack of funding to expand
and develop the biogas sector and for access to economic
incentives for biogas plants. On a legal level,
the development of the biogas sector has not been
formalized yet in some countries like the Ivory Coast,
particularly because of the lack of official standards.
11
6
Includes burner and stove
Biogas exit
1
Reactor
Geotextile
To develop the biogas in the best possible way and
meet the challenges and restrictions, certain actions
should be taken. Firstly: Creation of a favorable environment
for investments by the private sector and
sustainable market conditions for the development
of the biogas sector. They are of major importance.
Secondly: The development of innovative financial
products should be encouraged and tax exemptions
granted at financial level, with subsidies or facilities
for the sector. Thirdly: The creation of a formal legislative
framework at legislative level is of vital importance.
Finally, demonstration days could be organized
to explain the production of biogas.
Conclusion: The biogas industry in West Africa is
a long way from being developed. While the biogas
industry in some West African countries are just
waiting to get started, other regions have already
made considerable efforts to establish this kind of
power generation. With the implementation of recommended
measures, support by various technical
and financial partners such as GIZ and with political
will, renewable energies, especially biogas, will
thrive in WA.
Author
Michel Peudré Digbeu
Technical Advisor for the Global
Water and Energy for Food Initiative (WE4F)
Biofertilizer tank
2
3
5
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English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Spring_2022
Serbia
Chamber and Association Partnership between the German Biogas
Association (GBA) and the Serbian Biogas Association (SBA)
Chamber and Association Partnerships
have been an effective
support program of the
German Federal Ministry for
Economic Cooperation and
Development (BMZ) since the 1990s. The
aim is to promote sustainable economic
development in developing and emerging
countries. According to the “BMZ 2030”
reform concept, Serbia is one of the socalled
transformation partners.
In the project between the German and
the Serbian association, the common goal
is to improve the situation of small and
medium-sized businesses in Serbia, as
well as to promote the use of biogas and
therefore the expansion of renewable energies.
Sequa gGmbH in Bonn is responsible
for coordinating the program. For more
information: www.sequa.de/projekte-programme/kvp-bbp
The project is scheduled to run from
1 October 2021 to 30 September 2024.
Targets set: Overall Goal: Strong SMBs
(small and medium-sized businesses) in
the biogas sector contribute to sustainable
environment and climate protection
in Serbia.
Projekt Objecitive: The Serbian Biogas
Association (SBA) is a self-sustaining organization
that supports and represents
its members towards society, public authorities
and the economy.
Expected project results:
1. SBA is a professionally managed
association.
2. SBA successfully represents the
interests of its members and the
Serbian biogas sector.
3. The SBA offers demand-oriented
services to its members and other
stakeholders.
In order to achieve the set goals, GBA
supports SBA in, among other things, establishing
professional association management,
developing work processes as
well as setting up an association strategy,
recruiting members, developing a range
of services and expanding representation
of interests, public relations work, and
network building. Further measures and
activities include making studies on biogas
in Serbia, as well as training employees
and members in biogas-related topics
(e.g. safety and waste management)
by conducting workshops and training
courses and organizing a delegation trip
to Germany. Fostering contacts between
German and Serbian biogas companies is
also part of the project portfolio.
From May 2019 to September 2020, a
preliminary project between GBA and SBA
was carried out, which produced a significant
increase in public awareness in the
sector and achieved very good results in
the development of services and products
and, above all, supported decision makers
in their work. The partners want to build
on that with this new project.
Country information on Serbia
The territory of the landlocked southeastern
European country is 88,360 km², and
about 65 % of the total area in Serbia is
arable. The country plays a decisive role
in political stability in the Balkans and is
a central partner of German development
cooperation in South Eastern Europe. International
support is focused on bringing
Serbia close to the EU.
Serbia is highly dependent on energy
imports. There is great potential in biomass.
Biogas production in Serbia has a
sustainable perspective, especially as it
brings the country closer to the environmental
standards of the European Union,
increases income generation and ensures
its energy independence.
Udruženje Biogas Srbija
SBA is a non-profit, non-governmental
association, founded in 2012 to rally the
companies planning to build first biogas
facilities in Serbia. The primary motive for
the move was to achieve the goals aiming
to develop and encourage the production
and utilization of biogas as a renewable
energy source. Today, the Serbian Biogas
Association is a representative association
with over 50 members, mainly owners of
biogas plants, but also other institutions
and companies related to this technology
directly or indirectly. In the coming years,
the member-financed association wants
to become a mouthpiece for politics and
society and actively promote the creation
of framework conditions and standards.
The project is supported locally by the
Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit
(GIZ) GmbH.
Kontakt
Udruženje Biogas
Bulevar Mihajla Pupina 6,
PC Ušć e
11070 Belgrade Serbia
+38 169 552 0432
info@biogas.org.rs
www.biogas.org.rs
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Biogas Journal | Spring_2022 English Issue
59

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| Spring_2022
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