Autumn 2023 EN

ENGLISH ISSUE
BIOGAS JOURNAL | AUTUMN_2023
Biogas plant by Biolife in Crepaja. The entrance to the 1 MW facility, built by
an Italian manufacturer, passes by the barns of Almex, an agricultural conglomerate
with a 15,000-animal pig farming operation in nearby Pančevo.
Almex operates a total of three 1 MW plants in the area.
had changed and we were forced to rethink our position.”
Two years of poor harvests, the pandemic and
the Russian invasion of Ukraine caused the price of not
only silage, but also of power and fertilizer to explode.
“But we’re still glad that we made the investment in
good time before the current supply shortages and the
extreme hikes in energy prices for construction material
and machine parts,” says Dobriković. Especially as
Almex has options. Two thirds of the substrate now no
longer consist of manure and silage. As an alternative,
Almex uses organic waste from its own starch plant and
cooking oil production. “So far, we’ve achieved very
good capacity utilization, and the quality is good because
these substrates are much better than the waste
we collected from external suppliers,” Dobriković adds.
In the control room, he points to one of the screens
and nods with satisfaction. With a methane content of
60.4 percent and a hydrogen sulfide concentration of
24 ppm, he can be very satisfied. The company can also
close loops within its own operations. Excess heat not
used for the digester is used to heat the piglet compartments
in the pig barn. Their own fertilizer en-
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