WELTEC builds another agricultural biogas plant

WELTEC BIOPOWER, together with German manufacturer Domaix Energie, is setting up a plant with heat source concept in Mirecourt (Lorraine), France. The "Méthavigne" 255-kW biogas project comes with fringe benefits for farmer Nicolas Jacquot and a nearby medical center ("Centre hospitalier Ravenel") of the Département Vosges.
Representatives of the medical center quickly warmed up to the pipeline construction and heat transfer project. "With the exhaust heat from the plant, our institution will be able to cover its entire hot water needs, starting from the commissioning in October 2015," says Hervé Buffe, technical manager of the hospital. The suitability of the location and the short distance of only one kilometer from the biogas CHP plant convinced Buffe and his colleagues of the plant’s advantages. With uninterrupted procurement of green heat, the clinic will save costs and streamline its ecological profile.
When biogas plant operator Jacquot and Martin Nippé, Director of Domaix Energie, contacted the medical center’s representatives, they were aware of the clinic's ecological orientation. Today fulfilment of environmental requirements is a must, and the placement of public orders by the clinic is subject to strict sustainability standards. With their concept, WELTEC and Domaix Energie fulfill these standards. With this in mind Buffe gave his OK: "We were immediately fascinated by the idea ‒ everything was perfect."
In addition to a continually reliable heat supply, the sufficient quantity generated by the biogas plant operation is a big plus. The plant's heat offer is so extensive that it covers the entire hot water supply of the medical center plus the heat needs of the home of the Jacquot family.
For the farmer, the business field "energy" blends in nicely with the overall strategy. The cultivated area of 375 hectares and 850 cattle allow the Jacquot family to produce all the raw materials they need for the energy generation. The 2,226-m³ stainless-steel digester will be fed with a feedstock mix of cattle manure, maize silage, crop dust, straw, grass, fruit pomace, flotation grease and food leftovers in the amount of 28 t/day.
The new 60-m³ BIG-Mix dosing feeder serves as an input system. The benefit is its ability to process long-fiber substrates such as solid manure or grass in an energy-saving manner with the individually driven push strips. A vertical mixing screw then passes on the material to the second input level, the MULTIMix, mashes it with liquid manure and introduces it to the digester. After the fermentation process, a CHP plant transforms the biogas to power, which is fed into the public grid and heat. Moreover, the digestate is stored in a 5,007-m³ stainless-steel tank and can be used on the farmer's own fields as an effective low-odor fertilizer.
These technical details are also relevant for Buffe, as the clinic's continuous supply and economic reliability depends on them. "This partnership between a public hospital and a private farm is probably one of the first of this type in Lorraine or even in all of France. A key aspect for us is that this concept enables us to cut our total gas consumption by 7 percent," he says.

Weltec Management System wins Biogas Innovation Award

The biogas plant manufacturer Weltec Biopower recently received the "Biogas Innovation Award of the German Agriculture" in recognition of its ProMOS Bio management system. Using this software, operators of all biogas plants can easily collect, check and analyze their operating data. The award in the "Economy" category honors particularly trend-setting technologies.
The award was bestowed for the sixth time at the Biogas Innovation Conference in Osnabrück, Germany. The two-day event, which also nominates scientific innovations, is organized by the German Farmers' Association (DBV), the German Biogas Association (FvB) and the German BioEnergy Association (BBE).
"We feel honored especially because the prominent expert jury has highlighted precisely the functions of ProMOS Bio on which we had focused during the development", says Andre Zurwellen, head of the WELTEC service. The innovative software, which has been available since autumn 2014, can be used to document plant data and to optimize maintenance measures and substrate input, thereby improving the efficiency of biogas plants. "Thus, the innovation fills an important user need", explains Zurwellen.
Similarly, Udo Hemmerling, Vice Secretary-General of the German Farmers' Association (DBV) comments: "Especially in view of the stricter German Renewable Energy Law (EEG) regulations, technically stable and profitable operation has become even more important." This is exactly where the smart tool comes in: It features analysis options that make it easy for the user to identify interrelationships, pinpoint the cost drivers of the plant and systematically plan for the future.
The profitability of the biogas plant operation is also the main concern of the regular functional upgrades that Weltec makes available free of charge to ProMOS Bio licensees: "By means of the updates, we facilitate aspects such as data collection and availability as well as audit management. For example, the latest update enables users to file documents in categories and create audit reports in a very short time", says Andre Zurwellen. With these functions, the system addresses the individual needs of the users even more effectively.
Weltec Biopower also received another award for ProMOS Bio: Back in April, the company was elected "BEST OF 2015" within the scope of the "INDUSTRIEPREIS" (industry award) of Huber Verlag für Neue Medien GmbH. A jury comprising 30 professors and specialized journalists had found the WELTEC system worthy of this label. This is what they say: "The product delivers a high economic, social, technological and ecological benefit."

Storms Farm anaerobic digester earns national award

The Storms Farm anaerobic digester installation, “Swine Farm Biogas Renewable Energy Project,” earned a National Recognition Award as part of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) 2015 Engineering Excellence Awards Gala Tuesday evening in Washington, DC. The National Recognition Award is a prestigious distinction honoring projects that demonstrate exceptional achievement in engineering. 
“We are honored to receive the ACEC National Recognition Award,” said Withers & Ravenel, Inc. Vice President, Sam Ravenel. “The completed project is a waste-to-energy facility that works, benefits the environment — and, most importantly, can be replicated.” 
Project engineer, Withers & Ravenel, anaerobic digester designer, DVO, Inc., project developer, AgPower Partners, LLC, and Storms Farm collaborated on the project, constructing the largest swine biogas renewable facility in North Carolina.
DVO’s Two-Stage Mixed Plug Flow™ anaerobic digestion technology at Storms Farm allows the farm to be much less reliant on lagoons, provides benefits for both waste handling concerns and energy production, and greatly reduces odor and greenhouse gas emissions.
“The digester is great for the environment, the swine industry, the state and our farm. We couldn’t be more pleased with our system,” said Billy Storms, owner of Storms Farm.

Companies propose poultry litter fueled facility

Perdue AgriBusiness Inc. and Fibrowatt LLC recently submitted a proposal for Maryland’s Clean Bay Power Project that calls for constructing a boiler operation that runs off of poultry litter, according to a report. The proposed facility at the Perdue AgriBusiness Zion Church Road complex will provide 10 megawatts of electricity to the state as well as up to 70,000 pounds per hour of steam to the Perdue complex. The main fuel sources will be poultry litter and layer hen manure, among other local biomass. Perdue AgriBusiness, a direct exporter of U.S. agricultural commodities, is the largest buyer of poultry litter in Maryland, while Fibrowatt specializes in developing and operating poultry-litter-fueled power plants in the UK and in the U.S. 

UK poultry producer invests in biogas production

Great Ynys Farm, a 90,000-head broiler farm in the UK will use anaerobic digestion to convert chicken litter into biogas for renewable energy and heat generation.
The electricity generated will power the poultry houses and the AD system, with a 90% surplus sold to the power company National Grid. The captured waste heat will provide warmth for the chicken houses, displacing fuel oil and propane gas. Generation is scheduled to start on August 1.
The AD system will have the capacity to process 700 metric tons of poultry litter and 1,000 metric tons of cattle slurry, mixed with 3,000 metric tons of maize silage per annum. Use of maize reduces the nitrogen levels in the digestion process and prevents the buildup of high concentrations of ammonia that would arrest biogas production.
Plans are in place to convert the heating system in the farm’s broiler houses within the next few months, to utilize heat from the biogas generation process. This is expected to achieve payback on investment within one year, according to the farm.
The digestion process also produces a residue of 5,000 cubic meters of odorless organic liquid fertilizer that will be injected into the soil to provide an enhanced nutrient source for the maize crop. The farm currently uses its poultry litter as a fertilizer, but by digesting it methane losses to the environment during spreading will be eliminated. A new poultry litter store has been created to protect the AD feedstock from the elements and to prevent the risk of nitrate run-off.

California biogas plant to turn poultry waste into fuel

California's Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has approved an energy purchase agreement and land lease for a biogas plant that will convert chicken manure to electricity.
The plant will be part of the county's "Farm to Fuel" project, and will have a fuel cell that will convert the natural gas produced by the bacterial digestion of 2 million birds-worth of chicken manure into electricity. The power from the fuel cell will then provide 25% of the local wastewater treatment plant's power consumption for moving drinking water around the county. “Projects such as the Farms to Fuel initiative benefits a broad sector of our community,” said water agency director Mike McGuire. “Jobs are created, clean energy is produced and an agricultural waste stream is brought to beneficial use."
Construction on the plant will begin in September and the plant is set to be operational in the spring of 2012.

Cargill focuses on environment with energy, greenhouse gas, freshwater initiatives

On the heels of Earth Day, Cargill has renewed its commitment to conserve resources in four goal areas — energy efficiency, greenhouse gas intensity, renewable energy and freshwater efficiency.
Among other things, the company has built itself around the following ideas:

• Alternative energy resources: More than 80 Cargill facilities generate power from more than 10 renewable resources such as sawdust, hulls from sunflower seeds and cocoa beans and sugar cane bagasse. These systems help limit the use of fossil fuels and reduce associated GHG emissions. At its beef and pork plants, for example, Cargill reclaims methane from its waste water lagoons and turns it into biogas to fuel its plant boilers. Biogas now displaces up to 30% of natural gas demand at 11 of Cargill's North American meat processing plants. This renewable energy represents almost 20% of these facilities' total energy consumption.
• Behavior-based energy management: Cargill is implementing behavior-based energy savings programs, a system which engages employees in recognizing and eliminating energy inefficiencies. A Cargill corn processing plant in Turkey was recognized by the Turkish government for its energy management program that includes web-based management of power consumption.
• Freshwater efficiency: Cargill is working to reduce freshwater consumption through behavioral, procedural and technical changes at its facilities. Cargill's malt plant in Spiritwood, N.D., is saving 264 million gallons of water a year through behavioral, procedural and technical changes to prevent overflows and improve awareness and education. In addition, over 24 months, Cargill's poultry facility in London, Ontario, Canada, reduced freshwater consumption by 28% by recycling the water used for cooling and rinsing. 

Cargill's environmental efforts also include supporting carbon trading markets, working in partnership with global NGOs and investing in alternative energy initiatives.

Weltec Biopower certified to produce biogas

After a 147-day test conducted by the German Agricultural Association, Weltec Biopower GmbH received the DLG FokusTest certification for its effective production of biogas.http://www.wattagnet.com/
The test checks how effectively a biogas plant degrades organic dry substances and thus total carbon for producing biogas. The calculated biogas yield is then compared with the maximum possible biogas yield. Weltec's dry substance degradation rate was 83.9% and the specific gas yield was 81.5%. The amount of biogas produced for the duration of the test was 736,773 standard cubic meters.

Renewable energy project turning hog manure into biogas

Hoffland Environmental Inc. is constructing a renewable energy project on White Oaks Farm in North Carolina, focusing on hog manure as a fuel source.
The project, "Hoffland Biogas," plans to use a process that "utilizes a state-of-the-art system of anaerobic digestion to create a biogas that, in turn, is cleaned and sent to an engine/generator that supplies power to the grid," according to the company. The result produces no air pollution and solid waste is handled on site.
The process has been used to successfully generate electricity in Europe for three years, according to Hoffland President Robert O. Hoffland.

EuroTier visitors have opportunity to tour biogas, wood heating plants

EuroTier and BioEnergy Decentral are offering tours of biogas and wood heating plants during EuroTier 2010.
Four separate excursions involving four biogas plants and two wood heating plants are planned. Visitors will obtain practical information on energy timber production directly from the source. All plant tours will be conducted in English.

Netherlands offers grants for biogas projects

The Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs is offering grants of up to €1M for projects to create biogas from waste fermentation. Preliminary applications must be made before the end of April 2010 in order to qualify for the grant program, which offers to provide a maximum of €0.75M for a pilot project or €1 million for a demonstration project, according to a note from the Dutch product board for livestock, meat and eggs.

More farmers turning to biogas

German biogas company EnviTec announced that despite the global recession it has seen its business expand. The company credits the uncertain prices of agricultural products in its business upswing, as farmers are prompted to diversify operations.
Farmers are increasingly turning to biogas as a means of broadening their business interests, according to EnviTec. The company boosted its sales by 33% in the first six months of 2009. Production capacity has been expanded and the number of employees has been increased.