FEATURE: RESIDUES TO RESOURCES Huishan to acquire biomethane producer In China, Liaoning-based China Huishan Dairy Holdings Co., Ltd, a vertically integrated dairy group, has announced it is to acquire Renewable Energy Company (REG) pending the fulfilment of a number of customary conditions. REG commissioned its first bio-waste to compressed biomethane (CNG) plant at the end of August in Faku county and currently has 100 percent equity interests in six operating subsidiaries all incorporated in China, which together engage primarily in bio-waste processing for the production of CNG with organic fertiliser as a by-product. According to a statement from Huishan, the deal would make available “a significant business opportunity” and is in line with the Group’s goal of becoming “China’s largest renewable energy company and China’s largest Bioenergy International No 82, 6-2015 17 New biogas plant environmental boost for Stockholm » using the biogas produced as fuel. This is made possible using a very efficient mixer along with dewatering and thickening the sludge before feeding it into the digester with heat recovery from the process used to pre-heat incoming sludge. However the ultimate goal is for the plant as a whole to become an energy exporter and further cut its OPEX by reducing its sludge disposal costs. In June last year HoSt installed a research and demonstration pilot of its new TPH pretreatment system at the WWTP in Echten. The aim of the pilot TPH unit is to have very low energy consumption when only secondary sludge is used. Supplied as a turnkey delivery, the EUR 7 million unit includes all civic works and integration along with all the equipment: sieves and TPH unit, sludge storage and receiving tanks, belt dewatering and thickening installation, digester and post digester, digestate and biogas storage, a Magnesium Ammonium Phosphate (MAP) recovery reactor and a gas CHP engine. Positive results The unit has been in operation for almost a year and the system has already proved a gas yield improvement from secondary sludge of between 30-60 percent depending on the residence time and temperature. In doing so it has demonstrated thus far that Echten WWTP as a whole could reach its target of increasing its biogas production by 40 percent and reduce the amount of residual sludge for disposal. Work is now focused on further optimising the TPH for operating conditions at Echten. Text: Alan Sherrard Illustration courtesy HoSt BI82/4976/AS organic fertiliser producer”. BI82/5069/AS A new waste to biogas plant in Stockholm, Sweden, has been officially inaugurated by the Swedish Minister of Energy, Ibrahim Baylan. Located in Södertörn, south Stockholm the new plant will increase the amount of biogas produced in Stockholm by 50 percent (based on 2013 figures). The facility is a joint project between the Swedish biogas technology developer, Scandinavian Biogas and SRV Recycling, a waste management company owned by the south Stockholm municipalities Huddinge, Haninge, Botkyrka, Salem and Nynashamn. Supplied by Scandinavian Biogas, it is the first biogas facility designed to use food waste as feedstock in Stockholm and is collected from local residents in the same municipalities. The plant will convert around 50 000 tonnes per annum of sorted food waste, almost 30 percent of the total amount generated in Stockholm, into 80 GWh of vehicle-grade compressed biomethane, equivalent to around 8.8 million litres of petrol (gasoline). In addition it will produce around 16 000 tonnes of biodigestate, closing the loop for nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. – The Government’s ambition is for Sweden to become one of the world’s first fossilfree welfare states. The Södertörn biogas plant is a modern example of how we can use the local resources we have, in this case household waste, and convert it to renewable energy. With this kind of initiative local jobs are created and the environment benefits, said Energy Minister Ibrahim Baylan. Of Stockholm’s 26 municipalities only three have introduced the mandatory collection of food waste. In Germany, biogas technology specialist WELTEC Group announced it has acquired two biomethane plants in Hesse and Saxony- Anhalt, Germany bringing to total to four such facilities. One of the plants is located in Ebsdorfergrund, Hesse, and has been acquired within the framework of an asset deal. Nordmethan Produktion Ebsdorfergrund GmbH, an affiliate of the WELTEC Group, is now responsible for the operation as the new owner. The plant produces 1,000 Nm3/h of raw biogas and upgrades it to 550 Nm3/h biomethane for grid injection. In Saxony-Anhalt it has repurchased Könnern, one of the world‘s large biogas parks with gas-togrid technology, from the insolvency assets of AC Biogas GmbH. Annual production of the plant, which was planned and set up by WELTEC, is about 15 million Nm3 of biomethane, At both sites all employees have been taken over. BI82/5076/AS American Organic Rankine Cycle technology provider, ElectraTherm, has partnered with Gulf Coast Green Energy a major oil and gas company to commission its “Power+ Generator” at a North Dakota oil well. The unit captures the gas released during oil extraction and would otherwise be flared, to generate electricity instead. The project demonstrates an effective means of flare reduction, and changes the landscape for industries where flaring was seen to be the only solution. The project was funded by the US Department of Energy’s Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (REPSEA) program and the Houston Advanced Research Center’s (HARC) Environmentally Friendly Drilling Program. Current North Dakota state regulations require that oil and gas companies reduce the amount of natural gas flared over the next several years or face steep penalties and potential curtailment of oil production at offending wells. BI82/5075/AS WELTEC Group aquire two biomethane to grid plants Onsite oil-well flaring reduced with ORC – Now we have a biogas plant here in Huddinge, it means that residents can drive on their own and neighbours’ sorted food waste. It means we can use the energy and recycle the nutrients back into the soil, said Göran Persson, former Prime Minister of Sweden and Chairman of Scandinavian Biogas. BI82/5051/AS Photo Anders Haaker
Bioenergy no 6 October 2015
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