28/12/2012

biogas overview
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Biogas
Biogas, produced by the fermentation of biomass, is utilised worldwide to supply ene rgy in various ways: by burning it in combined heat and power plants for power generation using waste heat (combined heat and power, CHP), as biomethane fed into the natural gas grid afte r appropriate processing of the biogas, as fuel for natural gas vehicles or directly for cooking. The German biogas indus try has taken a pioneering role in the field of generation and utilisation of biogas. Germany is both the market and technology leader, pa rticularly in the area of ga sification based on orga nic waste and renewable sources. German companies in the biogas industry cover the entire value chain of biogas technology from planning and financing to the operation and maintena nce of biogas plants and feed-in of biogas into the na tural ga s grid and have many years of experience in process biology and its associated laboratory services. Sophisticated products are also available in the fields of combined heat and power plants, storage and tank systems as well as biogas analysis technology.

bwe biogas weser-ems GmbH & C o. KG Dreyer & Bosse Kraftwerke GmbH EnviTec Biogas AG FARMATIC Anlagenbau GmbH Schmack Biogas GmbH WELTEC BIOPOWER GmbH KOBIT GmbH manufacturer BIOFerm GbmH Lipp GmbH MT-Energie GmbH MWM GmbH Parker Hannifin Manufacturing Germany GmbH & C o. KG Hiross Zander Division Pro2 Anlagentechnik GmbH Schmack C arbotech GmbH SUMA Rhrtechnik GmbH project developer SUMA Rhrtechnik GmbH service & maintenance Lipp GmbH
BioC ons truc t G mbH

Technologies and applications

Biogas can be extracted from a variety of sources, such as organic waste from landfill sites (landfill gas), municipal wastewater (sewage ga s), and industrial, domestic or commercial orga nic waste, as well as from agricultural waste materials and ene rgy crops. The fermenting process of organic substances in an air and oxygen-free environment uses various anaerobic bacteria, the composition of which depends on their organic feed stock and specific process conditions (temperature and pH level). A de cisive factor in the productivity of biogas plants are the microbiological processes that occur during fermentation.
This biogas plant in Linne, Germany, is operated with up to 90 per cent liquid manure. The byproduct of fermentation is spread onto the field as a high-grade fertiliser.

Pro2 Anlagentechnik GmbH SUMA Rhrtechnik GmbH UTS Biogastechnik GmbH supplier

As a rule, agricultural biogas plants use liquid manure and ene rgy crops as a fermentation substrate. Using liquid manure for ene rgy in biogas plants largely prevents the metha ne emissions from open liquid manure ta nks which are harmful to the climate. Renewable sources such as corn, cereal crops and other energy plants, such as sunflowers, Sudan grass, sugar beets, oil radishes, sw eet sorghum etc., are being used more and more to increase gas yields. Commercial plants also process wastewater (from purification plants) as w ell as waste from food production, food scraps and grease traps. The extracted biogas is primarily a mix of 50 to 75 per cent metha ne and 25 to 45 per cent carbon dioxide , as well as trace amounts of water (2 to 7 per cent) and gases such as hydrogen sulphide, oxygen, nitrogen, ammonia and hydrogen. Aside from the biogas itself, a digestate is created a mix of water, minerals and organic substances which have not de composed. This by-product can be used as a highSolarpraxis A G

Lipp GmbH turnkey prov ider UTS Biogastechnik GmbH

grade fertiliser by farmers, thereby closing the nutrient cycle with the cultivation of ene rgy crops, or it can be sold as mineral

Using biogas to generate electricity and heat.

fertiliser. The stationa ry use of biogas in combined heat and power plants (CHP plants) for gene rating power and heat achieves a very high degree of efficiency. The electricity produced can be fed into a public grid or used as an independent power supply for industrial and commercial areas, or even provide power to remote rural settlements with no grid conne ction. The waste heat can also be utilised in downstream systems to

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biogas overview
gene rate additional power, for heating and drying or in the operation of refrigerators. In order to obtain highe r power yields from CHP plants, German companies are trialling the us e of biogas in fuel cells which can convert the chemical energy of the processed biogas directly into electricity. The take-up of the technology up to this point has be en low, but the y work quietly and reach electrical efficiency levels of up to 50 per cent. If there is no appropriate heat sink at the plant location, the feed-in of biogas into the na tural ga s grid, afte r processing it into na tural ga s quality (biomethane, methane content of up to 98 per cent), is an attractive option. This enables biogas to be us ed in areas with a high demand for heat and achieves maximum efficiency by producing power (CHP) at the same time. The de coupling of production and utilisation also provides an opportunity to use the biogas as fuel for natural ga s vehicles.
Sc hmac k Biogas GmbH

Biogas upgrading plant in Schwandorf, Germany.

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