From now until October 2016, the plant will be in trial operation. The plant operators are Biogas Osters & Voß GmbH & Co. KG from Groß Gottschow.
During plant construction, a great deal of focus was placed on high-quality components and materials, as well as user- and safety-oriented functionality. Despite high standards, the construction costs were well below the typical price for this industry sector.
Annually, the plant ferments a total of 56,000 tonnes of maize, grass silage, and sugar beets, converting this to approximately twelve million standard cubic metres of biogas. This concept uses a combination of steel-enamel elevated tanks for fermentation and concrete tanks for post fermentation stages and slurry storage. Due to their tall height, elevated fermentation tanks have low energy consumption thanks to gravitation. Thanks to a central stirring system, problematic substrates can be processed economically. The concrete tanks in the final stage are also cost efficient due to their combined use.
Around 30,000 tonnes of substrate are stored in a newly constructed concrete bunker silo. Vertical walls with U-partitions were used for compartment separation. In the beet storage chambers asphalt is used as an acid-resistant coating.
The feeding system for maize and grass silage consists of a solid compact container. Beets are fed through an acid resistant stainless steel screw hopper.
The resulting biogas is upgraded to standard gas by a combined organic and non-organic wet process, and then fed to the regional gas network belonging to HanseWerk AG (formerly E-On Hanse).
Longevity, a high degree of automation, low operating and maintenance costs, and the resulting cost efficiency were a central goal during design. Along with this, a plant layout was developed which optimally accounts for the process’ biological demands, as well as permits and legal framework.