World premiere: German city builds dedicated biogas pipeline
We keep tracking the many biogas developments in Europe, because the green gas is one of the most efficient forms of bioenergy (it yields far more energy per hectare than first-generation ethanol or biodiesel, and many different energy crops can be used as feedstocks). Moreover, the carbon-neutral gas has great potential in the developing world.
Just like Brazil is building a dedicated ethanol pipeline (earlier post), the German city of Braunschweig is constructing [*German] a large biogas complex with a dedicated, 20 kilometer pipeline. The unpurified biogas will be pumped to a combined heat-and-power plant which converts the energy contained in it with an efficiency of almost 90%. The heat and power will satisfy the total energy demand of some 7000 households.
The €10 million pilot project is the result of a cooperation between the Abwasserverbandes Braunschweig (the local waste and waste-water management) and energy distributor BS-Energy.
The production of the green gas at the complex will be based on dedicated biogas maize (in Europe, many crops are being designed and bred with biogas production in mind; see earlier post on biogas 'super' maize, Sudan grass and hybrid tropical grasses). The crop will be planted on 10 square kilometers (2471 acres), located between two cities. Hence the pipeline. Contrary to ethanol made from maize, the fermentation process used to obtain biogas utilizes the entire plant's biomass (grain, cobs, stems, leaves).
The biogas maize will be irrigated with waste water from the city of Braunschweig. According to a bioenergy expert interviewed by the Braunschweiger Zeitung "This is the perfect closed loop. Waste water, renewable biomass, biogas, heat and power. This holds a lot of potential, also for the developing world":
biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: maize :: corn :: anaerobic fermentation :: biogas :: combined heat-and-power :: waste water :: Germany ::
According to some German analysts, locally produced biogas can replace all pf the country's natural gas imports from Russia by 2030 (earlier post), others put its potential at half that amount (earlier post). The green gas can be purified to natural gas standards and fed to the gas grid. It is also being used more and more often as an automotive fuel, particularly in Central and Northern Europe (earlier post).
Just like Brazil is building a dedicated ethanol pipeline (earlier post), the German city of Braunschweig is constructing [*German] a large biogas complex with a dedicated, 20 kilometer pipeline. The unpurified biogas will be pumped to a combined heat-and-power plant which converts the energy contained in it with an efficiency of almost 90%. The heat and power will satisfy the total energy demand of some 7000 households.
The €10 million pilot project is the result of a cooperation between the Abwasserverbandes Braunschweig (the local waste and waste-water management) and energy distributor BS-Energy.
The production of the green gas at the complex will be based on dedicated biogas maize (in Europe, many crops are being designed and bred with biogas production in mind; see earlier post on biogas 'super' maize, Sudan grass and hybrid tropical grasses). The crop will be planted on 10 square kilometers (2471 acres), located between two cities. Hence the pipeline. Contrary to ethanol made from maize, the fermentation process used to obtain biogas utilizes the entire plant's biomass (grain, cobs, stems, leaves).
The biogas maize will be irrigated with waste water from the city of Braunschweig. According to a bioenergy expert interviewed by the Braunschweiger Zeitung "This is the perfect closed loop. Waste water, renewable biomass, biogas, heat and power. This holds a lot of potential, also for the developing world":
biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: maize :: corn :: anaerobic fermentation :: biogas :: combined heat-and-power :: waste water :: Germany ::
According to some German analysts, locally produced biogas can replace all pf the country's natural gas imports from Russia by 2030 (earlier post), others put its potential at half that amount (earlier post). The green gas can be purified to natural gas standards and fed to the gas grid. It is also being used more and more often as an automotive fuel, particularly in Central and Northern Europe (earlier post).
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