EnviTec Biogas presents exciting innovations

New technologies will increase the efficiency of biogas plants

Lohne, September 9, 2010 – At its ninth Biogas Symposium, EnviTec Biogas AG presented two new components to interested plant operators, namely a next-generation stirring system and a biotrickling filter for biogas desulphurisation. Both innovations will take biogas production a decisive step forward. The technology leader of the biogas industry thus once again demonstrates its ability to innovate.

Once a year, the company from Lohne, Germany, invites its customers to a symposium to inform them about the latest technological achievements and current legal requirements in the biogas sector. In early September, some 100 customers came to Steinfeld to listen to the presentations of the EnviTec experts from the fields of R&D, service and quality assurance, which focused on new technologies that will increase the efficiency of biogas plants.

The so-called mid-size agitator is installed in the fermenter to mix the substrates and is characterised by a number of advantages over the other agitators used in biogas plants to date. Its most important advantage is the outstanding efficiency: “A mid-size agitator delivers more thrust with lower consumption,” says EnviTec's CTO Jürgen Tenbrink, summarising the results of a comprehensive comparative study. With its large-diameter propeller of glass fibre-reinforced polyurethane, the mid-size agitator achieves a higher efficiency at lower speed and with lower friction losses than conventional agitators. At the same time, the lower speed reduces propeller wear, thus extending the agitator's maintenance interval.

The biological trickling filter which has been developed to desulphurise biogas outside the fermenter also delivers considerable added value for biogas plant operators: in order to protect the motor in the combined heat and power unit (CHP), the concentration of hydrogen sulphide in the biogas can be considerably reduced with the aid of a biological purification process using microorganisms to oxidise the sulphur. These microorganisms settle on film strips in the trickle filter; biogas streams up through the trickle filter which is regularly moistened. The oxidation product (elementary sulphur) built up on the film strips drops to the bottom of the filter and is then discharged. The plant has a desulphurisation performance of more than 94 percent on average.

In the past months, EnviTec already presented several technical innovations which significantly increase the efficiency of biogas plants such as an optimised substrates macerator also referred to as “Kreis-Dissolver”. The company also earned high recognition for its tried-and-tested technology for consistent biogas production; the performance-controlled feeding system, “EnviTec Feedcontrol”, won the “Machine of the Year” award in the “Renewable Energy” category at the Agritechnica show in November 2009.

Plant operators attending the symposium in Steinfeld were highly enthusiastic about the latest technological achievements presented by EnviTec. But the company’s engineers do not intend to rest on their laurels. “We constantly work to improve the biogas technology. Apart from our own development activities, we cooperate with external manufacturers to optimise new technologies and equipment that are expected to increase the efficiency of plant operation,” explains Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Jürgen Tenbrink.

About EnviTec Biogas AG

EnviTec Biogas AG covers the entire value chain for the production of biogas - including the planning and turnkey construction of biogas plants as well as their commissioning. The company provides the biological and technical service, and also offers full plant and operating management. In Güstrow, in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, EnviTec Biogas built the world’s largest plant for the production of biogas to natural gas standards with a thermal output of 55 megawatts. In addition, the company also operates its own biogas plants. Today, the company is represented in 15 countries throughout Europe, as well as in India. EnviTec Biogas generated revenues of EUR 120 million and EBIT of EUR -0.5 million in 2009. The EnviTec Group currently has 411 employees. EnviTec has been listed on the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since July 2007.