GÜSTROW BIOENERGY PARK ENTERS THE COMMISSIONING PHASE

The conversion and assembly work on Germany’s largest integrated bio-LNG plant including bio-CO2 liquefaction – the BioEnergie Park Güstrow in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania – has just been completed and the EnviTec Biogas team is now ready for the commissioning phase. “With the connection of the last component, the 300,000-litre LCO2 tank made of pressure vessel steel, we can start the test phase with the newly constructed plant components,” says Frank Hinken, Managing Director of EnviTec Bioenergie Güstrow GmbH.

With the help of the innovative EnviThan biogas upgrading process, the raw biogas produced at the BioEnergie Park Güstrow is upgraded to natural gas quality. The permeate from the gas upgrading process, which is enriched with carbon dioxide (CO2), contains a very small amount of methane and is transferred to the CO2 liquefaction plant (LCO2 plant) for post-treatment. It is used to produce liquid carbon dioxide. “The bio-CO2 obtained can be used, for example, in food production such as the beverage industry, but also in greenhouses,” explains Hinken. The off-gas produced during the liquefaction of the CO2, which contains small amounts of methane as well as other non-condensable gases such as nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen, is fed into the combined heat and power plants at the site and used to generate its own energy. “With this circular economy in practice, we are making an important contribution to a greener transport sector,” emphasises Jürgen Tenbrink, Chief Technology Officer of EnviTec Biogas AG, which operates from Lohne and Saerbeck.

From the start of operations in late summer this year, the plant is to produce 25,000 kg of bio-LNG per day for heavy-duty transport. This corresponds to an amount of green truck fuel for more than 50,000,000 truck km/year. At the same time, the liquefaction of biomethane is accompanied by the liquefaction of carbon dioxide from gas processing. The liquid carbon dioxide of 15,000 t/year is produced in food quality and substitutes fossil-based carbon dioxide, which again significantly improves the CO2 balance of the plant.

Info box EnviTec BioEnergie Güstrow GmbH

• Commissioning of Germany’s largest biogas plant built by EnviTec Biogas in 2009
• Purchase and transfer to EnviTec’s own operations in 2021
• The aim is to enable the production of 9,600 tonnes of bio-LNG (liquefied natural gas) and 15,000 tonnes of LCO2 per year as of late summer 2023
• Until now, the 500 GWh biogas processing plant fed into the 25-bar natural gas grid. For this purpose, the former operator consumed about 400,000 tonnes of substrate. The substrate used was mainly maize, but also whole plant silage, grain and grass silage.
• With the conversion of the operator concept, in addition to an input reduction to 150,000 tonnes p.a., the use of predominantly agricultural residues and an affiliation of additional CHPs for own electricity supply to 3.1 MWel, the fermentation residue storage capacity will also be adjusted accordingly.
• The conversion of the Güstrow site required investments in a CO2 liquefaction plant, an LNG plant for biomethane liquefaction as well as extensive replacement investments such as in roofs and agitators amounting to more than € 50 million.

For more information, please visit: https://www.envitec-biogas.com