GEN ELEC : GE Gas Engine Technology Powers Hungary's Largest Biogas Plant - 4-traders (press release)

14 September 2011

GE Gas Engine Technology Powers Hungary's Largest Biogas Plant

Fuel-Flexible Gas Engines as European Nations Seek to Comply with Environmental and Energy Efficiency Mandates

(GE please put up a video!!!)

JENBACH, AUSTRIA. September 14, 2011. Energy industry officials yesterday gathered near a large poultry processing plant in the city of Szarvas for the formal opening of Hungary's largest biogas power plant. Powered by three of GE's (NYSE: GE) ecomagination-qualified, JenbacherJ416 biogas engines, the combined cooling, heat and power (CCHP) plant generates 4.2 megawatts of renewable electricity and an equal amount of thermal energy to support the plant?s onsite operations as well as the local grid. Szarvas is located 170 kilometers (105 miles) southeast of Budapest.

The new CCHP plant was built by the German company r.e Bioenergie GmbH, a subsidiary of BayWa r.e GmbH. The energy developer is running the plant in close cooperation with the poultry processing plant operator Gallicoop Pulykafeldolgoz Zrt. Gallicoop provides a large amount of the raw biomass that is converted into the biogas that powers the Jenbacher engines. The biogas is created through the anaerobic digestion of an annual total of 22,500 tons of turkey and cow manure, 31,000 tons of pig slurry, 47,480 tons of mixed
waste (slaughterhouse waste, whey and wastewater sludge) and 18,000 tons of sweet sorghum.

The anaerobic digestion facility is located approximately four kilometers (km) east of the poultry processing plant. To optimize the efficiency of the thermal energy, a special pipeline delivers the biogas from the digester facility to the Jenbacher engines at the processing plant. The CCHP system's thermal power is then used to supply on-site heating and cooling. Any excess electricity is fed into the local grid. Our new biogas power plant illustrates the increasingly important role that biogas will play as Hungary seeks to expand its production of alternative energy in order to comply with the European Union's 20/20/20 initiative to generate 20 percent of the continent's energy from renewable sources by 2020, said r.e Bioenergie GmbH Managing Director Ludwig Dinkloh, who oversees international business for the company. However, only projects that maximize efficiency with a sophisticated heat concept, such as our Szarvas biogas project, provide a sustainable business model.

Agricultural waste is a key industrial source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. However, by digesting the biomass and using the resulting biogas in the Jenbacher units, less of the gas is free to escape into the atmosphere. Also, the valuable, nutrient-rich digester residue is used as a high-quality fertilizer, replacing the use of artificial fertilizers on several thousand hectares of farmland. GE has seen an increased demand for its fuel-flexible gas engines to help customers throughout Europe generate their own onsite power and heat to meet their increasingly stringent environmental and energy efficiency goals.

Our Jenbacher gas engines use the biogas generated from organic waste as a valuable source of energy, allowing us to offer our customers a powerful, cost-effective way of producing energy, said Rafael Santana, president and CEO?Gas Engines for GE Energy. These engines also allow us to make a considerable contribution to the country's larger initiative by reducing the equivalent of more than 10,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year at the largest biogas project in Hungary. GE operates a regional Jenbacher gas engines sales and services center that is co-located with GE's heavy gas turbine manufacturing plant in the city of Veresegyh'z, 30 kilometers northeast of Budapest. The center is ideally positioned to help municipal and private customers in Hungary and other central European countries comply with European Union directives to boost regional energy efficiency levels by modernizing local district heating systems and expanding alternative energy production.

Since 1989, GE has been one of the most significant multinationals operating in Hungary. Today, all five GE core businesses are active in the country. GE is the largest U.S. investor and employer in Hungary with more than 13,000 people and also is one of the country?s biggest exporters. About GE's ecomagination GE is driving a global energy transformation with a focus on innovation and R&D investment to accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy technology. Since its inception in 2005, 115 ecomagination-qualified products have been brought to market with revenues reaching $18 billion in 2009. With $5 billion invested in R&D its first five years, GE committed to doubling its ecomagination investment and collaborate with partners to accelerate a new era of energy innovation.

The company will invest $10 billion in R&D over five years and double operational energy efficiency while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption. As part of the initiative, GE launched GE ecomagination Challenge: Powering the Grid, a $200 million financial commitment challenging innovators to join in developing clean energy technologies. It is extending this Challenge with the GE ecomagination Challenge: Powering Your Home, to develop technologies that help households manage their energy usage. For more information, visit the ecomagination website at http://ge.ecomagination.com/index.html.

About GE GE (NYSE: GE) is an advanced technology, services and finance company taking on the world?s toughest challenges. Dedicated to innovation in energy, health, transportation and infrastructure, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.ge.com. GE also serves the energy sector by providing technology and service solutions that are based on a commitment to quality and innovation.

The company continues to invest in new technology solutions and grow through strategic acquisitions to strengthen its local presence and better serve customers around the world. The businesses that comprise GE Energy GE Power & Water, GE Energy Services and GE Oil & Gas?work together with more than 90,000 global employees and 2010 revenues of $38 billion, to provide integrated product and service solutions in all areas of the energy industry including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy; renewable resources such as water, wind, solar and biogas; as well as other alternative fuels andnew grid modernization technologies to meet 21st century energy needs.

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GE to Showcase Biogas Technology for EPA, US Farmers - IEWY News

EPA’s National AgSTAR Conference in Boise, Idaho, Highlights Growing Farm Use of Digesters with GE’s Jenbacher Biogas Engines to Produce Renewable Energy while Reducing Emissions

Bio Town Ag Operation in Indiana and Dane County “Cow Power” Facility in Wisconsin Among GE Biogas Projects to be Showcased

BOISE, IDAHO——With the environmental impacts of agricultural activities coming under greater scrutiny, Bio Town Ag in Indiana and a community “cow power” project in Dane County, Wis., are among a growing number of U.S. farms to install anaerobic digesters and GE’s (NYSE: GE) Jenbacher biogas engines to recycle livestock wastes into renewable electricity that is used to support onsite farm operations and rural transmission grids.

GE is showcasing its ecomagination-approved Jenbacher biogas engine technology at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) annual AgSTAR national conference in Boise, Idaho, May 10-12, 2011. Created by the EPA in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, AgSTAR promotes the installation of digesters to convert livestock waste and other agricultural biomass into methane-rich, renewable biogas. As a result, less methane is available to escape into the atmosphere.

“Biogas production systems are becoming increasingly important tools in helping farms reduce their on-site emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas that is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide,” said Roger George, general manager North America gas engines for GE Power & Water. “As federal and state governments work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase local renewable energy production, we expect even more farms across the country to install biogas to energy systems to help meet their operational and environmental requirements.”

In addition to reducing onsite emissions, agricultural biogas projects can help farmers comply with more stringent local water quality standards. By capturing agricultural wastes for biogas production, farmers can avoid the need to dispose these materials on their lands. As a result, lower levels of various biomass contaminants can potentially escape into nearby rivers, lakes and ponds.

GE’s biogas engine technology continues to be deployed at some of the country’s most innovative agricultural biogas projects, including the Bio Town Ag project in Indiana and a recently completed, multi-farm digester project in Dane County, Wis.:

Bio Town Ag community digester biogas project, Indiana:

Featuring three, 1-megawatt (MW) Jenbacher JMS 320 generator sets, Bio Town Ag marks GE’s so far largest U.S. agricultural biogas-to-energy project. The project also is the first to combine GE’s Jenbacher gen-set technology with advanced digester technology supplied by GHD, Inc., the largest U.S. supplier of agricultural anaerobic digesters.

Bio Town Ag is a livestock farm with 4,500 beef cattle and 800 sow swine, located in Reynolds, Ind., a corn, soybean, dairy and swine farming region that was previously dubbed “Bio Town USA” by Indiana’s governor. The farm is developing a 3.1-MW digester biogas-to-energy plant powered by GE’s Jenbacher engines to transform its livestock manure into renewable energy. Bio Town Ag also plans to recover solids for bedding, convert post-digestion liquids into fertilizer and recycle water for on-site uses.

“Our digester biogas-to-energy project is a centerpiece of Indiana’s efforts to showcase the various technologies that are available to help us recycle our agricultural biomass resources and produce renewable fuel for vehicles and cleaner electricity for our state and country,” said Brian Furrer, Bio Town Ag president and CEO.

“GHD is proud to be involved in the BioTown Ag project, which will bring a true community anaerobic digester to fruition,” said Steve Dvorak, president of Chilton, Wis.-based GHD.

“The digester will process farm waste, as well as wastes from the surrounding community, to produce renewable electricity on a local scale. This project creates jobs, provides social benefits for the community and generates additional, viable business opportunities for agriculture.”

Dane County community dairy farm “cow power” project, Wisconsin:

Three family-run dairy farms in Dane County are participating in Wisconsin’s first “cluster” manure-digester project located near Waunakee. The project was launched by the county in 2010 under a “Clean Energy and Clean Lakes Resolution” to build a community digester.

Wisconsin-based biogas energy developer Clear Horizons LLC built, owns and operates the project. A total of 2,500 cows are supplying the manure, which is collected in three, 1.25 million gallon digesters. The biomass is converted into methane-rich biogas, which is then used by two, 1-MW Jenbacher JMC 320 gen-sets to generate renewable electricity that is sold to Alliant Energy under Wisconsin’s renewable portfolio standard.

In addition to renewable energy production, Dane County’s initiative is the first U.S. community digester specifically built to help farmers reduce biomass run-offs into surrounding freshwater bodies. Dane County’s digester removes much of the phosphorus from the livestock waste that had been linked to algae overgrowth in the Lake Mendota watershed.

“One of the keys to implementing successful biomass to energy projects is to work with technology partners like GE that have the expertise to offer cost-effective solutions that help projects optimize their rate of return ,” said Dan Nemke, general manager for Clear Horizons, which has installed Jenbacher engines for previous U.S. farm-to-energy projects.

Between its creation in 1993 and 2010, more than 160 manure digester projects have been installed in the United States with the AgSTAR program’s assistance. Opportunities for more agricultural digester-energy projects still exist at more than 8,000 U.S. livestock facilities, according to AgSTAR.

Many of GE’s Jenbacher products are ecomagination approved, providing customers with products that improve their operating performance and reduce environmental impact. Ecomagination is GE’s business strategy to help meet customers’ demand for products that improve their bottom line and reduce their impact on the environment. This also will drive growth for GE that delivers for its investors. Ecomagination reflects GE’s commitment to invest in a future that creates innovative solutions to environmental challenges. From 2010 to 2015, GE has committed to: doubling R&D to $ 10 billion; growing ecomagination revenues twice as fast as overall company revenue; reducing GE’s energy intensity 50 percent; reducing water consumption 25 percent; and inspiring a competitive energy future.

About GE

GE (NYSE: GE) is an advanced technology, services and finance company taking on the world’s toughest challenges. Dedicated to innovation in energy, health, transportation and infrastructure, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company’s Web site at www.ge.com.

GE also serves the energy sector by providing technology and service solutions that are based on a commitment to quality and innovation. The company continues to invest in new technology solutions and grow through strategic acquisitions to strengthen its local presence and better serve customers around the world. The businesses that comprise GE Energy GE Power & Water, GE Energy Services and GE Oil & Gas—work together with more than 90,000 global employees and 2010 revenues of $38 billion, to provide integrated product and service solutions in all areas of the energy industry including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy; renewable resources such as water, wind, solar and biogas; as well as other alternative fuels and new grid modernization technologies to meet 21st century energy needs.

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SoCalGas, Escondido demonstrate biogas technology - Biomass Power and Thermal

Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) and the city of Escondido in southern California have begun testing a biogas purification technology at the city’s wastewater treatment plant that, if successful proved, would allow the gas to be directly injected into a natural gas pipeline.




The above video is not associated with the article, but we thought it would be of interest to our readers.

What makes the system unique in nature is that instead of burning or flaring the methane without generating energy, which is currently done at the facility and is typical at wastewater treatment plants because the gas is not suitable for pipelines, the pressure swing adsorption system takes the raw gas originating from sewage, upgrades and purifies it through a multistate process to meet pipeline-quality gas standards for direct injection. Quebec-based Xebec Adsorption Inc. provided the technology.

Denise King, SoCalGas spokeswoman, said the company has been working with the city for more than a year on the project, which is being funded by the company’s research and development group. “We’re testing this technology and validating that it can consistently, reliably produce methane gas that meets the stringent California gas standards for injection into the pipeline system,” she said. Testing will continue for the next 12 months.

With completion of the demo project, there are a number of options as to what the next step will be, a likely one is that the city will choose to commercialize the equipment and keep it on site, according to King.

If the city makes that decision, some other costs would be involved, including an interconnection with the pipeline system, but it would eventually save ratepayers money.

 “We’re very excited about this project, because it’s the first in California and there’s only one other similar project in the U.S.,” King said. “If the technology proves itself, it would open up a whole new market for renewable natural gas that could be used by electric utilities to create green power. Yesterday [the system] was producing 99.9 percent methane, and that’s exactly what we want and expect.”

SoCalGas has been closely evaluating the potential for a renewable natural gas market, according to King. “We’re looking to help create the market, talking with dairies, wastewater treatment facilities and others that have organic waste. “

The opportunities to transform organic waste into power are seemingly boundless, King points out. For example, Gills Onion, the largest onion producer in California, uses its waste to produce energy to power fuel cells on-site. “In California, there’s probably enough organic waste to produce 16 percent of the state’s energy,” King said. “We think this is a growing market, and we’re working to help make it happen.”

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Biogas Technology - A Dynamic Approach To The Desertification Challenge In Northern Nigeria

A perspective from Northern  Nigeria.

The evidence of climate change is glaring as the days go by. In Northern Nigeria, continually the environment is loosing grounds to desert encroachment. People living in these environment continually get their source of fuel for energy from wood.




The charcoal from wood is a big business in these part of Nigeria. However, people seems to forget that the wood emanates from the trees in the forest. Despite certain regulations concerning the use of woods, the activities of illegal loggers cannot be entirely supervised or curtailed.

The greatest hindrance to the observance of these regulations is the absence of alternative source of fuel as the use of kerosene is quite expensive for rural dwellers and availability is a problem in some area.

The Chinese has long identified the importance of biogas towards meeting the energy needs in rural areas. Biogas  is produced through anaerobic digestion. The anaerobic production of biogas does not produce any offensive smell hence it is environmentally friendly, reduces green house effect, greatly increases the fertilizer value of manure and protects water source.

Biogas is generated by the activity of anaerobic bacteria. It is composed of 60% methane, 40% carbondioxide and small amount of hydrogen sulphide, nitrogen and hydrogen.

Biogas can be used for cooking, heating, generating electricity and running a vehicle.

The wonders and opportunities associated with biogas appears to be the best alternative along with solar options towards addressing the effect of desertification activities of people in rural area of Northern Nigeria.

In Northern Nigeria, Livestock rearing is a common practice thus raw material for biogas functionality is readily available.

Isaac Akogu is a Pharmacist and a Conversation Map Expert Trainer who commits over 40 hours a week towards diabetes care, counselling, information, education and advocacy for subsidized drugs and treatment for orphans and widows in North Central Nigeria.

Digestion Technology Developments For Cheaper Renewable Fuel

A very popular idea currently gaining publicity is a very old concept: methane digestion. The methane given off during the decomposition of the manure is captured and burned, providing either heat or power, for electrical generation. These promise a minor revolution in small and medium scale energy generation from methane, with a scale smaller than wind turbines, but still significant in terms of national adjustments to high oil prices.

However, the digestion process has been criticized for being inefficient and unstable in operation. But, the technology of anaerobic digestion has been largely ignored until the last run on oil prices about 5 years ago (about 2003), when for the first time for as long as anyone can remember the oil price exceeded the production cost for fuel produced as methane by digestion.

Five years has been scarcely long enough for more than some half a dozen to one dozen AD plants to be designed, constructed and commissioned, in the UK for example. These should be considered to be a first generation of a new breed of reactors using this technology. This is a bit like the people who criticized the motor car for being slow while the law (in the UK certainly) required all automobiles to be preceded by a man holding a flag to warn pedestrians.

Many did criticize the automobile at that time, but do you want to do so for digestion, as I think that you will be looking as silly as those flag wavers were just ten years later, when the motor car became an established mode of transport.

There are many ways in which the efficiency of Anaerobic Digestion bio-reactors are being improved, and the first is by using sophisticated ultrasonic technology to break up the particles and so allow breakdown of a bigger proportion of the organic content.

In some of the other processes being developed the excess liquor from the process is used to re-wet incoming biowaste as it contains useful bacterial populations. This method can produce a faster reaction then the original start-up.

It is important because on-farm Digester (Anaerobic Digestion) projects can provide needed services to farmers; develop local, renewable electrical generation; enhance environmental quality; and generate income for the community.

Other researchers have identified the fact that if you have fluctuating temperatures, then you will not be able to establish an optimum microbial population. The digester stirring system must be efficient and operational at all times to ensure that the cold, newly introduced sludge, is mixed with the warm older solids and the bacteria. This sounds easy but in a large tank with a fairly viscous sludge mass it can be surprisingly onerous on the mixing technology.

Anaerobic digestion consists of a series of reactions which are catalyzed by a mixed group of bacteria and through which organic matter is converted in a step-wise fashion to methane and carbon dioxide. Polymers such as cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, and starch are hydrolyzed to oligomers or monomers, which are then metabolized by fermentative bacteria with the production of hydrogen (H2), carbon dioxide (CO2), and volatile organic acids such as acetate, propionate, and butyrate. Clearly, this is a complex reaction which e can be greatly improved by better knowledge gained by further academic study which can now take place given the raised awareness and importance of this technique. This will most likely yet result in big advances in how man designs and runs its new digesters.

In the developing world another angle for them is selling carbon credits from the renewable energy created by anaerobic digestion on the worldwide market. Those credits should be a source of income for as well as providing a way to readily obtain seed capital for these projects from the banks.

However, the process also produces a solid and a liquid digestate in the slurry. The use of the process would not be sustainable without an environmentally safe method of disposal, and better still preferably a 'beneficial use' of the output from digestion.

The market for the digestion processing outputs is still undeveloped just about everywhere. However, there are some positive signs reported that the outputs will be genuinely useful, and indeed a source for additional revenue for the operators of these plants.

The adoption of manure digesters at animal operations is much more advanced in Europe than in the U.S. But, there are many successful AD plants in operation throughout the U.S.

Northern Concrete has one such installation and has reported on its digestion process. They have said that the feedstock (animal byproduct) goes into a holding area until it is ready to enter the digester. It sits in the digester for 22 days and is released as useful by-products like methane and a grassy sawdust-like product that can be used as fertilizer, animal bedding or after further processing for floor boards.

There is certainly other evidence of progress in selling AD outputs. Another operator (Pro-Gro Mixes of Tualatin, Ore.) is thought to have contracted to market the solids material or digested fiber to the wholesale nursery and landscape industries, reportedly. It is understood to be selling between 1,000 to 3,000 yards of digested fiber, under the FiberLife brand, per month in the Willamette Valley.

There is also potential for the methane to be burnt in efficient turbines, rather than today's ubiquitous reciprocating engines. Here the heat from turbine exhaust is used to maintain the optimum digester temperature and sustain bio-gas production. The resultant bio-gas is collected from one such system and cleaned, then used to fire the turbines. The results have reportedly been way above expectations, with a significant increase in production, higher yield and fewer rejects being recorded. The digester in question is thought to qualify as a small-power production facility, which means it follows a funding schedule, enabling projects to gain rapid approval.

Digestion can be considered for a wide variety of agricultural and industrial and commercial sites. From agricultural community scale Digesters to supermarkets with waste food, to municipal authorities with organic waste in their collected waste streams. All should now be considering the installation of digestion of one type of another. For more information visit the Digestion web site.

Optimise the Efficiency of Anaerobic Digestion - International Environmental Technology

A high-speed, high-temperature HT200S laboratory digester from HACH LANGE has helped one of Europe’s largest recycled packaging companies to cut analysis times by 75%.

This process has also enabled Smurfit Kappa SSK to optimise the efficiency of the anaerobic digestion to generate quality biogas, which helps to recycle the effluent waste produced on site.

By deploying the advanced HT200S, along with a DR2800 VIS Spectrophotometer at its biogas plant, the analysis of nutrient levels ensure that the site’s anaerobic reactor is running effectively, reducing analysis times by 75% as a result.

Prior to analysis in a DR2800, samples are digested in the HT200S, with digestion times for Nitrogen, Phosphate and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), which previously took two hours, now taking just 15 minutes.

Ciaran Conroy, from Smurfit Kappa SSK, explained that the HT200S has radically altered nutrient analysis at the plant. He said: “The HT200S allows us to be more reactive to alterations in the process, as a result of the speed with which we are now able to take measurements. The speed of digestion is complimented by the fact that the HT200S cools the samples so that they can be transferred to the spectrophotometer immediately.”

“The easy identification of COD and Volatile Fatty Acids (VFA) in the biogas reactor is just one example of this, enabling us to react in a matter of minutes, resulting in less time spent on maintaining the biogas reactor.”

The HT200S can also digest samples prior to analysis for Chromium, Tin, Silver and Total Organic Carbon (TOC).

The portable HT200S can provide numerous benefits for virtually every industry where COD, nitrogen, phosphate or metals analysis has to take place, saving significant maintenance time and costs in the process.

For a brochure, please contact sarah.blayds@hach-lange.co.uk

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