New Schmack Carbotech Plant to Shows Extent of Swedish Commitment to Biogas Biomethane Production

Schmack Carbotech Stockholm: Sweden’s role in bioenergy production, with the world's largest installed biogas upgrading capacity, is set to continue its march toward transport fuel sustainability ahead of other nations. That is because of the announcement that Schmack Carbotech has been signed-up as the "design and build" contractor for a 2000 Nm³/h biogas upgrading facility to be located to the south of Stockholm.

Schmack Carbotech’s innovative Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) technology will be used in a development that will enable the Swedish capital to produce pure methane (biomethane) from more biogas.


(Image: (c) Schmack)
This will increase the proportion of biomethane, it uses by 50%, this will provide biofuel for vehicles currently powered by natural gas. The biomethane produced will be a high purity gas leaving the PSA with a methane content in excess of 97 per cent.
Fed by organic waste and waste kitchen oil, the plant, which will be located in Sofielund, Huddinge, will produce biogas with an annual energy yield of nearly 100 million kilowatt hours. That's enough to supply approximately 5,000 vehicles clocking up an average of 20,000 km per year each.

Part of the Viessmann Group, Schmack Carbotech’s Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) principle distinguishes itself from other technologies because of its favourably low energy consumption, efficient heat extraction and high methane yield, as the company’s International Business Manager, Eberhart Wusterhaus Gomez, explains:

“This important new contract at Sofielund brings to bear all of our 30 years ‘experience in the development, engineering and manufacturing of turnkey gas upgrading plants.

“As industry pioneers and market leaders in biogas purification, we are very keen to play our part in delivering a low energy yet high yield technology that in this case fits in perfectly with the Swedish government’s long-term thinking to become the world’s first completely oil-free economy”.

(Image: (c) Schmack)

Setting new standards in biogas process efficiency, Sofielund’s new plant will be equipped with a CNG station, a Carbotech PSA plant, off-gas cleaning with high heat recovery system combined with a peak load boiler. The plant will also benefit from ultra-reliable VOC and Hydrogen Sulphide removal, making Carbotech’s robust technology ideal to produce biomethane from biogas, sewage gas and landfill gas for grid injection and CNG vehicle fuel. As well as being a specialist in upgrading biogas plants, the Viessmann Group is actively implementing complete biogas turnkey solutions worldwide. Installations include award-winning biological technology, with special wet fermentation (from Schmack Biogas) and batch-dry fermentation (BioFerm technology) now integral parts of more than 300 cogeneration and biomethane plants in Europe and beyond. This includes Europe’s largest dry-AD-from-organic-waste plant, located in Fife, Scotland.

The Viessmann Group is a leading international manufacturer of heating technology systems. Founded in 1917, the family company has around 11,400 employees with group sales of EUR 2.1 billion. Viessmann has an international presence with 27 production companies in 11 countries, sales companies and representations in 74 countries and 120 sales branches worldwide. 55 percent of sales are generated abroad.

For more information, contact:

Press:
Petra Krayl
Schmack Biogas GmbH
+49 (0) 9431 / 751-285
petra.krayl@schmack-biogas,com
www.schmack-biogas.com

Bio-methane for Transport Vehicle Use Encouraged in United Kingdom

The following post was placed on the KARAMEL web site and appeared in Biogasmax ( www.biogasmax.eu ) on 6 March 2008, and although it is not exactly a new posting, I thought it of sufficient interest to include here.

I am not absolutely certain about the definition of bio-methanisation as used by the Europeans, but in this context it appears to be refering to the scrubbing and compressing of biologically produced methane, as is produced by anaerobic digestion.

The posting follows:-

Increasing interest for bio-methane in the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom is becoming more and more interested in bio-methanisation and in bio-methane for vehicle use. This renewable « natural gas » has already attracted the attention of the UK government. English companies with an interest in natural gas and renewable energies, supported by John Baldwin (Managing Director of CNG Services Ltd), are hoping to obtain the same financial status for this « green » gas as that accorded to «green» electricity. During the Biogasmax Friends Day (30.01.08 in Bern), we were pleased to welcome a scientific observer from Exeter University. As well as this, on March 03, 2008, Cenex organized a one-day conference in London to promote organic waste bio-methanisation with the aim of clean fuel production.

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Since 2005 – 2006, six new bio-methanisation plants have been built in the United Kingdom, increasing UK capacity by over 100%. In 2007, two new plants were started and many new biogas projects indicate that similar levels of expansion are now possible in Germany.

The British Minister for Sustainable Consumption and Production, Joan Ruddock, declared that her Department considered «Anaerobic Digestion» the best process for dealing with organic waste. Many studies show that the energy cost of upgrading biogas to bio-methane is insignificant and there are no regulatory barriers to injecting bio-methane into the natural gas grid.

The UK Gas Industry Trade Association, along with NGVA Europe (Natural Gas Vehicle Association) and REA (Renewable Energy Association) are lobbying for this renewable gas in order to get financial support from the government. They are claiming equivalent treatment for bio-methane as that accorded to «green» electricity, so that gas suppliers could offer «green» gas tariffs. John Baldwin, Managing Director of CNG Services Ltd, supports this campaign, pointing out that bio-methane production offers solutions to many problems: waste recycling, reduction in global warming and reduction in fossil fuel imports.

To underline his point about the huge potential of bio-methane, John Baldwin quotes the experiences of Biogasmax partners such as Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, and the French town of Lille, which has an Organic Waste Valorisation Centre supplying bio-methane to the city’s buses. At the Biogasmax Friends Day, held in Bern on January 30 2008, our partners were able to take on board the UK interest in our project, welcoming a young researcher from Exeter, Dr. Ulf Winkler, whose work deals with the assessment of best practice in managing urban transport.

On March 03, 2008, Cenex, in partnership with NGVA Europe (Natural Gas Vehicle Association) and Environmental Protection UK, hosted a one-day conference in London (Devonport House, Greenwich). Its purpose was to highlight the environmental virtuous circle of bio-methanisation, which offers both a solution to urban organic waste treatment and a possible answer to the obligation to increase the proportion of biofuel in global consumption.