Market Entry in Belgium Biogas Plant

The Belgian investor and project developer NPG Energy has requested Weltec Biopower GmbH (Germany) to set up a biogas plant. The investor will also serve as the operator of the 2.4-MW plant, which is to go live in spring 2014.

This is the first order that the German manufacturer Weltec has received from the Kingdom of Belgium. The biogas plant in the district of Limburg generates an amount of power that could supply close on 5,000 households.

However, the 19 GWh that will be generated every year will be consumed by the Spin-group BV, a company that needs the electricity for its production facilities in which special carpet yarns are manufactured in a demanding polymerisation process. The group‘s transition to green power demonstrates that sustainable energy concepts are gaining in significance in conventional sectors such as the textile industry.

The plant concept ensures efficiency in all areas. The generated heat will be utilised directly on site: The digestate will be extracted directly from the 2,000m³ second-stage-digester in order to be dried with the entire heat produced by the plant. The dry fertiliser will then be sold to fruit and winegrowers across the border.

The use of the 50,000 t of substrate every year will also be efficient. Initially, most of the employed substances will consist of maize silage (about 20,000 t). However, the operator will gradually replace the maize with other renewable substrates and agricultural leftovers.

A highly efficient mix from grease separators and a pre-mixed, ready-to-use substrate will account for another major portion of the input. Apart from plant residue, this mix will also contain fats and vegetable waste. Additionally, the two bioreactors of a capacity of 4,700m³ each will be fed with soap water from biodiesel production and cereals prune. This substrate mix is typical for Belgium, where biogas digesters have always been charged with diverse mixtures.

Apart from the stainless-steel digesters, the plant equipment comprises a second-stage-digester and two
80m³ dosing feeders. Besides the separation and the two combined heat and power (CHP) plants, the MULTIMix, which further shreds the input material prior to the entry into the digester, also comes from WELTEC.

The EU goal to raise the share of renewable energy in the Belgium energy consumption to 13 percent by
2020 can only be achieved with high-quality plant technology. The preconditions for the use of bioenergy
are ideal, and its share in renewable energies is high, as the country offers a wide variety of raw materials
and the biogas fermenters are capable of handling these.

The proportion of regenerative energies amounted to 3 percent in 2008 and is now about 5 percent. On the
way to the 13-percent goal, the country‘s plant population still needs to be expanded considerably over
the next seven years. However, Belgium has an adequate stock of incentives to provide, and the effective
modernisation of the Belgian industry has become a growth driver that the entire country relies on.