Germany gets small bio-LNG production plant

Germany’s Agrarvereinigung eG Darchau and Ruhe Biogas have joined forces with Italy’s Ecospray to launch what they say is the first compact bio-LNG plant in Germany.

The small bio-LNG plant in Darchau, Lower Saxony, will liquefy biogas made from liquid manure and dung from the region and supply it to heavy-duty transport, according to a joint statement sent to LNG Prime via email.

It will have an initial capacity of 3 tons per day, replacing about 1.3 million liters of fossil diesel per year and save up to 7,000 tons of CO2, the statement said.

To compare, Shell’s Rheinland bio-LNG plant, which the firm claims will be the largest in the country when completed next year, will have a capacity of about 100,000 tons per year.

The compact 500kW plant in Darchau serves as a model for many farms throughout Germany, according to the statement.

“We could do with a lot of small, decentralized bio-LNG plants in Germany right now,” Kunibert Ruhe, board member of Agrarvereinigung eG Darchau and shareholder of Ruhe Biogas said in the statement.

“Agricultural businesses can produce biogas self-sufficiently in the form of a circular economy using residual materials from their own farms and from businesses in their region and refine it into bio-LNG,” Ruhe said.

Germany is currently in a big push to fast-track LNG imports into the country in order to cut reliance on Russian gas. The country will have at least five FSRU-based terminals in the future.

On the other side, Germany is already the leading country in Europe with 134 LNG filling station for trucks. Europe currently has in total 576 LNG filling stations and owners are increasingly offering bio-LNG at these stations, according to NGVA Europe.

More bio-LNG plants planned

In March this year, Ruhe Biogas and Ecospray joined forces to build two plants for bio-LNG production and three CO2 liquefaction systems.

Each project involves the construction of a complete system for pre-treatment, upgrading, liquefaction of biomethane and the liquefaction of CO2, with associated storage and cryogenic tank filling.

Besides this project, the duo also signed a deal for a second facility to produce eight tons per day of bio-LNG.

The plants will supply customers of Green Line Liquid Anlagenbau – an affiliated company of Ruhe Group.

Q1 Energie AG, an energy and service station firm based in Osnabrueck, has already secured the annual production of bio-LNG from the Darchau plant, the statement said.

Although trucks account for only six percent of all vehicles on German roads, they cause 30 percent of all CO2.

Fossil LNG, which is already widely used today, can also replace diesel, but only reduces emissions by up to 20 percent, the statement said.

The CO2 balance of bio-LNG, on the other hand, is even negative if the fuel is produced from agricultural waste products, it said.

“Only about 30 percent of farm manure is currently used in conventional biogas plants. If we were to use 100 percent in the future and process it into bio-LNG, we could supply about 37 percent of the truck fleet,” Ruhe said.

Most Popular

Three dead in accident at Port Arthur LNG site

Sempra Infrastructure and Bechtel confirmed that an incident took place on Tuesday at the Port Arthur LNG construction site in Texas, resulting in three fatalities and two injuries.

Woodside takes FID on $17.5 billion Louisiana LNG project

Australian LNG player Woodside has made a final investment decision to develop the three-train, 16.5 mtpa Louisiana LNG project. The total capital expenditure for the LNG project, pipeline, and management reserve is $17.5 billion.

Golden Pass LNG moving forward with commissioning activities

Golden Pass LNG, a joint venture of QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil, is moving forward with the commissioning work at its giant LNG export facility in Texas with new approval from the US FERC.

More News Like This

Second Wilhelmshaven FSRU arrives at jetty

Germany's Wilhelmshaven now hosts two floating storage and regasification units. Excelerate’s 138,000-cbm FSRU Excelsior has docked at a new jetty, two kilometers south of the already operational Wilhelmshaven 1 terminal, to start serving the second FSRU-based terminal.

Excelerate’s FSRU arrives in Germany

Excelerate’s 138,000-cbm FSRU Excelsior has finally arrived in Germany, where it will start serving DET's second LNG import terminal in Wilhelmshaven.

Deutsche ReGas: Mukran LNG capacity fully booked in 2025

German LNG terminal operator Deutsche ReGas has allocated all of the available slots at its FSRU-based LNG terminal in Mukran in 2025.

Excelerate’s FSRU leaves Spanish yard to start Wilhelmshaven job

Excelerate’s 138,000-cbm FSRU Excelsior has left the yard in Spain's El Ferrol. The unit will first visit the Netherlands prior to heading to Wilhelmshaven, according to state-owned German LNG terminal operator DET.