International biogas plant engineers EnviTec Biogas AG, based in Lohne, Lower Saxony, has partnered with Munich-based BAUER KOMPRESSOREN GmbH to add Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) plant to its portfolio. EnviTec Biogas sees that as a carbon-neutral fuel, bio CNG has obvious advantages.
According to a recent bulletin on the German biogas market from German biogas industry association Biogasrat+, switching to biomethane from fossil fuels could cut CO2 emissions by up to 97% in the transport sector alone. Yet progress in developing the necessary infrastructure has been sluggish to date. EnviTec Biogas intends to make a difference.
Stefan Laumann, Head of Gas Upgrading at EnviTec: “Paired with Bauer’s mature CNG solutions, our expertise in gas upgrading is now opening up new opportunities for us to achieve a major breakthrough with bio CNG and biomethane, both domestically and internationally.”
Everything from a single source
“This means we’re now able to offer a complete package from biodegradable waste to the CNG pump from a single source,” explains Laumann. High-quality system components – high-pressure compressors, gas buffer tanks and CNG pumps – will be supplied by BAUER and installed in containers by EnviTec’s engineers. Depending on customer requirements, these will then be integrated into the overall biogas plant and gas upgrading system. Once complete, HGVs, cars and buses will all be able to be fuelled.
Stefan Hacker, Managing Director at BAUER KOMPRESSOREN GmbH: “This cooperation between two technology leaders is also a game-changing step for us to take, and it offers customers 100% Made-in-Germany quality while clearly underlining Germany’s leading role in action on climate change.”
In China, EnviTec uses this technology with its customer Shandong Minhe Biological Scitech Co. Ltd. Installed in early 2017, the CNG plant compresses the biomethane from around 13.5 bar to 200 bar in CNG tube trailers for delivery to a CNG filling station.
EnviTec Biogas AG CTO Jürgen Tenbrink: “Back in Germany, natural gas and biomethane account for just 0.35% of domestic fuel sales – so there’s plenty of room for improvement here.” There is hope, however, thanks to the recent amendment passed to German energy and electricity tax legislation, which has accordingly extended tax relief for CNG vehicles to the end of 2026.
EnviTec’s business model here is further rounded off by a range of options for using the separated carbon dioxide, which is already available from the gas upgrading process at a purity of over 99%. “Downstream processing can be used to liquefy the carbon dioxide, for example, for use in a number of applications,” Tenbrink goes on to explain. These systems can also be ordered directly as part of the EnviTec package.
With a presence in 14 countries worldwide, EnviTec Biogas AG covers the entire value chain for the production of biogas, including the planning and turnkey construction of biogas plants and biogas upgrading plants as well as their commissioning.
BAUER KOMPRESSOREN GmbH, a member of NGVA Europe, designs and manufactures compressors and compressor systems for use in Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Vehicle Refuelling and other sectors.
Source: EnviTec Biogas AG
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