Heiligengrabe Biogas Plant Successfully Converted to Biomethane Production

The Krieg & Fischer team has completed another successful project—the conversion of the Heiligengrabe biogas plant from power generation to biomethane production. The plant is now in its commissioning phase.

Originally built in the?year 2009, the facility was designed to produce biogas primarily from energy crops. Owned and operated by Loick Bioenergie GmbH, the plant consists of two interconnected fermentation lines, each equipped with two fermenters, a post-fermentation tank and a gas-tight digestate storage system.

In 2022, Krieg & Fischer Ingenieure GmbH was contracted to modernize the plant with a focus on utilizing renewable raw materials and the production of biomethane to supply the natural gas grid. Our scope also included the preparation of an application of approval under §16 BImSchG (Federal Emission Control Act). The engineering team undertook a comprehensive upgrade to enable processing of a more diverse substrate mix while increasing biogas production. Key improvements included the new solid entry, separation, and piping.

The biogas plant was successfully redesigned to utilize less energy crops and more manure, achieving CO2 savings. The amount of raw materials (cattle and chicken manure, separated digestate, maize silage) is increased from 45,000t/a to 61,200 t/a and biogas production is expected to rise from 6.86 million to 7.93 million cubic meters per year (905 Nm3/h).

Produced biogas is then upgraded and fed into the natural gas grid. Biogas upgrading system including raw gas pre-treatment and regenerative thermal oxidation was designed by the Krieg & Fischer engineering team. Additionally, a new CHP unit has been installed to provide the plant with its own energy supply.

On behalf of Krieg & Fischer, Ms. Sonja Runge was the leading engineer. According to Sonja, the most technically demanding aspect of this project was adapting the new solutions and components to the existing infrastructure of the biogas plant.

With the project now completed, the Heiligengrabe biogas plant is optimized for long-term, efficient biomethane production, ensuring a safe and reliable supply of renewable natural?gas to the grid for years to come.

We appreciate our dedicated team for their work and Loick Bioenergie GmbH for their trust in us on this project. We look forward to continued collaboration and exciting new projects in the future!