September 17, 2023. After a two-year conversion phase, three wide-ranging approval applications and capital investment of more than EUR 50 million, BioEnergie Park Güstrow has now entered the trial operation phase. With the inauguration of Germany’s largest integrated Bio-LNG plant with CO2 liquefaction, EnviTec Biogas AG has achieved a milestone in the production of advanced fuels. “We are more than proud to have led the way by pioneering our innovative plant design in the biogas industry and set the standards to follow for a greener transport sector,” said CEO Olaf von Lehmden in his speech at the ceremony. With this plant, the engineering and operating company for biogas plants and gas upgrading plants now takes on the role of a supplier of carbon-neutral fuel to the utility/heavy goods vehicle market.
Using the EnviThan biogas upgrading method, which features hollow-fibre membranes made by Evonik, the raw biogas produced at BioEnergie Park Güstrow is upgraded to the natural gas standard. The permeate from the gas upgrading process, which is enriched with carbon dioxide (CO2), contains a very low volume of methane, and is handed over to the CO2 liquefaction plant (LCO2 plant) for downstream processing and the production of liquid carbon dioxide. “The bio-LCO2 we gain from this process can be used in food production,” explains Frank Hinken, Managing Director of EnviTec BioEnergie Güstrow GmbH. “And not just by beverage makers but also in greenhouses, for example.” The off-gas produced as a by-product of the CO2 liquefaction process, which contains a small percentage of methane as well as other non-condensing gases like nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen, is piped to co-generation plants on the premises and used for on-site power generation. In the future, the plant will produce 9,600 t of bio-LNG for the heavy goods vehicle sector every year. In terms of mileage, this volume of green HGV fuel could power 50 million truck kilometres a year.
