Agricultural Waste

To recover Biogas from “Biomass” or agriculture waste and even energy crops, became a success business in German in a very short time. Starting off with a good governmental incentive support system EEG law in 2000 and 2004, to increase renewable electrical energy to 36% (2018).

The EEG law encouraged many private investors (mostly farmers) to build and operate biogas plants. Most farmers lag capital to finance a biogas plant. With a loan based on the reliable return under stable operation conditions. Which led to a biogas industry with most reliable stable operation. As a result 9500 biogas plants were built, who play an very important part in the renewable energy mix because compared to wind or solar, its 1.Independent stable from light or wind.2. Easier to storage for covering the peak hours, 3. Biogas is a multi-talent convertible to different energies heat, fuel, cooling, electricity.  

1. ONLY rewarding the output of the biogas plant (Electricity/Bio-CNG/Heat/Cooling Energy). By this simple method private investment went only into well operating biogas plants. Comparable to BOT model for municipal waste treatment in China.

2.MUST integrate the liquid output to enable agriculture circular economy, by using valuable liquid fertilizer and minerals back to direct surrounding fields.

3. REASONABLE size of Biogas plants in EU (most >2MWel/h), because too large scale plants become economic and ecologic polluting instead of useful. The increasing transportation and logistic costs bringing in and out materials eating up the benefits. For example the material collection and output fertilizer distribution become too far, consuming more fuel than the recovered renewable energy.

4. If animal manure is used for biogas production the EEG support is higher, encourage to use lower efficient material for biogas. In China the high water usage reduce the organic solid contend and makes dry AD biogas production inefficient, even adding straw to the process.

5. Yearly reduction of the governmental incentive challenges the biogas plant builder to become more efficient every year. Only the “fittest survive ” with the top grade technology to deliver good returns to the operator and banks.

Modern large scale farms in China are diluting their residues into the ground, polluting more and more the ground water. Or the farms are forced to treat their valuable organic fertilizer for very high cost in waste water systems.

Result in China:

2. Loss of valuable resources lead to inefficient agriculture and more pollution in China

3. Just more chemical fertilizer is used, to further destroy fertile agriculture land.

4. Useless expensive waste water treatment make milk production inefficient.

5. Biofertilization for an increased sustainable value to the farmers with organic food is lost.

Example: We built a 4 MW/h el. large biogas plant in 2018, for a 15.ooo largest scale milking cow farm. Our high efficient system cannot even recover our clients operation cost, due to an added waste water treatment system, eating up all the profits gained by feeding electricity into the grid with about 0,65-0,75 Yuan/kWel. Local farmers can´t be encouraged to buy the valuable produced organic fertilizer!

The Chinese biogas industry, suffering from the wrong policy over 10 years now, to support a technology which can delivery sustainable high benefits to the Chinese society. We hope for better changes in China and are ready to support.