Expansion of own plant operations successfully completed
Climate neutrality in the transport sector is possible! In the form of bio-LNG, the all-rounder RNG acts as a carbon-neutral fuel alternative that can help reduce emissions, especially in the heavy-duty transport sector. EnviTec Biogas produces RNG suitable for use as fuel for precisely this market at its own plants, including those in Güstrow, Forst, and Friedland. The two sites in Forst and Friedland have now been successfully expanded with investments of around $52 million.
Doubled gas upgrading capacity in Brandenburg
The capacity of the 435 scfm plant owned and operated by EnviTec Biogas in Forst, Brandenburg, has thus been doubled. Since September 2014, the facility has been supplying around 60,000 megawatt-hours of green energy, and as of December 2024, the expanded facility now produces double that amount. “To achieve this, a new technical building with two mixing lines was constructed, the separation system was converted, and a press cake storage hall with exhaust air cleaning and a new concentrate storage facility were built,” explains Frank Hinken, Managing Director of the own plant operations company in Forst.
Furthermore, a hall for storing dry chicken manure and a biomethane-powered combined heat and power plant (CHP) were built, contributing to the self-supply of electricity and heat. The heat is mainly used for the six digesters, each of which has a volume of 5,800 m³, as well as for the halls and the new administration building. An adjacent property was acquired for the storage of the effluent from the separation, where a total of three manure storage tanks, each with a volume of 15,638 m³, have been built. “In addition to doubling the gas upgrading capacity, the main focus of the construction work was on the addition of a CO2 liquefaction plant, including a new hall,” says Hinken. The approx. 17,637 short tons of food-grade LCO2 produced annually in Forst will be purchased by EnviTec’s customer Carbo Kohlensäurewerke GmbH & Co KG, as is already the case in Güstrow.
In addition to Forst, the expansion of the own plant in Friedland, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, has also been completed. Over the past twelve months, six new containers, a 269 scfm EnviThan plant, technical buildings, and a dosing system have been constructed at the site. Thanks to the expansion measures, the plant, which has been in operation since 2007, will produce an additional 43 GWh of biomethane per year, available for use in the fuel sector.
The high investment volume in its own plant operations is a real win-win for Germany’s largest biogas producer and for the biogas market as a whole. “We have experienced steady growth in our own plant operations for years. At the same time, the demand for RNG and LCO2 has risen sharply,” says Olaf von Lehmden, CEO of the medium-sized company based in Lower Saxony, summing up the strategic decision to expand.
