Dried chicken droppings instead of oil – in order to avoid greenhouse gas emissions, alternative truck fuel is made from special raw materials in the north-east.
According to operator and industry information, Germany’s largest liquefaction plant for bio-LNG has officially opened in Güstrow. It produces climate-neutral fuel as liquid gas from dry chicken manure, among other things, for truck traffic. “We are more than proud,” said Olaf von Lehmden, CEO of Envitec Biogas AG, on Thursday.
According to the company, the plant in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania can produce around 9,600 tons of bio-LNG per year in the future. That’s enough for trucks to drive 50 million kilometers a year. Corn should also be used as a raw material.
The conversion is said to have cost more than 50 million euros
According to the company, it had rebuilt the site for more than 50 million euros. On the one hand, the reorientation should ensure more sustainability, since fewer renewable raw materials and more dried chicken manure would be used. In addition, there was a lack of liquefaction capacity for the transport sector, it said.
“Gas mobility is the only available technology that achieves immediate savings in greenhouse gas emissions in heavy-duty traffic,” says Timm Kehler, head of the industry association Zukunft Gas. The CO2 emissions from freight transport increased year by year. Transport volumes have doubled since 1990. “With Bio-LNG, i.e. liquefied biogas, almost climate-neutral transports in heavy goods traffic can be realized.” The production facilities required for this are in the market ramp-up phase. Significant quantities will be available at German bio-LNG filling stations from 2024.
According to the association, a smaller corresponding system has been in operation in Darchau, Lower Saxony. A plant near Cologne planned by the energy group Shell is to be even larger than the plant in Güstrow, but is not yet in operation.
100,000 tons of dried chicken manure for Güstrow
According to the biogas association NGVA, there are more than 180 LNG filling stations in Germany. Future Gas is currently assuming 6,000 LNG trucks in Germany. If conditions such as toll concessions and CO2 classifications fit, 40,000 are realistic – that is ten percent of the corresponding vehicle class.
According to the company, 100,000 tons of dry chicken manure from poultry plants and 40,000 tons of renewable raw materials are used for production in Güstrow. In addition, CO2 is liquefied on site so that it can be used in the beverage industry or in greenhouses, for example. According to Envitec, bio-LNG production and CO2 liquefaction save 100,000 tons of CO2. In addition, electricity is generated with the gases produced in combined heat and power plants.
Source: Stern
