Results

Planned results:

• Plant level: process optimization
• Concept level: system concept
• Market level: business plan, business models

Topic

In Germany and also internationally, alternative, sustainable and affordable input materials for biogas plants are of great interest. In the long term, the industry will have to concentrate primarily on residual materials in order to achieve cost efficiency and image enhancement. The KoSaTZ project is based on important findings from the predecessor projects EFFIGEST and STEP and focuses on the improvement of biogas production from straw and residues from grain processing.

Aims

The following objectives are being pursued to achieve a significant increase in efficiency. The addition of alternative agricultural residues from grain processing is intended to reduce raw material costs. Alternatively, the use of briquetting technology instead of pelleting technology is to be tested. An intermediate use of straw or mixed pellets as bedding in animal husbandry with subsequent utilisation in the biogas plant should lead to an increase in added value. A regulation for the mixing of straw or mixed pellets in large-scale biogas plants to save energy and avoid accidents should eliminate existing uncertainties.

Measures

ATS

• Screening, procurement, storage and testing of straw and alternative residue streams from grain processing
• Adaptation of the pelleting process to the new mixtures of substances, experiment execution of pelleting tests
• Large-scale production of bedding pellets, recording and evaluation of operating parameters

Bergland

• Use of the project-specific pellets in animal husbandry, adaptation of internal logistics
• Comparison to the conventional use of chopped straw
• Realisation of the practical use of the used bedding pellets in the 75 kW practical biogas plant (1250 m³)
• Operational monitoring and control

DBFZ

• Small-scale tests for pelletizing the substrate mixtures (use of 10 mm dies compared to 8 mm dies at ATS and evaluation of the process difference
• Systematic experiments for briquetting of substrate mixtures (process comparison for pelletisation)
• Analysis of the mechanical properties of the products
• Investigation of the transferability of pilot scale pelleting to industrial scale pelleting (parameter transfer, differences in product quality, energy consumption)

Rückert

• Recording of quantity and energy potentials for the favoured material flows
• Clarification of licensing and safety issues
• Specification of the feeding regime and the stirring intensities during the pilot test
• Evaluation of the operating data

IKTS

• Analysis of the material, energetic and fluid dynamic properties of pellets and briquettes
• Balancing of energy losses along the utilisation path
• Systematic investigations of the swelling and mixing behaviour of straw pellets, mixing pellets, briquettes and solid manure after intermediate use in a 1m³ round digester (process tomography)
• Design of experiments and analytical monitoring of the practical fermentation

Focus

ATS

• Raw material procurement, pelleting, product marketing

Bergland

• Practical cascade use and evaluation of the project-specific pellets in the agricultural enterprise
• Animal husbandry
• Biogas production

DBFZ

• Briquetting, pelletizing, analysis

Rückert

• Balancing of material flows and energy
• Licensing law

IKTS

• Analysis, mixing and stirring, fermentation