2017 HydroTherm

Unlike other renewable energy technologies, biogas plants produce energy independently of weather conditions. In sufficient size and number, biogas plants already contribute crucially to cover the basic load of electricity consumption. However, biogas plants also have disadvantages which hinder the further use of this technology:

•  High amounts of unused waste heat
•  High costs to recycle/dispose of the resulting digestate

Digestate from biogas plants can only be applied to big enough areas to avoid over-fertilization of the soil. Due to this, the disposal of the digestate leads already to problems for biogas plant management. 
The present project aims to develop a handling process for digestate that results in a final product which is uncomplicated and easy to dispose. The energy requirement of the process can be minimized through heat recovery, and partly be covered by the waste heat in the biogas plant. Thus, the process to be developed has the potential to convert the two important weaknesses of biogas plants mentioned above into strengths.

responsible : Dr. Franz Román