With support from the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark and The Foundation for Development of Technology in the Danish Water Sector, the municipally-owned demonstration plant Billund BioRefinary has completed a lighthouse project that includes an upgrade to an existing biogas plant; a new technology – thermic hydrolysis – from the environmental company Krüger A/S. The overall budget has been 72 million DKK. The plant’s new upgrade has meant a 60% increase in the production of biogas, a 50% reduction on sludge, and a newfound interest from different countries.

- Related news: Denmark's Biggest Biogas Plant Opens in Southern Jutland

-For 20 years, we have produced biogas from wastewater sludge and sorted waste from households. With the new technology we are able to decompose sludge and waste twice. This benefits both our business and our clients, the administrative director of Billund Vand, Ole Johnson tells the magazine #Smart Energi. He also informs the magazine of a payback time of 9,5 years as a result of the new plant.

The biogas is used for the production of electricity in two gas engines. The increase in production has created a bit of a luxury problem for Billund BioRefinary. The engines produce substantially more heat, yet Billund BioRefinary is not allowed to allocate it to Grindsted Power- and Thermal Plant or their clients in the district heating sector. Due to the legislation, Billund BioRefinary is forced to use money on cooling the heath out into the air. An absurdity if you ask Ole Johnson:

“There is nothing wrong with the basis of the law, however, technology is advancing and right now we are in need of a ‘brush-up’. The solution is either to allow us to upgrade our biogas and thus make it useable to the natural gas grid, or allowing waste heat to be allocated to the local district heating plant. We have proven ourselves effective. Thus, the politicians now face a positive challenge”, Ole Johnson states.

Krüger has already sold two of their ExelysTM-technology plants to South Korea and reports of an increasing interest from others countries.

Billund BioRefinery's own presentation video. 

Source: Energy Supply