Turning organic waste into valuable electricity

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Among renewable energies, the generation of biogas as »bioenergy« plays an important role for the energy transition: While electricity generation from sun and wind is heavily dependent on the weather, energy from biogas (a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide) can be produced continuously.

In addition, biogas can be stored for a certain period of time and converted into electricity and heat in the block-type thermal power station as required. If biogas is purified accordingly, the high-purity methane can also be used to drive natural gas vehicles or it can be fed into the natural gas network.

Biogas is a fuel. The term “organic” describes its origin, because the fuel is created as a respiratory product by bacteria when they break down organic waste. This creates a “gas” that consists primarily of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2). The methane content determines the amount of energy – the higher the methane level, the more energy is being produced.

In a biogas plant, the activity of the bacteria – i.e. the breakdown of organic matter – is checked under controlled conditions. The control of water content, temperature, bacterial population and many other biological / physical factors determine the efficiency of gas production. The productivity depends on the raw material used as well as on the process and the performance of the biogas plant.