BTS Biogas: 1 MW biogas plant developed for Chiesa
The BTS Biogas plant is set up for processing waste and sub-products coming from farming and cattle herds.
Chiesa is based in Asola, Northern Italy, where it occupies more than 400 ha of land sub-divided into 5 agricultural businesses, all self-owned, and a herd of over 2,500 heads of beef cattle. In 2012 the company decided to enter the market of renewable energy and enlist BTS Biogas for the design, construction and then maintenance of a 1 MW plant.
“The choice of installing a biogas plant was taken as an extension of the traditional agricultural and animal husbandry activities. Our aim was clear: to use the waste and sub-products which we already have here,” said Stefania Chiesa, the owner. “Having a herd of 2,500 cattle means that we have a great quantity of manure. But not only that: our 400 ha of cultivated terrain generate a large quantity of sub-products. For exactly this reason, we decided in 2012 to install a biogas plant, which gives us the ability to further exploit our farming and husbandry activity by producing clean energy and a precious improver, digestate.”
The plant is supplied with maize silage, poultry manure, stable manure and slurry and seasonal products such as apple and tomato pulp, olive pomace, potatoes, peels and grape marc. Entering products pass through the BioacceleratorR pre-treatment system, a pulse reactor chopping the products and sub-products in entry, considerably improving energy performance. The anaerobic digestion of the products continues to perform excellently with an average production of 23.748 kWh of electrical and thermal energy per day; the digestate is used in part as a natural fertiliser in the company’s fields and in part is sold on to other agricultural companies.
Chiesa has in fact installed a drying plant: a novel digestate post-treatment technology that solves the problem of liquid spillage. In particular, the system further optimises the biogas plant with production of a high-value fertiliser representing a further source of income for the company.
“We chose BTS Biogas because it is recognised as a reliable company both during plant design and construction stage and in the following management stage,” commented Stefania Chiesa. “The biological maintenance of the plant means we have Jody Grazia of BTS Biogas constantly available. This is an extremely precious service because she works with us to evaluate the efficiency levels of our plant and constantly offers help in the selection of the optimal recipe.”
“With our technical assistance service we can keep the Chiesa plant performance unaltered over time and guarantee maximum biological and economical efficiency,” said Michael Niederbacher, CEO of BTS Biogas.
Source: BTS Biogas
