Chemelot gets biogas plant for processing pig manure

There will be a biogas plant on the Chemelot site after all. The Zitta Biogas plant will process more than 700,000 tons of pig manure annually, which is good for 60 million cubic meters of biogas. Other companies at Chemelot use the gas as an energy source, a more sustainable alternative to natural gas.

Government subsidy after all

The arrival of the plant was uncertain for a long time, as no government subsidy seemed to be forthcoming. In June 2018, OCI Nitrogen still reported being disappointed that the project did not receive a subsidy. This support is needed for further development, however, as the cost of realization is estimated at around 90 million euros. In the meantime, the project has received support from the Stimulating Sustainable Energy fund.

Sustainability

Agriculture Commissioner Hubert Mackus: "This is very good news, because the arrival of the biogas plant contributes to the sustainability of livestock farming in Limburg and at Chemelot. These kinds of innovative solutions create a more circular economy."

In search of manure

Biogas company Zitta is looking for pig farmers in the region who can provide the necessary manure, so that the environmental impact of methane and ammonia emissions decreases accordingly. 4.5 million kg of phosphate is converted into dry fertilizer for export. In addition, about 2 million kg of nitrogen is collected and reprocessed into concentrated liquid fertilizer. By making use of the residual heat at Chemelot, the efficiency of the plant is considerably higher than that of conventional biogas plants.
Rest streams are processed into organic fertilizer pellets for agriculture, in which all nutrients are available in concentrated form.

Zitta Biogas Chemelot

The biogas plant is an initiative of OCI Nitrogen and Re-N Technology. They operate the plant under the name Zitta Biogas Chemelot. The province of Limburg has granted the environmental permit. The biogas plant is expected to be in operation around 2020.

A video from OCI Nitrogen explains the motivation for the biogas plant:

Sources: Province of Limburg, OCI Nitrogen, 1Limburg, Groen Gas Nederland