The area of “Stadtwerke Marsberg” was declared as a protection zone for the drinking water production in 2006. A new regulation was instaured saying that the use of non treated manure (liquid and solid) in the drinking water protection zone was forbidden without any treatment in order to reduce the sanitary risks of the manure in the drinking water.

At this time the nitrate load in the drinking-water was 55 mg/l. The biogas technology was implemented to produce renewable energies and to produce the needed heat for the thermal treatment of the whole output of the biogas plant at 70°C for 1 hour before spreading out the fertilizer.

The biogas plant in Marsberg was initiated by the “Stadtwerke Marsberg” as a collective project together with 90 farmers from the region. These farmers are responsible to deliver and produce all necessary biomass for the biogas plant.

Due to the thermal treatment at 70°C for 1 hour in a batch system, the whole output of the biogas plant (ecofertiliser in liquid form) represents no more sanitary risks and is used as fertilizer on the farmland situated in the drinking water protection zone.

Thanks to the improvement of the quality of the organic fertilizers and the additional improvement of the material flow management (ideal distribution of the organic fertilizer between the different farms) and the use of the best available technology for the spreading on farmland, the nitrate load in the drinking water has been decreased from 55 mg/l (2006) to 46 mg/l (2010).

 

Basic information Name of the legal entity: L.E.E. SÀRL
Country: Germany
Project value (EUR): 4.500.000,-
Staff provided: 4
Client: Municipality Marsberg
Origin of fundings: public
Dates (start-end): 2006 - 2009
Input biogas plant Organic waste:
27.000 tons/year (liquid manure, solid manure)
Energy crops:
8.000 tons/year (corn, maize, grass, …)
Technical Data
Technology employed: Bbiogas (anaerobic digestion)
Total reactor volume: 4.000 m³
Technical Data
biogas plant
Biogas production: 2.530.000 m³/year
Installed electrical capacity: 0,795 MWel. (CHP - 3 units)
Annual production of electricity: 6.600.000 kWhel/year
Installed thermal capacity: 0,700 MWtherm (CHP)
Annual production of heat: 5.700.000 kWhtherm/year
Process heat consumption: 1.300.000 kWhtherm/year
Thermal treatment output: 2.100.000 kWhtherm/year
Additional external use district heating none up to now (possibilities for woodchips drying, containerized heat transportation system)
Services provided

Project Planning:

Feasibility study
Mass and energy balance
Authorisation procedures
Call of tender
Engineering design: Basic engineering
Detailed engineering
Financial engineering
Project implementation: Supervision of construction
Start-up of the process planning