Wärtsilä to supply Germany with groundbreaking biohybrid plant

Finland-based energy equipment supplier Wärtsilä has been awarded the contract to supply a biohybrid production plant to the German energy company, Erdgas Südwest.

The new plant will produce both bioLNG (liquefied biogas) and LNG. The contract with Wärtsilä was signed this month (December 2016), and delivery will be made on a fast-track basis.

The Wärtsilä delivery will include the company's unique liquefaction system. Moreover, the system is specially designed to clean and liquefy both biogas and pipeline gas streams. In the process, the liquid is cooled to a temperature of minus 160° C before being stored in a fully insulated tank. The ability to clean both biogas and pipeline gas is new to the market and groundbreaking in terms of flexibility and energy storage.

"The contract award is based upon Wärtsilä's compact and proven technology, and on our capabilities in adapting the system to the customer's specific needs. Biogas and pipeline gas compositions can vary substantially, and Wärtsilä Gas Solutions' advanced technology can handle both," said Timo Koponen, VP of Flow & Gas Solutions at Wärtsilä Marine Solutions.

The technology for this plant represents a new and unique response to market needs to liquefy and store methane-based streams. Both gas cleaning and liquefaction are cost- and energy efficient, thereby making profitable projects possible even for smaller gas streams. This is especially important within the European Union where the target is to have 10 percent of the fuel produced from renewable sources by 2020.

The new biohybrid solution will be integrated into the customer's existing biowaste-to-biogas production, whilst LNG production will be part of the customer's existing pipeline gas infrastructure. Everything will be located at a single site in southern Germany.

"This is a very important milestone for us at Erdgas Südwest. It is a completely new concept adapted to the future needs of the German energy market, and we see a great future for this storage solution," said Oliver Auras, project director at Erdgas Südwest.