In Sweden, municipal multi-utility company Tekniska verken i Linköping AB (Tekniska Verken) has officially inaugurated its expanded and upgraded biogas plant, which is now both the country's largest and the first to capture and utilize biogenic carbon dioxide generated from the process.
At the same time as the production of liquefied biomethane (bioLNG) is being doubled to approximately 200 GWh per annum, investments are underway that contribute to further climate benefits, including the process of food certification of the captured biogenic carbon dioxide (bioCO2).
Today, we are extra proud of our role as pioneers in the development of biogas and how we have worked for 30 years to convert waste into resources. It is a circular economy with great climate benefits in practice! Now we hope for stability and a long-term perspective on the biogas issue – it is crucial that we get political instruments that we can relate to in the long term, so that we can continue to contribute to positive climate effects in the best way possible, said Anna Lövsén, Head of the Biogas Unit at Tekniska Verken.
During the inauguration, Sweden’s Minister for Climate and Environment, Romina Pourmokhtari, among others, participated in a panel discussion on the role of biogas in both local supply and preparedness, as well as its contribution to reducing global emissions.
Minister Pourmokhtari highlighted how Tekniska Verken is helping to transform an emissions problem into a resource, and also emphasized that her task will now be to drive investments within the EU to expand the infrastructure needed around carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), among other things.
The government is investing a record amount in Klimatklivet in the coming years, precisely to enable more groundbreaking solutions like this facility we inaugurated today. What makes this facility unique is that carbon dioxide can be used as a useful resource instead of constituting a problem, Minister Romina Pourmokhtari said.
The facility, which is located in proximity to the Tekniska Verken combined heat and power (CHP) plant along the E4 outside Linköping, has, among other things, received a new biogas gas upgrading unit, a biomethane liquefaction plant for bioLNG, two new digesters, new reception halls and a new substrate input to be able to take in both solid and liquid raw materials to be digested into biogas.
There is also a new bunker with a crane that automatically feeds food waste into the pre-treatment unit.
Finally, the facility has been supplemented with a CO2 liquefaction plant and storage tanks for liquefied biogenic carbon dioxide (bioLCO2), which can hold approximately 280 tonnes of purified bioLCO2.
We look forward to our captured carbon dioxide being used for various processes and goods. There are customers who are waiting for this product. For example, it can be used to increase growth in greenhouses, to cool food, or to make carbonated drinks when it becomes food-approved. Today, our biogas already has over 95 percent lower climate impact than fossil fuels. When we utilize carbon dioxide instead of releasing it into the atmosphere, the effect is even over 100 percent when a fossil alternative is replaced with our biogas, concluded Anna Lövsén.
