Schmack Biogas has been awarded a contract for the construction of a biomethane plant in Épaux-Bézu (Picardy) in northern France, its first delivery to the country.
Schmack Biogas, a Viessmann Group company, has been awarded a contract for the construction of a biomethane plant in Épaux-Bézu (Picardy) in northern France. The customer is Letang Hoche Biogaz, SARL, a local joint enterprise formed by the farmers Letang and Hoche. The farming industry in the Département de l’Aisne in the Picardy Region mainly produces cereal and vegetable crops. The plant will use vegetable waste and catch crops as feedstock.
The planned biogas plant is expected to be able to produce 500 Nm3/h of raw biogas.The raw biogas will be upgraded biomethane with a methane content of at least 97 percent by means of pressure-swing adsorption (PSA process). As a result, the biogas will be natural gas-grade and will be able to be fed into Épaux-Bézu’s local supply network.
Schmack Carbotech, the Viessmann Group’s biogas upgrading specialist, will supply the gas processing plant. Schmack Biogas will supply the biogas plant, and is responsible for the entire project in its role as the general contractor. SAS THIRION a local partnership company of Viessmann is also involved in processing. It is expected that biomethane will start being fed into the natural gas network in July 2016.
France is the biggest agricultural producer in the EU and therefore offers one of the largest biomass potential markets for the production of biogas. Since the feed-in tariff for biogas was revised in 2011, there has been greater demand for the fermentation of biowaste and organic residues from the agricultural industry in France. This feed-in tariff is a benefit to small gas processing agriculture plants.
