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Biocycla: A project developed by the

two companies: L.e.e. and Claas

Agrosystems with the support of Eco-

Innovation

Call Identifier: CIP-EIP-Eco Innovation-2008

BIOCYCLA- Eco/08/238910

Layman report

Date released: 14/12/2010

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Content

1.What will Agrocom-Biogas bring into the EU biogas field?

2. Where are the potential markets for the use of Agrocom-Biogas and what is the demand of the market?

3.What are the components of Agrocom-Biogas?

4.What are the sustainability aspects generated by this project?

5.What are the benefits at the EU level?

6.Contacts

Project Overview

WHAT is the project about?Over the two year duration of the project, the main objective of Biocycla is to develop and bring to the European market an expert management system (EMS) designed for operators of biogas plants. Agrocom-Biogas, is a software tool which manages the biogas plant flows allowing for rationalized and environmental friendly management of the production chain in biogas plants.

WHY is the development of such software interesting? Biocycla stands for Optimizing Agricultural Biogas Cycle Management System and aims at solving issues biogas plants owners face in their in their daily operation of a biogas plant. Numbers of biogas plants in the EU are running under fragile economical situations. Processes and material flows are not closely monitored and optimised, leading to losses in resource use efficiency. Transport logistics are mismanaged leading to non optimal use of energy. Residuals of the fermentation have to find exiting outlets on limited agricultural areas, sometimes leading to overfertilisation.

WHERE is Agrocom-Biogas tested?

WHO are the partners involved?

Claas Agrosystems:GermanySpecialized in the design of operational softwares in the agricultural field, Claas Agrosystems has a deep knowledge of the construction of Master System for complex agricultural situations. It focuses mainly on creating systems from the point of view of the user and finding holistic solutions for crop farming and livestock farming. The company structure incorporates all stages of a product cycle from development and advice to customer service for the user.

L.e.e. : Coordinator

LuxembourgThe innovative engineering company demonstrates since 2000 its expertise in the application and utilisation of the biogas technology to biomass.Covering the entire spectrum of biogas generation, the plants designed by L.e.e. can be either small and decentralized farm-scale biogas plants or sophisticated large-scale digesters valorising industrial biowaste, food waste and organic municipal solid waste. Moreover, L.e.e brings experience in coordinating EC-projects, research and dissemination of research results.

Luxembourg: Redange installed capacity: 1.380 MW el input material: organic waste and energy plant cropsCooperative of 29 farmers

Germany: Wilburgstetteninstalled capacity: 1.200 MW elinput materials: manure, grass and energy plant crops

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BETTER MANAGED BIOGAS PLANTS

Strongly supported by the EU regulations in favour of renewable energy, the biogas technology is steadily making its progression in the renewable energy mix. However, just as any other sector, biogas operators are faced with economical constraints and profitability targets.

As the sector is rather new and in consolidation, there is a lack of information on the optimal management of a biogas plant . Best practices are not well disseminated. Especially in the case of agricultural plants, the complexity of the management is linked to the number of farmers, parcels, input material and output zones.

Via Agrocom-Biogas, simplified administration, continuous stock administration, judicious choice of biomass in terms of price and energy output will cut operating costs.

FACILITATED LEGAL COMPLIANCE OF PLANTS

Awareness to environmental regulation is growing, legislation becoming stricter; biogas plants operators and farmers still do not have efficient management tools to meet these requirements.

The biogas operators in the agricultural sector are in general aware of the necessity of environmental protection, of clean and economical waste recycling and optimised management of energy and agriculture. However, they do not possess the tool to implement such actions without high costs.

The application of biodigestate (after anaerobic digestion) instead of raw manure is a first step towards sustainability. Yet, precise management of application is vital in order to protect the soil from an overload of nutrients and to comply to the Nitrate Directive. This optimal precision will be brought by Agrocom-Biogas.

SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO THE EU TARGETS IN TERMS OF ECO-INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS

As a result of the 2001 renewable energy directive (2001/77/CE), the share of renewables in the energy use has to increase by 20% by 2020. This implies a diversity of sources in order to create a sustainable renewable energy mix.

Biogas should obtain a predominant place in this energy mix, since it is not only in line with the directive for 20% renewables, but also with the one for reduction of greenhouse gases. In fact, greenhouse gas emissions have to be reduced by at least 20% of 1990 levels by 2020. Sustaining biogas production is important to meet E.U targets.

Whilst fostering the profitability of biogas plants, the facilitated management of fertiliser application, the increased compliance to environmental regulation, the project will sustain the development of the overall biogas sector.

What will Agrocom-Biogas bring into the EU biogas field?

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Where are the potential markets for the use of

Agrocom-Biogas?According to Eurobserv’ER: agricultural biogas units (combining liquid manure with substandard cereals, for instance), and also centralized co-digestion units (liquid manure with other organic matter and/or animal waste) and solid household waste methanisation units, accounted for almost half Europe’s biogas production, i.e. 48.2% in 2008.(source: Systèmes solaires, le journal des énergies renouvelables numéro 186)

The partners target Germany, Luxembourg, France, Belgium and Denmark because they already have durable activities in these countries and biogas production is already settled.

But important agricultural countries like Poland or France are expected to grow quickly as well as eastern/southern Europe countries. Austria is also a booming market that will be considered.

Primary energy production of biogas in the EU in 2007 in ktoesource: Systèmes solaires, le journal des énergies renouvelables, numéro 186, 2008

What is the market demand ?

>>> One biogas plant: one management software-A single tool tackling the whole production chain of the biogas plants and its flows.

>>> A software facilitating Management and Monitoring:-Collective plants are often lacking in structure, leading not only to a mismanagement of materials inputs and outputs but also processes.

-Monitoring and optimization are two important aspects in preventing losses in resources, energy and financial resources.

-Output quantities have to be monitored to avoid an overfertilisation of the limited agricultural areas.

-Finding outlets to spread the total quantity of biofertiliser is crucial.

>>>A multi-tasking software designed for the end-user to enable:- planning and monitoring functions - documentation of activities- management of flows and logistics- visualisation and navigation functionalities

Landfill Biogas

Waste water treatment plants Biogas

Agricultural Biogas

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Simplified administrative management of the biogas plant and waste managementInvoicing of the incoming biomasses (energy content, characteristics); Input of soils analysis for the different crop cultivations; documentation of the organic and chemical fertilizer spread on the fields.

Simplified geographical management of the biogas plant’s parcels.Geo database with all parcels, showing fertilizer usage and yield data from the forage harvester; logistic plan capabilities for the machine fleet; possibility to use the geo informations in the mobile navigation system.

Management of flows and their economical impacts on the planMonitoring of stocks and flows of different input biomasses, residual product (biodigestate), organization of transport of biomasses and biodigestate to be spread in precise and different quantities in diverse locations.

Rationalized use of input material for the plant yield: costs for biomasses (current and maximal purchase price), calculation of the quantity of energy to be produced and sold to the grid per type of biomass; control of the process’ biology for yield monitoring.

Management of flows and impacts on environmentOrganization of the logistics for biodigestate; monitoring of the biodigestate’s spreading depending on needs, maximum loads and water protected areas.

Sustainable use of biodigestate on f i e l d s : c a l c u l a t i o n o f t h e biodigestate’s nutrients balance in regards to the calculated nutrients demand of the soil; calculation of organic and mineral quantities of fertilizer to be spread and calculation of CO2 emitted by transport.

What are the components of Agrocom-Biogas?

Daily issues of a biogas plant operator:

Which farmer delivered which type of biomass and in which quantity?

When to buy biomass considering the prices evolutions?

How much energy and biogas slurry resulted from the mix of manure/ energy crops/ organic waste?

How much fertilizer should be spread, on which fields ?

How to optimize the transportation and spreading of biodigestate?

How much chemical fertilizer to spread knowing the quantities of biodigestate already spread?

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SOCIETY

Potential for job creation

As a direct impact, the project will create jobs in the companies involved with the development of a sales team as well as a training and assistance team. At least 5 new jobs can be expected to reenforce the team capacity.

As an indirect impact, the EMS will have a job saving effect and limitation of money outflow from the region. The economy of plants will be strengthened, leading to a win-win potential for biogas plants owners, operating teams and the sector in general. Improvement in profitability of biogas plants will motivate more people to adopt the technology, therefore creating more jobs in the sector (especially qualified jobs).

ENVIRONMENT

Optimized application of biodigestate

Following the process of anaerobic digestion in the biogas plant, the residual by-product can be reused and spread on the fields. This liquid fertilizer, in contrary to raw manure, can be spread, tracked and documented in precise amounts and better assimilated by soils. Therefore, it limits nitrogen losses and environmental impacts. It can be foreseen, that the biodigestate application on the fields (being tracked and documented in terms of amounts

and parcels) will predictably abide to t h e r e g u l a t i o n , t h u s a v o i d i n g overfertilisation.

Optimization of transport

The EMS organizes the transport logistics for the input biomasses and output spread of the biodigestate, thus reducing fuel consumption. This will lead to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. A fuel reduction of 5 to 20% is estimated.

ECONOMY

Optimization of biogas yield

The so f tware w i l l a s s i s t i n t he optimization of the biogas yield while monitoring closely right input and right mix of biomass.

Improved performance

During the Biocycla project, the EMS is beeing implemented on 2 s i tes : Wilburgstetten and Redange. The adaptation of the software to both plants will generate an optimized economical performance, which will be monitored.

Improvement in economical performance will not only benefit plant owners but a lso the sector in general . The profitability of biogas plants has always been at stake when not well managed. If, the project brings positive results, it will enhance the biogas market to develop steadily.

Direct local impacts:

Improved environmental performance:

-optimisation of flows-optimisation of transport and logistics-integrated waste management

Better use of natural resources:

-production of renewable energy-reduction of other resources consumption like fossil fuels-valorisation of waste-valorisation of biomass-reduction of CO2 emissions

Improved economic performance:

-facilitated management and costs reduction-facilitated decision-making processes-development of a professional replicable software

What are the sustainability aspects generated by this project?

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What are the benefits at the EU level?

CLIMATE CHANGEThe improved economic performance will strengthen the renewable energy sector and more precisely, the biogas sector in Europe. Moreover, the switch to renewable fuel will reduce CO2 emissions to fulfill EU targets.

AGRICULTUREReducing pollution in the European-Union and elsewhere, due to intensive agriculture, is a well-known necessity. The project Biocycla targets directly the nitrate problem, and will benefit to all different countries. As local impacts widely spread, it can be expected that the positive effects will be multiplied on the global environment. Moreover, cleaner agricultural practices will help the whole sector to evolve in line with the European goals for the Common Agriculture Policy.

INNOVATIONThe project Biocycla supports an innovative software, pioneer in its category, because considering the whole supply chain. Innovations, in the sector of renewable energies, are really important for its development.

ECO-COMPETITIVENESSReconciling environmental goals with increased profitability in the supply chain of agricultural biogas production eliminates the overcosts of environmental protection. Bringing SMEs to the way of sustainability will even create an added value because of their new competitivity and eco-friendliness. In order to achieve the EU target 20% of renewable, the biogas sector needs to accrue its profitability, which is one of the main goals of Biocycla.

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L.e.e. s.a.r.l Thorsten KLAES

33 rue Hiehl

L-6131 Junglister

Luxembourg

Tel: +352-26 78 34-1

Fax: +352-26-78-34-44

website: lee.lu

Claas Agrosystems GmbH & Co KG Benedikt WIGGEN

Baeckerkamp 19

33330 Guetersloh

Germany

Tel: +49 (0) 52 41/ 3006-4857

Fax: + 49 (0) 52 41/ 300 6-48 01

website: claas-agrosystems.com

Bioc

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Contacts