Construction underway on two EnviTec Biogas projects in China

Construction is underway on two EnviTec Biogas projects in China.

The two plants, in the Chinese provinces of Henan and Qinxian, were slightly delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but are now firmly back on track.

Jörg Fischer, the board member with responsibility for China at EnviTec Biogas, said: “For us, these are already our sixth and seventh projects in China, whose biomethane production will go online no later than mid-year 2021.

“Our local Chinese team was able to restart work back in May, which meant we were able to avoid any longer delays to our projects.”

Project number six will be built near the city of Lankao, in the Chinese province of Henan. The client is a member of the PowerChina Group, a Chinese state-run enterprise. The customer signed a cooperation agreement with EnviTec in 2018.

“We have just sent 22 containers loaded with our biogas technology on its way to Lankao,” said Fischer.

Stefan Dehne, EnviTec technical sales manager, said: “For this project, EnviTec is handling all of the engineering and supplying the main components, while also supporting our partner in the construction and commissioning work, and naturally carrying out training for the operators of the EnviTec systems.”

The biomethane produced independently by the operating company will later be used in the fuel sector.

The seventh project will be built near the city of Qinxian in the province of Shanxi. The Qinxian biogas project is the fifth in China in which EnviTec is supplying the three-stage EnviThan gas upgrading technology. Patented by Evonik, this three-stage membrane gas upgrading procedure enables biogas to be refined to biomethane with low levels of methane loss.

The operating firm for the Qinxian plant will be Shanxi Energy & Traffic Investment, which worked with EnviTec on the Shenmu Yuanping project. Once completed, the four digesters in the biogas plant will generate around 37,000 Nm³ of biogas every day from agricultural waste such as corn stover, which is then upgraded into biomethane.

“The Chinese government has nailed its colours to the mast in terms of renewables – and both biogas and biomethane will play a major and crucial role in meeting the targets of Beijing’s policy planning.”