Loick Bioenergie expands with two new EnviThan gas upgrading plants

Loick Bioenergie has strengthened its renewable energy portfolio with the addition of two new EnviThan gas upgrading plants, commissioned from long-standing partner EnviTec Biogas.
The Dorsten-based company, which already operates 40 biogas and photovoltaic projects across Germany, is expanding capacity at its biogas plants in Heiligengrabe, Brandenburg, and Hennstedt, Schleswig-Holstein.
“In Heiligengrabe, we have already successfully brought a biomethane plant with a capacity of 360 Nm³/h into operation,” confirmed Stefan Laumann, Head of Gas Upgrading at EnviTec Anlagenbau GmbH.
“The biggest challenge here was the limited space on site, which required precise fine-tuning of all components and a highly compact design.”
The original Heiligengrabe biogas plant, built in 2009, has been modernised to run primarily on cattle slurry, chicken manure, and separated cattle slurry, with only a small proportion of maize.
The new EnviThan facility treats the biogas to grid quality via a dedicated raw gas pre-treatment system. Any residual methane in the exhaust gas is eliminated through regenerative thermal oxidation (RTO), with the resulting renewable natural gas injected directly into the existing grid.
The second project, a 397 Nm³/h EnviThan plant in Hennstedt, has already been manufactured and is currently in storage at EnviTec’s Saerbeck production facility.
It will be installed following completion of modernisation works at the biogas plant later this year. Once operational, the plant will supply biomethane to an on-site combined heat and power (CHP) unit, while separated CO₂ will be harnessed in a nearby greenhouse.
“We are looking forward to the final commissioning and to strengthening our network with two state-of-the-art facilities,” said Hubert Loick, Managing Director of Loick Bioenergie.
He praised EnviTec’s “flexibility and solution-oriented approach” in adapting the projects to existing plants, adding: “This required not only expertise, but also a great deal of sensitivity.”
EnviTec Biogas has now built more than 100 EnviThan upgrading plants worldwide, since first deploying the technology at its pilot site in Sachsendorf.
“Over the past 13 years, our process has set milestones in the international gas upgrading market – across Europe, in China, and in the USA,” said Laumann. In total, EnviTec has delivered biomethane upgrading capacity of 41,400 Nm³/h globally.