Verbio receives funding for biomethane from straw project

Virbio Energy, a biofuel producer, has received over €22 million in EU funding to demonstrate its technology for the production of biomethane from straw.

The €22.3 million grant was awarded under the NER300 initiative, which provides funding for demonstration projects for technology related to renewable energy over a five year period. The Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe (German Agency for Renewable Resources – FNR) will provide administrative support for this EU project.

The project has been launched and it is intended that biomethane produced solely from straw will be fed-in at the Verbio plant in Schwedt, Germany later this year.

Verbio CEO Claus Sauter says: 'The funding is an incentive to increase the share of biomethane in the biofuel market. Biomethane is a real all-rounder amongst the renewable sources of energy; it is easy to store and can therefore be deployed at all times irrespective of its point of origin.'

Andreas Schutte, MD of the FNR, comments: 'Theoretically, Germany could use up to 10 million tonnes of the straw produced each year for energy production without compromising soil fertility, and thus increase the proportion of energy sources represented by renewable energy. The processing of straw into biomethane provides an attractive solution in this regard and does not in any way compete with the production of foodstuffs or animal feed.'