WELTEC BIOPOWER adds to biogas plant portfolio in Greece

The German company WELTEC BIOPOWER has built three more biogas plants in Greece, designed together with its Greek co-operation partner Tetoros Machinery. WELTEC BIOPOWER has already implemented a total of around 36 biogas plants and projects in the country since 2007.
Two of these are located in the Epirus region, in northwestern Greece: a 1-megawatt plant in the town of Arta and a 500-kilowatt plant in Ioannina, the latter of which will begin production this autumn.
The third one, a 250-kilowatt biogas plant project, was erected in Serres, in central Macedonia. Here, the plant is also undergoing an upgrade to 750 kilowatts.
The region around Epirus is rural, as poultry and cattle production dominate the local economy, according to WELTEC BIOPOWER.
As in many other intensive farming areas, the biomass supply there is higher than the processing capacity of the existing plants.
The construction of new biogas plants and the modernisation of existing ones are therefore profitable, especially since such projects are supported by subsidies.
The rich substrate supply at the three plant locations was an important factor in the investment decisions.
At the 1-megawatt plant in Arta, 150 tons of cattle slurry and 50 tons of dry chicken manure are processed daily.
At the biogas plant site in Ioannina, the daily input is made up of 100 tons of cattle slurry and 30 tons of dry chicken manure.
In Serres, a substrate mix of 40 tons of cattle manure and 10 tons of energy plants enters the stainless steel digester daily. Here, in addition to his cattle farming, the operator owns land on which corn is grown.
At all three sites, the materials are first sent to a pre-storage tank. Special agitators and pump technology ensures the pretreatment.
In the digesters, the proven agitators then mix the substrates for efficient biogas production.
The two digesters in Arta each hold 4436 cbm, in Ioannina there is a 3993-cbm digester, and the tank in Serres measures 4905 cbm.
"All tanks are made of high-grade stainless steel," said the responsible process engineer at WELTEC BIOPOWER, Tobias Peuker. According to him, the fermentation residue from the digester with its high nutrient content can also be used as fertiliser afterwards.