Biogas motor fuel from the farm
Project
Production of biogas to be used as motor fuel.
Project owner
BAW AG
Initial situation
Agrigas in Widnau is the first agricultural biogas project supported by the Foundation in which biogas is processed and fed into the natural gas grid as motor fuel. Three farmers from Widnau (canton St. Gallen) are jointly setting up the biogas facility. 100 livestock units of dairy cows and 400 livestock units of feeding and breeding pigs provide a good basis to operate an agricultural biogas facility. Additionally, the installation processes vegetable waste, green waste, carrots and potatoes from the surrounding area.
Due to Klimarappen
Thanks to the Foundation, the biogas produced from various feedstocks is refined into biogas of natural gas quality, which makes sense given that a natural gas grid is located 300 m from the facility. 10% of the biogas produced are used to heat the fermenter. Every year, around 48’000 Nm3 of biogas are fed into the natural gas grid. Once fermented, the manure is separated into its solid and liquid components. Compared to the crude manure, the resulting thin manure displays numerous positive properties: it is almost odourless, more gentle to plants and has better fertilising properties. The solid matter undergoes aerobic after-treatment and thus becomes a valuable fertilising alternative.
Savings
The motor fuel project in Widnau makes it possible to replace natural gas with climate-friendly biogas, reducing an annual 968 tonnes of CO2.
