GLOBAL PARTNER Editorial

Renewable Resources in Bavaria PROFILES PORTRAITS PERSPECTIVES

Renewable resources in the name of the future

Bavaria has been making a meaningful contri- Which key concept helps us out from the bution to energy supply in a time of diminis- energy cost trap? hing fossil resources, to sustainability and environment protection for many years. Then and now, sustainable resources offer On an international level, Bavaria is the first place to go, with the important pillars Kom- many possibilities, perspectives and beyond petenzzentrum für Nachwachsende Rohstoffe that, outstanding chances for the future. (KoNaRo, competence centre for renewable resources), C.A.R.M.E.N. e.V., TU München, Fraunhofer–IGB as well as the Straubing BioCampus, which reinforces and supports Walter Fürst science and companies for project develop- Manager ment, networking and innovation processes. You can also find this publication online at In the context of the renewable energy transi- www.media-mind.info tion, the biogas branch has known highs and lows, but ensured its continued use with the Masthead: 2017 EEG. Publisher: media mind GmbH & Co. KG The economic and ecological potential of Hans-Bunte-Str. 5 80992 München “renewable resources” are illustrated by this Telefon: +49 (0) 89 23 55 57-3 publication: Telefax: +49 (0) 89 23 55 57-47 How is the extraction of resources for energy E-mail: [email protected] www.media-mind.info and materials to be ensured in the 21st century? Managing director: Walter Fürst, Jürgen Bauernschmitt What role does the marketing and energy net- Desig + DTP: Jürgen Bauernschmitt work C.A.R.M.E.N. e.V. play in terms of sustainable resources, renewable energy and resource Prepress: media mind GmbH & Co. KG usage? Responsible editor: Ilse Schallwegg How can the biobattery concept contribute to Printed by: Druckerei Frischmann, Amberg the energy transition? Published annually: 1 mal jährlich Which path does the professional association © 2017/2018 by media mind GmbH & Co. KG Biogas e.V. show its members in terms of active No part of this magazine may be stored, copied or reproduced contributions to renewable energy? without the written consent of the editorial office Foreword

Bavaria attaches great value to the directly from the forest. This this benefits the environment and production and utilisation of means energy-producing wood also offers excellent opportunities renewable natural resources, with alone covers over 5% of primary for agriculture, forestry and the biomass from agriculture and energy consumption. entire economy in Bavaria. forestry covering around 10% of Furthermore, an integrated food, primary energy consumption. Agriculture is the second key energy and raw materials manage- This makes renewable natural source of renewable energy. ment system has gradually be- resources the number one source Renewable natural resources are come established and forms part of renewable energy in Bavaria. cultivated on around 450,000 hec- of a bio-based economy or “bio- Using biomass also reduces the tares – 14% of agricultural acrea- economy”. I see this bioeconomy as dependence on energy imports ge in Bavaria – and provide the a key point of focus for the future on a lasting basis and makes an basis for biogas plants and biofuel and a great opportunity for Bava- active contribution to climate production. A smaller proportion ria with its abundance of farmland protection. Thanks to the use of is put to material use and goes and woodland. In view of the biomass, around 9 million tonnes into the production of permanent limited resources available, we less CO2 is generated in Bavaria crops, short rotation coppice, need new, sustainable approaches each year. Miscanthus, tall wheatgrass and in order to produce the raw mate- cup plant. rials required for our modern-day The utilisation of biomass is also lives. The wide-ranging possibili- a key economic factor, generating We also have an impressive infra- ties and prospects of renewable an annual turnover of approxi- structure. Bavaria currently op- natural resources offer excellent mately 2 billion euros in Bavaria. erates just under 2,400 biogas opportunities for Bavaria‘s future. Farmers and forest owners utilise plants with a total installed rated their operating resources as effi- electrical output of 882 MW. ciently as possible. This type of This means it is home to around diversification secures their in- a third of such plants in Germany. come as independent entrepre- In addition, there are approxi- neurs and creates both jobs and mately 3,400 large-scale wood- added value in rural areas. based biomass plants in operation, most of which are used to supply Wood is the most important heat, and another 2 million or so renewable natural resource, followed small-scale wood boilers. by biogas and biofuels. Bavaria‘s total annual consumption of ener- Bavaria has already achieved a gy-producing wood amounts to very high level when it comes to Helmut Brunner 5.9 million tonnes or 13.3 million using renewable natural resourc- Bavarian State Minister solid cubic metres, most of it es. It goes without saying that for Food, Agriculture and Forestry Bioeconomy grows in Straubing, Bavaria‘s „Region of Renewable Raw Materials“

Our society faces great challenges. A central topic of the 21.century is the sustainable sourcing of raw materials for energy and materials beyond fossil fuel – even more so in times of the climate contract of Paris or the German “Energiewende”.The concept of bioeconomy as a sustainable economic system based on biological resources and in which renewable raw materials play a decisive role, offers solutions. That is why Straubing in Lower Bavaria brands as “Region of Renewable Raw Materials”. The Free State of Bavaria clusters its activities in the areas of research, education, utilization and marketing around the topic of biomass in Straubing. The region is headed to become a best practice region within the fast-growing European bioeconomy. The raw materials needed are just a stone‘s throw away. What cannot be harvested off the fertile lower Bavarian “Gäuboden” area and the wood-rich “Bavarian Forest”, can be provided via Straubing‘s high-performing Danube port, mainly from the macroregion Danube area.

Infrastructure for biobased scaling and demonstration of scien- biotechnology and bioeconomy economy and research tific research results. Especially the aim to educated up to 1.000 stu- Straubing‘s Danube port specializes KoNaRo-part Scientific Center dents in 2019. A regional business in biomass handling. It establishes a Straubing will undergo massive cluster “renewable raw materials” profile as Green Chemistry Port development in the coming years. which is managed by the BioCam- and offers a dedicated area for bio- 18 new chairs and four new Bache- pus Straubing GmbH, supports based industry applications called lors and four new Masters degree both scientists and businesses re- BioCampus, the BioCubator En- programs on bioprocess engineer- garding project development, net- trepreneur‘s Centre, as well as ing, biobased materials, industrial working and innovation processes, ready-to-built on industrial sites. Here, companies working along the biomass value chain can find fit- ting options for laboratories, offices and business spaces. Above this, space for test cultivation of diverse plantbased resources is readily available. Distances in Straubing are short: the internationally renowned Cen- tre of Competence for Renewable Raw Materials (KoNaRo), where, amongst others, chairs of the TU Munich do research on chemical- material and energetic utilization of biomass and the Fraunhofer IGB institutional part BioCat are located in close proximity to Straubing- Sand, the Green Chemistry Port 4 Million tons of goods are handled on average per anno in the Straubing Danube port – especially on the water freight side, biomass makes up a big part

BioCampus BioCampus Straubing and its area dedicated for the up- BioCampus Straubing

Your qualified partner for general planning and consultation within the energy and environmental engineering

The IGMPLAN with its part- ners is a team with lots of expe- riences and high professional The Straubing Centre of Sciences is growing: new study programmes are being competence. developed, among them bioeconomy and industrial biotechnology. (Foto: Herbert Stolz) In the special field of bioenergy strengthening Straubing‘s compe- Green Chemistry Port plants our mission is the mini- tences as a best practice region for Straubing‘s combination of sus- mal use of fossil resources and the utilization of renewable raw tainable resource availability, highly energy sources. materials. In close cooperation with specialized infrastructure and ex- the actors of the KoNaRo, the Bio- cellent scientific expertise depicts Campus also works in the field of an ideal source for innovations and PR in order to inform the general start-ups and thus a unique feature public about the region‘s activities within the European site compe- in the field. tition. International bioeconomy

For expansion of the district heating supply with renewable resources we were active as general planner for the biomass heat and power plant BioHKW II from Fernwärme Ulm GmbH.

Furthermore IGMPLAN was authorized to plan decentral- ized solutions for communities, objects and locations with local heat networks, wood-chip heat plants, pellet- and barkfired systems from 100 kW to 20 MW in the last years.

IGMPLAN GmbH Planungsgesellschaft für Energie- und Umwelttechnik Ein Unternehmen in der

Mr. Jens Kötting Phone +49 / (0)89/724 68 61–0 Laboratories dedicated for biotechnological and microbiological research and businesses E-Mail: [email protected] have been furnished in the BioCubator. The Biotech-Startup CASCAT GmbH has found its www.igmplan.de new home here BioCampus Straubing

players such as the agrogiant ADM or the Swiss speciality chemicals company Clariant already make use of this position in the port of Straubing. ADM in its rapeseed mill processes thousands of tons of rapeseed for the bio- diesel production on a daily basis. In its demonstration plant, Clariant tests different types of lignocellu- losic feedstock in its sunliquid© process, which transforms agricultural residue material into bio- ethanol without burdening food and feed sources.

Investing in Green Start Ups The region‘s special focus lies on stimulating and supporting young Biomass is one of the major freight types handled in the port of Straubing and innovative start up companies and spin-offs originating in Strau- make their business idea reality. turing of biobased chemicals, bing‘s scientific milieu. Especially On top of this, the BioCubator CASCAT was able to win the in invest-intensive branches such entrepreneur‘s centre now offers first volume of the “PlanB” busi- as green chemistry, biotechnology modern microbiological lab spaces ness plan competition. or environmental and energy at a reasonable rate which can be Overall, the region‘s goal is to fur- engineering, there is a gap bet- rented to young companies with a ther strengthen Straubing‘s role ween potential and realization. need for lab. Start ups which can- on the international bioeconomy- Tailor-made offers are thus target- not afford equipping a full-fledged stage in the years to come and ed to stimulating entrepreneurs- laboratory thus get ideal circum- renewable raw materials will have hip. At the heart of these efforts stances for a successful start into to play a decisive role. lies the business plan competition the business world. The first 150 “PlanB – Biomass. Business. Bava- m2 lab space have already been ria” organized by the BioCampus rented to the young biotech-start Straubing GmbH. up CASCAT GmbH. CASCAT The competition has taken place is a spin-off originating at the Authors: twice yet and has accompanied Centre of Science Straubing. Diplom-Ökonom almost 50 young founders from all With its innovative cascading syn- Andreas Löffert over Bavaria on their journey to thesis processes for the manufac- Director

Ann-Kathrin Kaufmann Project manager

BioCampus Straubing GmbH

Europaring 4 94315 Straubing/Germany Phone: +49-(0)9421 – 785 – 150 Fax: +49 – (0)9421 – 785 – 55 The ensemble of the technology- and start up centre Straubing on the left and Email: [email protected] the BioCubator on the right www.biocampus-straubing.de Biogas – An All-Rounder as Energy Carrier

Heat, Power and Fuel

Introduction Biogas is produced through the anaerobic digestion (methane fer- mentation) of organic matter in natural or technical systems. It is a mixture of the main components methane, carbon dioxide and water vapor as well as additional trace gases (Table 1). The methane Tab. 2: Global sources of methane from natural and technical systems producing microorganisms (me- thanogenic archaea) are the final Biogas is termed an all-rounder Biogas can be utilized on site or, link in a food chain and live in among renewable energy carriers after upgrading, fed into the gas close association with syntrophic because: grid to substitute natural gas; and bacteria (Schieder et al., 2015). finally The process of methane fermen- The range of potential feedstocks tation is the dominant source of for biogas production is very wide, The digested residue (digestate) methane emissions into the including residues / waste, e.g., can be used in agriculture and hor- atmosphere. As summarized in from agriculture, food processing ticulture to (partly) replace mineral Table 2, the total amount of me- industry and municipalities, as well fertilizer for resource protection. thane produced in anaerobic as energy crops; digestion plants is still about two While not economically viable in the orders of magnitude lower than The design and scale of the tech- short run, it is expected that biogas the sum of all other methane nology can be adjusted to different biorefineries in which the biogas (or its sources. input materials and site conditions; precursors) is used as energy carrier Since the global warming poten- and raw material will become feasi- tial of methane is 25 times stronger There are various pathways for ble in the medium to long term. than that of carbon dioxide (over utilizing biogas as an energy car- a 100-year time horizon), it is rier to supply heat, electricity or Biogas production essential to minimize the leakage transport fuel, or in coupling with The process of biogas production and maximize the utilization effi- electricity from wind or solar is a sequence of interlinked reac- ciency of biogas in anaerobic power by means of the “power- tion steps whereby the original digestion plants. to-gas” technology; organic matter is broken down into smaller molecules and, finally, methane and carbon dioxide. Dif- ferent groups of microorganisms are involved that use the products of the preceding steps for their metabolism. Technically, the pro- Tab. 1: Typical ranges for the composition of biogas from anaerobic digestion plants.

Biogas cess can be implemented by the Biogas

Fig. 1: Schematic of material flows and utilization pathways for biogas. use of one or several reactors/ biogas have to be removed to the An alternative technology to reci- digesters. most part. The CHP units achieve procating engines is micro gas tur- In the agricultural sector, the main electrical efficiencies of 30 to 45 % bines. These are marked by very low input materials are so-called ener- and thermal efficiencies of 55 to 40 pollutant emissions but a signifi- gy crops (whole crop silage from %. To meet the respective emission cantly lower electrical efficiency. maize or cereals, grass silage, etc.) limits and still reach a high electri- Together with their relatively high which have a relatively high bio- cal efficiency, the exhaust gas has price, they are currently not an eco- gas yield with respect to fresh to be treated with a catalytic con- nomical alternative in the agricultural weight. Animal slurries have the verter or by post-combustion. sector (Effenberger et al., 2006) second highest share as input materials in German biogas plants, but their biogas yield is only about a tenth of that of energy crops. In the municipal sector, the utilization of organic residues and bio-waste in biogas plants is growing.

Biogas utilization Currently, the biogas from anaerobic digestion plants is mainly used for combined heat and power production (CHP), em- ploying reciprocating engines with an electrical power output of 30 kilowatts up to several mega- watts. For this purpose, water Fig. 2: View of a biogas driven co-generation unit with reciprocating engine (center) and generator (left side; Photo: LfL) vapor and hydrogen sulfide in the Biogas

In most cases, the electricity that technology) or as chemical feed- along the process chain; and the is produced from biogas is fed stock. Biomethane can be used on amount of fossil energy carriers into the grid, completely, and all possible pathways to reduce that is substituted by biogas. As remunerated at the rates specified imports of natural gas and miti- illustrated in Figure 3 for three in the Renewable Energy Act. As gate global warming. case studies from farms in Bavaria, far as the thermal output of the using biogas to replace fossil CHP unit is concerned, in middle Utilization of the energy carriers can significantly European climate up to 20 % are digested residue reduce greenhouse gas emissions. needed to heat the digesters. To The residue from anaerobic dige- Farm 1 uses mainly annual crops optimize the greenhouse gas and stion is a valuable fertilizer for for biogas production. The CO2- energy balances of the biogas agriculture, provided that no con- equivalent emissions from crop- plant, as much of the surplus taminated input materials were ping as well as from building and thermal energy as feasible has to used in the biogas plant. There is operating the biogas plant with be utilized to substitute fossil clear evidence that the digestion CHP production amount to 271 energy carriers. Possible heat process has a partial sanitizing g per kWh of electricity fed into consumers are households, public effect so that the germ counts in the grid. The largest part of the buildings and swimming pools, the digested residue are always surplus heat output from the industry, and drying facilities for much lower than in the input CHP unit is utilized to substitute agricultural goods (see Figure 1). If materials. natural gas for heating. In a life there is no adequate direct use for Due to the mineralization of cycle approach, these avoided the heat, it can be utilized in tri- organically bound nitrogen in the CO2-equivalent emissions almost generation units for cooling. input materials, higher concentra- compensate the GHG emissions Another option is to use the heat tions of ammonium nitrogen are from the biogas chain, giving a net in an Organic-Rankine-Cycle or found in digested animal slurries value of 2 g CO2-equivalents for steam engine to generate electri- compared to raw animal manures. electricity from this plant. For the city, though the electrical effi- Therefore, while the mineral fer- case of Farm 2, heat sales are ciency of these processes is only tilizer equivalent of these organic lower, but the avoided emissions 10 to 15 %. fertilizers is increased, it is indis- from conventional storage of the As an alternative to electricity pensable to minimize nitrogen pig manure that is diverted to the generation on site, the biogas can losses via ammonia volatilization biogas plant are almost equivalent be upgraded to so-called biome- by using low emission techniques to the methane losses from the thane and fed into the gas grid (see for land application. The digestate biogas plant and CHPU, yielding Figure 1) for counterbalancing. If can be processed further to net negative GHG emissions. As a suitable heat consumer is only a improve fertilization efficiency or opposed to Farms 1 and 2 which few kilometers away, the biogas facilitate transport over longer use a part of their own electricity may be piped to a satellite CHP distances. The first step is usually output, the biogas plant on Farm unit, after dewatering and de- mechanical separation which 3 is operated on electricity from sulphurization. There are various yields a “solid” fraction with 20 to the grid. In this case, the credits technologies available to upgrade 30 % dry matter content. The for avoided emissions are not suf- the biogas to the standards of the water content can be reduced fur- ficient to compensate for the natural gas grid. The processes of ther by drying whereby volatiliza- emissions from the biogas chain. pressure swing adsorption (PSA) tion of ammonia must be avoided Nevertheless, in all three cases the and pressurized water scrubbing (Effenberger et al., 2015). Ad- specific CO2-equivalent emissions (PWS) are employed at larger vanced technologies are available of electricity supply from biogas scales, while for lower through- to produce various fertilizer pro- are much lower compared to cur- puts, membrane technology or ducts from the mechanically sepa- rent grid emissions for Germany chemical scrubbing are more fea- rated digested residue. (Figure 3). sible. In the course of upgrading, Other important environmental im- carbon dioxide and trace gases are Environmental impacts pacts from agricultural biogas sys- removed from the biogas to The factors that typically domi- tems for energy supply are eutrophi- achieve a methane content of nate the environmental impacts cation, acidification and resource use. more than 97 %. The CO2 can from energy supply based on bio- If animal manure is used as input be recovered and used in glass- gas are: the types of input materi- material, there are neither significant house horticulture, for methani- als, particularly if these were pro- advantages nor disadvantages com- sation with hydrogen from reduced exclusively for biogas pro- pared to a reference system domi- newable sources (via power-to-gas duction; the losses that occur nated by fossil energy carriers. How- Biogas

Fig. 3: Specific GHG emissions / CO2-equivalents of electricity supply from biogas based on three farm case studies in comparison to the Ger- man grid mix ever, in case of annual crops exclu- tions of the Federal Government effort to be utilized for electricity sively produced for biogas produc- to curb the installation of wind generation when needed. As illus- tion the environmental effects are and PV power, there exists a trated in Figure 4, biogas power significant (Hijazi et al., 2016). nationally determined goal of plants may thus be employed to increasing the share of regenera- reduce the residual load in the Current challenges tive sources in power production to grid over the course of the day. Due to the strong growth of wind between 80 and 95 % by the year To allow for a more flexible and photovoltaic power plants in 2050. Within a system of regen- power generation, common bio- Germany, situations with a power erative energy sources, biogas has gas plants need to be upgraded surplus in the grid have become the advantage that it can be stored with respect to biogas storage and more frequent. Despite aspira- with comparably little technical electrical capacity. A larger CHP

Fig. 4: Illustration of the effect on the residual load over the course of a day by producing electricity from biogas according to grid load (diagram on the right) compared to continuous electricity production from biogas (diagram on the left) Biogas

sche Empfehlungen für die Gär- resttrocknung. Biogas Forum Bayern (2015), IV-13 [http://www.biogas-forum- bayern.de/media/files/0001/Techni- sche-Empfehlungen-fur-die-Gar- resttrocknung.pdf]

EurObserv‘ER: Biogas Barometer - November 2014. URL http://www.energies-renouve- lables.org/observ-er/stat_baro/observ/ baro224_Biogas_en.pdf. - 23.02. Fig. 5: Demand-oriented electricity generation is tested on the biogas plant of the Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture in Grub (near Munich) Hijazi, O.; Munro, S.; Zerhusen, B. ; Effenberger, M.: Review of life cycle unit is needed to utilize more bio- Overall, biogas plants will have to assessment for biogas production in gas in shorter periods of time, and move from continuous production Europe. In: Renewable and Sustain- the storage capacity for the biogas to demand-oriented electricity able Energy Reviews 54 (2016) has to be increased accordingly. In supply while at the same time S. 1291-1300. addition, biogas power plants can ensuring efficient utilization of also provide balancing power. As the heat. Within the process of far as the heat output is con- the “Energiewende”, biogas can cerned, a buffer storage tank might play the keys of being a full- have to be installed. fledged substitute for natural gas with potentially very low greenhouse gas emissions. Future prospects In the amendment of the Renewa- References Authors: ble Energy Law of 2017 fixed feed- Schieder, D. ; Gronauer, A. ; Lebuhn, Volker in tariffs for electricity from renew- M. ; Bayer, K. ; Beck, J. et al.: Pro- Aschmann* ables were abolished in favor of ten- zessmodell Biogas. Biogas Forum dering procedures. Contracts for Bayern (2015), III-03 electricity supply from new biogas [http://www.biogas-forum- plants are awarded to the bidders bayern.de/publikationen/ with the cheapest rates which will Prozessmodell_Biogas.pdf]. Dr. Mathias then be guaranteed for a period of Effenberger 20 years. Existing biogas plants are D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. also admitted to the tendering pro- Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M.Tignor cedures, but receive a ten-year con- und H.L. Miller (Hrsg.): Klimaän- tract only, in case of acceptance. derung 2007: Wissenschaftliche In the mid-term future, biogas Grundlagen. Beitrag der Arbeits- Simon Tappen technology may also play its part in gruppe I zum Vierten Sachstands- other innovations. E.g., a biogas bericht des Zwischenstaatlichen plant, possibly with an upgrading Ausschusses für Klimaänderung unit, can supply carbon dioxide to (IPCC). Cambridge/New York : power-to-gas units where it is 2007, S. 90. combined with hydrogen from Bavarian State Research Center for renewable sources to produce me- Effenberger, M.; Gronauer, A.; Agriculture Institute for Agricultural thane (see Figure 1). This methane Bachmaier, J.: Biogastechnologie Engineering and Animal Husbandry can be fed into the grid or used zur umweltverträglichen Flüssig- Vöttinger Straße 36 directly as vehicle fuel. At a num- mistverwertung und Energiegewin- 85354 Freising ber of biogas installations, surplus nung in Wasserschutzgebieten. 2006. Tel.: ++49 (0)8161 71-4824 *) E-Mail: electricity is already buffered as [email protected] heat via so-called power-to-heat Effenberger, M.; Möhrle, H.; http://www.lfl.bayern.de/ilt/ units. Winkler, G.; Krodel, T.: Techni- umwelttechnik/ The Most Important Renewable Raw Material and Fuel: Wood

More than one third of Bavaria is covered with forests. The most are commercial forests, i. e. timber is being harvested again and again and young trees are replant- ed. About 20.5 million cubic meter of raw timber can be harvested per year, what is 2.6 % of the growing stock. This wood is the raw material base of many industries, which we sum up to the forest-based sector. 196.000 people are working in the forest- based sector in Bavaria. The sec- tors turn-over was 37 billion euros in 2012. The forest-based sector contributes 3.5 % to the whole production value of the Fig. 1 shows the ways how wood is burned in small furnaces. Wood Bavarian economy (Cluster- being used. At each stage of the chips are a fuel for heating plants or Initiative Forst und Holz 2016). material flow a part of the wood is cogeneration plants (heat and Wood is being used both as a raw being used as a fuel. At the first power). Stemwood is the raw material and as a fuel. If the wood stage, in forestry about 36 % of the material of sawmills. The sawn- is first used as a raw material and harvested timber is being prepared wood is being used in the building afterwards as a fuel we name it a as firewood and wood chips for the and construction industry and in cascade use. use of a fuel. Firewood is mainly other branches such as the furni- ture, packaging and parquet industry and in the handcraft. Along with the sawnwood by-products accrue like wood chips, sawdust, splinters and bark. A part is being used for the production of paper and boards; a part is processed to pellets or is being used immediately as a fuel. The wood products can stay for a short time, e. g. paper or package, or for decades, e. g. a roof truss. The recovered paper collected from the users is to a great extent recycled. Also a part of the waste wood is reused to produce boards. But the main part of the waste Fig. 1: The flow of material and energetic use of wood wood is burned in cogeneration (simplified diagram, source: Weidner et al. 2016)

plants. Wood 26 Wood

Fig. 2: The composition of the primary energy use by energy sources in Bavaria 2013 (data derived from StMWi 2016). Wood has by far the largest portion among the renewable energy sources

Increasing demand of timber area among all federal states of The growing stock in the forests Germany. Timber can be con- is regularly measured by forest tinuously harvested at a high level inventories. During several de- in Bavarian forests. A further cades considerably less timber was increase in harvesting might be harvested than was added by pho- possible in some places but not tosynthesis. Thus the growing with regard to the whole country. stock in the forests increased Otherwise the growing stock will more and more. In the period be reduced. from 1987 to 2002 the growing stock increased by 23 %. When it Still more potential became apparent that far more for the construction timber could be sustainably har- of wooden buildings vested the Bavarian government Although far more buildings are made assiduous efforts to increase today constructed with wood in the use of this environmentally Bavaria than in the past the pro- friendly produced raw material. portion of wooden buildings

If the CO2 enclosed in wood is among residential construction is stored in buildings for a long time significantly larger in other states this contributes to climate protec- like Austria and Sweden. The tion. The portion of wooden demand for wooden buildings and buildings was raised from 12 % in associated the use of long-lasting 2003 to 20 % in 2015. Also more wooden products might be fur- and more timber has been used ther increased in Bavaria. The for energy production. Wood has question rises whether enough by far the largest amount among domestic timber exists for this the renewable energy sources. purpose. This question can clear- Referred to the primary energy ly be answered with ‚yes‘. On one consumption wood had a share of hand Bavaria produces far more 37 % of the renewable energy sawnwood than is domestically sources in Bavaria 2013. It was used. Bavaria had a net export of followed by biogas with 18 % and 1.2 million m3 sawnwood 2015 hydropower with 15 % (data de- (Bayer. Landesamt für Statistik rived from StMWi 2016). The 2016) representing about 20 % of amount of timber extracted from the production. On the other the forests correspondingly in- hand the forest owners would be creased. The last national forest able to deliver more timber for inventory from 2012 revealed that material use instead of firewood the growing stock in the forests (Cluster-Initiative Forst und was almost equal to that from Holz 2016). Especially owners of 2002. Bavaria has still the largest small forest properties often use growing stock per hectare forest the harvested trees for their per- Wood 27

lanz/2016/C_06_etabC6a_b_EB2 013.pdf

Weidner, U.; Hiendlmeier, S. Zenker, M; Borchert, H.; Friedrich, S. Schulmeyer, F.; Leuchtweis, C. (2016): Energieholzmarkt Bayern 2014. Abschlussbericht. Freising. 127 S.

Short rotation coppices have a timber growth which is twice or threefold as much than that of forests (dry matter per hectare and year) (Photo: Bavarian State Institute of Forestry) sonal need of firewood although References: the timber would be suitable for Bayerisches Landesamt für sawlogs. Because this people own Statistik (2016): Außenhandel mit a large part of the forests the Holz. Sonderauswertung. affected quantity is of relevance for the market. Here we have to Burger, F. (2010): Bewirtschaf- examine how the market access tung und Ökobilanzierung von for these owners can be made Kurzumtriebsplantagen. Disser- easier. An increasing material use tation TU-München. 166 S. of wood must not result in a decrease of energetic use. By Bystricky, M. (2015): Weiterent- establishing short rotation cop- wicklung der ökobilanziellen pices on agricultural land much Bewertung des Energiepflanzen- more firewood could by pro- anbaus auf Ebene von Modellbe- duced. Short rotation coppices trieben und Einzelkulturen are plantings of fast growing trees anhand von Fallstudien für Bay- which can be harvested after few ern. Dissertation TU-München. years. Mostly hybrids of poplar 169 S. are used. Because new saplings sprout from the stumps the cop- Cluster-Initiative Forst und Holz pices can be repeatedly harvested (Hrsg.) (2016): Clusterstudie Forst, without replanting. In short rota- Holz und Papier 2015. 54 S. Author: Dr. Herbert tion coppices of poplar clones the Borchert double or threefold amount of StMWi – Bayerisches Staats- Head of the depart- timber can yearly grow up re- ministerium für Wirtschaft und ment of ferring to dry matter compared to Medien, Energie und Technolo- Forest Technology, Economics and Timber high forests. Wood chips from gie (2015): Struktur des Primär- the biomass are used for energy energieverbrauchs (PEV) bei den production. Although it is a prov- erneuerbaren Energieträgern in Bavarian State Institute en land use system with an unbe- Bayern 1990 bis 2013. Abgerufen of Forestry atable favorable energy balance am 20.12.2016 von: Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 1 (Burger 2010, Bystricky 2015) it https://www.stmwi.bayern.de/filea D-85354 Freising was practiced only on 1.150 hec- dmin/user_upload/stmwivt/The- Phone: +49(0)8161-71-4640 Fax: +49(0)8161-71-5404 tares in Bavaria in 2014 (Weidner men/Energie_und_Rohstoffe/Do E-mail: [email protected] et al. 2016). kumente_und_Cover/Energiebi- A full range of services for your biogas plant

If a biogas plant is to be run efficiently then it is vital that the indi- vidual plant components are perfectly synchronised. A steady supply of feedstock, robust mixing equipment and reliable measurement and con- trol technology are all needed to guarantee a stable digestion process. Despite ensuring this is the case, many operators still find the performance of their plants declining after a while. One possible cause for this may be deposits which gradually build up over time and reduce the space in the digester. Using additives Our heavy-duty mobile equipment solves problems quickly and efficiently – to boost the digestion process is just and maximises plant performance a short-term solution to this prob- lem. Regular maintenance and in- thinking companies and private indi- Safety management spection work is a must – not only to viduals who wish to promote sustain- Shutdown work avoid unexpected downtime but also able development and protect our Creation/maintenance to ensure a plant runs smoothly and environment by running their own of inert atmospheres produces a steady supply of gas. biogas plant. In keeping with our Personal protective equipment Moreover, such work guarantees motto: “Working for the future”. Environmental protection incl. that all rules and regulations are the use of measuring technology being complied with. Professional services from A–Z Waste management concepts BUCHEN UmweltService pro- Emptying & cleaning the tanks vides a full range of services covering Inspecting the plant On-site project management the cleaning, inspection and mainte- Removing & replacing damaged Site clearance nance of a wide variety of plants. Its coating from container walls Cleaning work package includes emptying and clean- Cleaning the gas coolers & heat Damage assessment ing the tanks as well as managing exchangers Repair work such projects in accordance with all Cleaning the gas & water pipes Maintenance work legal regulations. Other services Performing pressure tests in acc. offered by BUCHEN include re- with ‚WHG‘ (Federal Water BUCHEN UmweltService GmbH moving and replacing damaged coat- Act) Southern Region ing from the container walls, provid- Filter & catalyst services ing filter and catalyst services as well Fettweisstr. 38 76189 Karlsruhe // Germany as cleaning the gas coolers, heat Project management T +49 721 9544-120 exchangers and pipes – all of which Risk assessment F +49 721 9544-404 [email protected] ensure that operators have access to Budgeting [email protected] a “carefree package” for their biogas Time management www.buchen.net plants. Occupational health & safety, A company of the BUCHEN has put together this environmental protection REMONDIS Group

package to support both forward- Explosion protection measures BUCHEN UmweltService GmbH Renewable Resources for a Sustainable Chemical Industry

Renewable Resources are the research with a growing number basis of the frequently discussed of scientists and technicians (cur- “sustainability” in various econo- rently more than 50) on new cata- mic areas. Sustainable building lysts and biochemical processes. (plant fibres for insulation) or They combine methods of chemi- sustainable energy (plant oil stry, white biotechnology, poly- power stations) are only two mer chemistry and process tech- examples. The chemical industry nologies. Different fields of activi- as well intends to and has to be- ty stand in focus (fig. 1), some of come more sustainable. It has to them are described below in more exchange raw material which, at detail. present, predominantly consist of limitedly available mineral oil and From Cellulose to Sugar mineral oil based products with Plant biomass consists of nume- plant biomass. rous different chemical sub- Particular motivation for this is - stances. Most abundantly available besides securing raw material sup- are carbohydrates in form of ply – to take care of the climate. sugar, starch, and, most of all, cel- Early 2010 the German chemical lulose. With the transformation of industry association (VCI), to- sugar and starch to ethanol, diffe- gether with the German Chemi- rent processes are established cal Society (GDCh), the Society which are applied in large scale for Chemical Engineering and and generate an important bulk Biotechnology (DECHEMA), chemical. Even though currently and other organisations, has this bio-ethanol mainly provides published a position paper, in for fuel for energetic uses, it could which a clear commitment was also be transformed to ethylene. made towards the necessary chan- As a replacement for the ethylene ge in resources. which is obtained by cracking The history of applied chemistry mineral oil it could be fed to exis- has been shaped by many stages ting chemical processes. How- of changes in resources. During ever, in future, the utilisation of the last two hundred years the cellulose will be even more chemical industry frequently had Fig. 1: The path from biogenic raw important. Firstly, in living nature material to the final product leads to adjust to different raw material, through different intermediates it is more abundant than any other ranging from simple products substance; secondly, it is not made of coal tar, which accumu- developed at the Straubing Cen- required as a food source. This lated with the production of char- ter of Science. Several professors- way, the “table or tank” discussion coal, to mineral coal and mineral hips from the Technical Univer- can be avoided, although it is, in oil. To enable the latest change in sity of Munich (TUM), the project the true sense of the chemical use, resources new chemical technolo- team “BioCat” of the Fraunhofer rather a “pie or plastic” discussion gies, i.e. new methods and chemi- Institute for Interfacial Enginee- as the cellulose will be used for cal catalysts, have to be developed. ring and Biotechnology (IGB), the production of synthetic raw

Chemical Industry Exactly these technologies are and teams of other Universities do material. Chemical Industry

selves to be much simpler. Howe- ver, the development of biocatalysts is very time consuming. At the Straubing Center of Science we work on methods of enzyme design and metabolic engineering to accelerate the development of enzymes and microorganisms. Soon, the biocatalysts from Strau- bing shall be adopted for industrial scale processes.

From Chemical Industrial Park to Local Refinery A crucial difference between plant biomass and mineral oil lies in the Fig. 2: Typical monomers for Plastic material carry exactly two functional groups quantity and locality of its availa- (red dots). Natural compounds like carbohydrates therefore have to be chemically bility. While mineral oil and its „defunctionalized“ primary products can be transpor- In plants cellulose is stored breakdown can be accomplished ted through pipelines in great together with lignin and other stepwise so that different impor- quantities without any problems carbohydrates in form of a chemi- tant basic substances can be obtai- and at little cost, plant products cal composite, which has develo- ned in pure quality. accumulate in smaller amounts ped through millions of years of across large areas. Transport evolution to be stable and long- From Raw Material across long distances is energeti- lasting. To break up this composi- to Synthetic Material cally very expensive and does not te is a great challenge if the car- From a chemistry point of view, pay off. The advantages of bio- bohydrates of cellulose shall be monomeric carbohydrates like technological processes are that made available for the chemical glucose or even glycerol are they require comparatively simple industry. A number of companies “overfunctionalized”. With six facilities. This fact enables smaller and institutes worldwide work on respectively three functional industries to operate locally methods that transform cellulose groups (see fig. 2) these molecules where the biomass accumulates from cereal straw, wood chips, are not suitable for the produc- e.g. as agricultural leftovers. With and other agricultural leftovers tiom of synthetic material. Fatty this change in raw material the into glucose (“saccharification”) acids, on the other hand, are with chemical industry can not only which will be available as a source only one function “underfunctio- contribute to climate conservation material for the synthesis of new nalized”. With adequate catalysts but also help to bring back agri- chemical compounds. The deve- these substances can be transfor- cultural added value. loped process technologies vary med into molecules with two fun- immensely. Strong or weak acids ctions (like e.g. propandiol or or leaches are employed, using dicarbon acids) and used for poly- low or high temperatures and dif- esters, polyamides, or polyuretha- Author: ferent enzymes. The multitude of nes. An important chemical reac- Prof. Volker Sieber processes shows that the optimal tion to reduce functionality is the saccharification is not yet found, elimination of water molecules. respectively, it has not yet prevai- Chemical catalysts can enable led even though considerable these reactions, however, they advances have been achieved need very high temperatures during the past years. under which a multitude of side At the Straubing Center of Scien- reactions occur. Biocatalysts Lehrstuhl für Chemie Biogener ce, too, new process technologies (enzymes and microorganisms) Rohstoffe and enzymes are developed to are better as they are more effec- Technische Universität München achieve a better breakdown of lig- tive and gain higher yields. With Schulgasse 16 94315 Straubing/Germany nocellulose. With a special com- these biotechnological methods Phone: +49 9421 187-300 bination of these process techno- transformations - like those indi- Fax: +49 9421 187-310 logies and enzymes the chemical cated in figure 2 – present them- http://www.rohstoffwandel.de Magazinreihe Zukunftstechnologien in Bayern

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