The world’s largest experimental biogas plant was inaugurated on 30 October 2007. The new plant, which is situated at Research Centre Foulum, will improve the utilisation of biogas and the effect of agricultural production on the climate and the environment.

There is great potential in increasing the Danish production of biogas. Biogas replaces fossil fuels and reduces the emission of greenhouse gases. Increased biogas production will make it possible for Denmark to fulfil its international climate obligations.

In Denmark, biogas can be based on animal production. Contrary to other types of renewable energy, biogas production does not entail a reduction of food production. Another advantage is that when animal manure is treated in the biogas plant, leaching of nutrients to the aquatic environment is reduced as are odour problems as less slurry is spread.

Waste products, which would otherwise be expensive to get rid of, enter into biogas production. Biomass from natural areas such as meadows can also be included in biogas production. That way undesirable nutrients are removed from natural areas and production of biogas can contribute to the management of caring for natural areas that in turn have an added value as suppliers of renewable energy. There are approximately 500,000 hectares of lowlands in Denmark.

However, there is still a long way to go before the total potential of biogas is realized. In existing biogas plants turnover of organic material from, for example, animal manure and straw is still only 50-60 percent of that which is theoretically possible.

There are many proposals for methods to improve biogas production. However, scientific documentation and testing of the methods under practical conditions is often lacking. The new experimental biogas plant at Research Centre Foulum will change that. The new plant, which is financed by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, will provide scientists, students and biogas producers with new opportunities to develop and test methods and technologies on a large scale. The new plant is the world’s largest experimental biogas plant.

- Our ambition is that the new biogas plant will contribute to bringing Denmark to the global forefront in the area of consumption of energy and nutrients from animal manure and other types of biomass, says the Minister of Agriculture Eva Kjer Hansen.

Besides carrying out research that can optimise the processes in the actual biogas reactor, it will also be possible to do experiments in the various parts of the biogas supply chain.

The location at Research Centre Foulum gives access to an extensive choice of raw materials from the centre’s herds of dairy cattle, pigs, poultry and mink. The centre can also supply energy crops, straw and other types of biomass.

The experimental plant consists of four experimental reactors each with their own holding tanks as well as a dosage system for adding solid material such as leftover feed, deep straw manure, energy crops and so on. The plant will therefore be one of the most advanced and flexible experimental biogas plants in the world.

- We expect the various technological ideas that will be tested at DJF’s new biogas plant will contribute to making future biogas plants more efficient and reliable, improve their economy and achieve a greater environmental bonus compared to the first generations of biogas plants, says Head of Department of Research Facilities Gunnar Hald Mikkelsen at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Aarhus, who are responsible for the new plant.

Apart from the experimental plant, the new plant also includes a production plant that will treat approximately 29,000 tonnes slurry and 2,000 tonnes biomass from the barns and fields at Foulum. On this basis the plant will be able to produce about 850,000 cubic metres methane gas, which will be utilised for heat and electricity at the local thermal power station.