Energy production can be compatible with environmental considerations. Read more about our efforts to find alternative energy sources – with consideration for the environment.
Challenge
”Green growth” is on everyone’s lips these days. Green growth is, among others, achievable through green energy. By using biomass instead of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas, greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced. This has a positive impact on the climate.
Moreover, organic farms are in need of an alternative to animal manure – as natural fertiliser – which they must collect from conventional farms today.
Tasks
AgroTech is involved in a project to use biomass from wetlands between Viborg and Randers in Central and East Jutland, Denmark, for the production of bioenergy. Biomass from the wetlands should be converted into biogas and the residues from the biogas production should be used as natural fertiliser on organic crop production farms.
Wetland maintenance is a positive side-effect of this project. Considerable amounts of nutrients are removed from the wetlands and consequently the leaching of nutrients into the water will be reduced.
Development perspectives
The project is the first one of its kind and involves the development of a totally new business concept where a number of different stakeholders co-operate on using wetlands for energy purposes. On a national basis, the area of intensively used grassland is assessed at about 150,000 ha on which it is possible to produce 5.1 PJ (Petajoule), provided that three thirds of the area are used for energy purposes. As a pioneer project, the results from this project can have a significant influence on whether this business concept will be implemented on a nation-wide basis.
Moreover, the production of new organic fertilisers is an important contribution to the development of the organic food industry. The possibilities of systems export are excellent, and the project is of strategic interest to Danish municipalities due to its ability to meet their environmental obligations.
Moreover, the project provides producers of harvesting equipment and of biogas and fertiliser technologies, etc. with opportunities for further developing and demonstrating their products.
