Title:
Growing Energy Crops for Biomethane Production in the Lusatian Lignite District, Eastern Germany - A Contribution to Agricultural Reclamation
Author(s):
Knoche, D., Mergner, R., Köhler, R., Rutz, D., Janssen, R.
Document(s):
Paper
Poster
Abstract:
With a production of about 180 million tons Germany is still and by far the leading producer of lignite worldwide. More than 30 % of this production takes place in the Lusatian Lignite District and without any doubt mining is the economic driving force of the region - despite ongoing structural change. In the framework of the Horizon 2020 project FORBIO (www.forbio-project.eu) agronomic and techno-economic feasibility studies were elaborated to in-vestigate the potential of establishing value chains for energy crops to produce biomethane as a contribution to agricul-tural reclamation of post-mining landscapes. Agriculture on reclaimed ground aims to strengthen the efficiency of farms affected by mining and to improve their viability. However, overall yields remain low to medium and there is hardly any food production and cultivation of special crops on reclamation sites. Therefore, farmers are interested in low-risk production alternatives with good earnings, such as undemanding, drought-tolerant and fast-growing energy crops like Sorghum or Sudan grass. The investigated case study was based on a 6-year crop rotation system on more than 7,000 ha of post-mining land in the Lusatian Lignite District (involving Lucerne, Sorghum, winter wheat and winter rye) for biomass feedstock production. The feedstock is used in a newly constructed biogas plant with electrical capacity of 3.1 MW and an integrated biomethane up-grading unit. Financial viability was calculated for an investment amortization period of 20 years. It was found that under the current market situation with rather low fossil fuel prices, investment in energy cropping for biomethane on the selected reclamation sites is not fully viable yet. An investment of 89 million EUR leads to total revenues of 85 million EUR. About 50 % of costs during the calculated operation period of 20 years are thereby allocated to feedstock production (530 EURha-1yr-1 for Lucerne silage, 750 EURha-1yr-1for Sorghum silage) with limited potential for cost reduction by the farmers. Finally, an outlook is presented for energy crops grown on post-mining landscapes providing feedstock opportunities for future innovative value chains in biorefineries integrating the production of bioenergy, materials and higher value chemicals. Such inno-vative green technologies can be the initial spark for establishing a new bio-based industries in the Lusatian Lignite region after the phase-out of coal mining, thus serving to cushion partially the declining fossil-based economy.
Keywords:
biogas, biomass, energy crops, biomethane, agricultural reclamation, underutilized land
Topic:
Biomass Sustainability, Impacts and Policies
Subtopic:
Sustainability and socio-economic impacts
Event:
27th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition
Session:
4AV.1.12
Pages:
1636 - 1641
ISBN:
978-88-89407-19-6
Paper DOI:
10.5071/27thEUBCE2019-4AV.1.12
Price:
FREE
