Another project to build two Kompogas digesters for a biogas plant in Nanjing consolidates Swiss cleantech company Hitachi Zosen Inovaâs position as the leading supplier of anaerobic dry fermentation technologies in China.
Following a similar project in Chongqing, with the signing of a contract to deliver two Kompogas PF1800 steel digesters to client German Bio Energy Technology (GBE) for a biogas plant project in the Chinese city of Nanjing, Swiss company Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI) has landed its second project of this sort in a market that in addition to having great potential, also poses various challenges for western companies.
According to the company more and more countries worldwide set up sustainable waste management and implement programmes for renewable energies. In this area China marks the largest market for first-class environmental technologies. âFor quite some time we have been the leading technology provider in the field of thermal Energy from Waste technologies. Thanks to the realisation of our second Kompogas project in China, we are able to strengthen our position as a leading supplier for Dry Anaerobic Digestion technology as wellâ, emphasises Andres Kronenberg, Chief Business Development for Hitachi Zosen Inova, the relevance of this project for the company.
Growing Trend to Energy from Organic Waste
Like many cities in China, Nanjing, around 300 km upriver from Shanghai, is struggling with ever-increasing volumes of waste from a steadily growing urban population. With landfill sites increasingly full and losing acceptance, thereâs a growing need for sustainable technologies. Alongside thermal energy recovery, these include the biological fermentation of organic waste.
According to Hitachi Zosen Inova the trend to organic waste treatment is receiving a boost from new legislation containing tighter rules on recycling and recovering energy from restaurant and household kitchen waste. Against this backdrop, the city of Nanjing is planning to build and operate a new waste park where waste, including organic household waste, is to be sorted and converted into biogas in a Kompogas plant to be delivered by HZI in partnership with GBE. The two Kompogas digesters will process around 55,000 metric tons of organic waste a year to produce some 7.5 million Nm3 of biogas, which will subsequently be converted into electricity. After the digestate has been dewatered, the liquid fraction will be fed into a wastewater treatment plant, while the solid digestate will be burned to produce additional energy, the company says.
Swiss Technology Addressing Chinese Citiesâ Waste Problems
âWith its Kompogas technology, HZI offers a perfectly equipped solution to upgrade waste to energy for Chinese cities to better master their major environmental and growing waste-related challenges” says German Bio Energy Technology CEO Markus Dicke, who is working in this field in China for more than ten years. He adds: âThe technology has to be extremely robust and competitive, guaranteeing the long-term success of our two reference projects in Chongqing and Nanjing and thus encouraging adoption by other cities.â
With construction work beginning in only a few weeks, the biogas plant will be ready to go into operation as early as spring 2019.
