The first Ukrainian biomethane was produced by a leading company “Gals Agro”. It happened on the basis of one of the company’s six biogas plants with a capacity of 6.9 MW of electricity.
It was the first biogas plant of the Gals Agro company that was commissioned in 2018. The first stage of the plant had an electrical capacity of 2.4 MW. In 2020, the construction of the second stage of the plant was started, which allowed increasing the capacity by 4.5 MW to a total of 6.9 MW. Additionally, a capacity reserve for biogas production of another 1.5 MW (el) or up to 3 million m3 of biomethane per year was provided.
Prerequisites for the biogas plant upgrading for the production of biomethane
In 2021, a decision was made to retrofit the plant with a biomethane production module. It was due to:
- An increase in the price of natural gas and the prospect of further price growth.
- All-European trends to reduce the fossil energy sources use and Russian gas dependence.
- Difficulties with timely payment for electricity generated from RES.
- Stimulation by the European Union of the reduction of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
- Decarbonization of all stages of production.
Biomethane production
Upgrading of biogas to biomethane takes place in a membrane-type installation of the Dutch company Bright (the representative in Ukraine is the Pro-Energy company). The reconstruction of the biogas plant was carried out by the Ukrainian company AC GROUP.
600 m3/hour of raw biogas is supplied for upgrading, from which 330 m3/hour of biomethane is produced (equivalent to 1.3 MW of electricity).
The main raw material is corn silage. Biomethane is supplied to the distribution network of Chernihivgaz JSC (RGC).
