In collaboration with AGRIPOWER France, WELTEC BIOPOWER is building a biomethane plant for the Elivia Group, which is headquartered in Le Lion-d’Angers in the Pays de la Loire region of western France. At this location, the plant will go into operation in November near the company’s slaughterhouse and feed biomethane into the public gas grid. One of Elivia’s goals is to reduce its carbon emissions. With this investment of approximately €6 million, the industrial and commercial company, which has a workforce of 2,700 and an annual sales volume of 152,000 tons of meat, highlights the importance of green energy sources.

WELTEC BIOPOWER

In France, biomethane plays an important role in decarbonizing the energy sector. By 2030, the share of biomethane in energy production is set to double. At present, about 670 plants feed 11 TWh of biomethane into the gas grid. It is currently being considered whether to raise the biomethane production target from 22 TWh to 44 TWh by 2030. WELTEC BIOPOWER and AGRIPOWER are ready to support this goal. Over the past 13 years, the cooperation between the two companies has yielded the rollout of 25 biogas projects.

At the Lion-d’Angers facility, biogas is produced from a mixture of slaughterhouse waste, fats and sludge from the sewage treatment plant, and animal byproducts. The processing capacity of the slaughterhouse’s substrates totals 85 tons of raw material a day, corresponding to an annual volume of approximately 26,000 tons. The raw materials are first hygienized using waste heat from the slaughterhouse. In total, about 2.5 million m³ of biogas are converted into 1.7 million m³ of processed biomethane, which Elivia feeds into the grid every year. This is enough for the yearly heat supply of about 1,600 households.

WELTEC BIOPOWER

Prior to the digestion, the materials are stored in a storage tank, which is supplied by WELTEC BIOPOWER, along with two pump stations in the container and stainless steel digesters. In the two stainless steel tanks – each 26.87 m in diameter, 8.80 m high and with a capacity of 4,991 m³ – the agitators ensure a homogeneous substrate mix for the biogas process. The digestate is used as agricultural fertilizer. The biogas produced is refined into biomethane using membrane gas processing.

The manufacturer uses its web-based control software, WELTEC CONTROL, to ensure synchronization of the plant. Using this tool, Elivia’s users can access relevant process data, as well as monitor and control the plant from any location. This results in increased transparency, safety and efficiency of processes. With the user-friendly operation of the plant, the beef producer can look to the future with confidence. Innovation and sustainability complement each other at Elivia and now extend across the entire value chain, from animal husbandry and food safety to energy supply.