Weltec Biopower installs AD system at German facility

Weltec Biopower has announced plans to install an anaerobic digestion unit at a wastewater treatment plant in Bavaria, Germany. The upgrade will allow the facility to produce heat and power from sewage gas. According to the company, SudWasser GmbH has commissioned it to complete the upgrade.

Weltec indicated a specially designed V4A stainless-steel digester has been installed at the plant in order to ensure optimal treatment of the daily influx of 16 cubic meters of raw sludge with a dray matter content of 4 to 4.5 percent. A diagonally installed long-axis agitator will mix the sludge in order to promote the generation of methane. With its capacity of 420 cubic meters and a flexible gas storage roof with a storage volume of up to 68 cubic meters, the bioreactor is large enough to run the combined-heat-and-power plant with its electrical output of 28 kW and thermal output of 58 kW without any interruptions.

According to Weltec, power generated at the project will be used onsite. Heat generated through the process will be used to speed up the digestion process and for use at the sewage treatment plant site.

“In the sewage treatment plant in Burgebrach, we used to stabilize the sludge without using the digestion gas,” siad Arne Nath, head of the wastewater department of the operator SudWasser GmbH. “Through the installation of the digestion unit, we have established a sustainable, climate-friendly energy concept and can reduce the amount of sludge. In total, the COD load in the wastewater will be reduced by about a third.”