IEA Bioenergy Task 37: Gas refinery
Based on a biorefinery concept developed and tested on a demonstration plant in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, the new founded Biowert Industrie GmbH, a Swiss-German company, started operation of a grass refinery in 2007 located in Brensbach, Germany, on an 18,000 m2 site. The main products based on grass from permanent pastureland and arable land for crop production are grass fibre insulation (AgriCellBW), natural fibre reinforced plastic (AgriPlastBW) and fertiliser made from digestate (AgriFerBW).
The facility has an annual throughput of about 2,000 t dry matter (equivalent to 8,000 t grass per year at 25% to 30% dry matter content). The integrated biogas plant produces ca. 1,340,000 m3 of biogas annually which is used in combined heat and power facilities, which in 2012 produced 5.2 GWh of electricity.