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Biogas plants generate liquid digestate. The larger the plant, the more digestate is produced – and it all needs to go somewhere. Our solution: process the liquid digestate into fertiliser granules and sell them!

At the end of August, everything was in place: just in time before the start of this year’s sugar campaign, we handed over the new low-temperature belt dryer (LTD) to Schweizer Zucker AG.

Large dairies can use whey to produce biogas and then sell the resulting liquid digestate, once dried, as an organic granular fertiliser. This way, a by-product becomes a source of energy and subsequently an additional revenue stream.

European biogas plants already produce around 22 billion cubic metres of biogas and biomethane, and the European Biogas Association (EBA) expects this volume to increase fivefold by 2050. However, more biogas also means significantly more liquid digestate. This raises the question: What to do with it?

We are back to complete the belt dryer at Schweizer Zucker AG in Frauenfeld: We were able to install the seven exhaust air chimneys in just one day!

How can you replace the drum of an ecoDry drum dryer if it is partially located under a decanter building? And how do you ensure that it can be removed again at some point if necessary? By constructing it in two parts!