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COASTAL Biogas featured at EBA Biogas Lab Webinar

On the 23rd of Febraury 2022, Jörgen Held gave a presentation on the COASTAL Biogas project at the 5thBiogas Lab Webinar,  organized by the European Biogas Association.

The presentation can be downloaded here.

EBA Webinar
Screenshot from the webinar.

Some of the follow up questions revolved around potential problems with sand and salt. At Solrød in Denmark, where cast seaweed is co-digsted on an industrial scale, the collection method is developed to minimise the sand content. In addition, there is a specially designed reception tank with two high-speed mixers which cut the seaweed in small pieces and the sand is collected in the bottom of the tank.  Saltwater on the surface of the cast seaweed is not really an issue in the Solrød Biogas plant due to two reasons; firstly the Baltic Sea is a brakish water system with low salinity and secondly, the seaweed is co-digested with other substrates.

Visit at Solrød Biogas

On the 15th of September representatives from Baltic Energy Innovation Centre (BEIC), Gdansk University of Technology (GUT) and Roskilde University (RUC) visited Solrød Biogas plant.

The visit started at the Solrød beach where Preben Larsen, board member of the Solrød beach cleaning team, was interviewed.

Visit

From left: Jörgen Held, BEIC, Karolina Kądziela, GUT and Mikkel Busck, project manager Solrød Biogas, at the Solrød beach waiting for Preben Larsen, Solrød beach cleaning team and Tyge Kjaer, RUC to show up.
Photo: Fredrik Rosengren

Then the visit continued at the Solrød Biogas plant, which is located approx. 4 km from the beach. Erik Lundsgaard from Bigadan, who is responsible for the operation of the Solrød Biogas plant, gave input to the COASTAL Biogas case study related to Solrød Biogas, and Mikkel Busck and Tyge Kjaer showed the facility.

Visit
Study tour at Solrød Biogas plant, currently the only facility in the Baltic Sea region which co-digests cast seaweed at industrial scale.
Photo: Fredrik Rosengren

The COASTAL Biogas team appreciates the nice and interesting study tour which was perfectly hosted by Mikkel Busck and supported by Tyge Kjaer.

COASTAL Biogas part of the CONTRA final conference

COASTAL Biogas and CONTRA are Interreg projects looking at cast seaweed and beach wrack as a resource. There is a regular exchange and collaboration between the projects.

COASTAL Biogas took part in the CONTRA final conference on the 1st of June. Click here to see the recorded presentation of COASTAL Biogas  – use of cast seaweed to mitigate eutrophication.

The conference documentation including downloadable presentations are available here.

COASTAL Biogas featured in the Interreg Maritime Roadshow

Maritime cooperation is needed and the new generation of Interreg programmes will continue to offer opportunities for maritime cooperation. The Interreg Maritime Roadshow shows how manyfold Interreg maritime cooperation can be. The video features specific maritime cooperation projects, including COASTAL Biogas, and their results to make Interreg cooperation more tangible.

Video
Angela Clinkscales, University of Rostock, talks about the main COASTAL objective – mitigation of eutrophication.
Click on the picture to see the video on YouTube.

Meet COASTAL Biogas at EUBCE 2021 (26-29 April)

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s 29th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition (EUBCE) will be held as an online event from 26‑29 April 2021. If you are interested to learn more about the COASTAL Biogas project, you can meet us at the booth of the Agency for Renewable Resources (FNR) in the virtual exhibition area (list of exhibitors).

To access the virtual exhibition area you need to register for a Free Visitors Pass. The virtual exhibition area will be online also after the conference.

We are looking forward to meeting you soon at our virtual booth!

Main take-aways – 4th COASTAL Biogas conference

The 4th COASTAL Biogas conference took place on the 9th of December as an online event.

Presentations
The presentations are online on the conference webpage. Just click on the title of the presentation you want to view.

Conference summary
Click here to download the conference summary.

Main take-aways
It is evident that there is a strong interest to use marine biomass as a resource and obtain different socio-economic benefits. However, the regulations and directives are not always adopted to such initiatives since they were introduced to solve other types of problems. Even if the regulations and directives do not pose a barrier for utilising marine biomass as a resource, stakeholders normally optimise their own businesses from an economic perspective rather than from an environmental perspective. There are a lot of socio-economic benefits related to the anaerobic digestion of cast seaweed and the utilisation of the digestate as an organic fertiliser, as part of the circular economy. However, if the biogas operator is not economically compensated for the reduced eutrophication, the elimination of greenhouse gas emissions from decaying seaweed, the improved water and soil quality, and compliance with different directives etc., the operator might look for other substrates that generate a higher methane yield. Therefore, it is important to take a holistic approach and convince stakeholders of the socio-economic benefits to avoid disadvantages for the environment.

COASTAL Biogas featured at the Greater BIO digital seminar

Jörgen Held, Baltic Energy Innovation Centre, was invited to present the COASTAL Biogas project at the Greater BIO digital seminar on the 17th of September 2020 in Malmö, Sweden. Sonia Denkiewicz from Skåne Energy Agency opened the seminar, where –next to the COASTAL Biogas project presentation – the CONTRA project was introduced by Jens Almqvist, KRINOVA. Furthermore, Tyge Kjaer from Roskilde University presented the Solrød Biogas plant.

The recorded presentation of the COASTAL Biogas presentation can be found here.

Additionally, a short summary of the event (in Swedish) is published here.