On the 17th and 18th of September 2022, CCS had a stand at a Dutch fair aimed at agricultural innovations and developments in the lovely town of Someren. The fair, called ‘’Agrarische Dagen Someren’’, unfortunately, took place on a pair of rainy days, but this did not dampen the spirits of the visitors who came from far and wide to see the latest and greatest in agricultural innovations. The event boasted some trusted names such as Lely, Agrifirm, Alfa Laval and of course CCS Energie-Advies.
CCS was here to promote its range of agricultural innovations, including ammonia strippers and biogas upgrading technologies. CCS did, however, have one more piece of interesting technology up its sleeves. Clients who were discussing the feasibility of biogas production for their own companies had the option of performing online scans to see what would work best for them. CCS took this opportunity to also discuss the benefits of harnessing the sun’s heat to reduce a system’s heat demand. Ironically, anaerobic digesters are notorious gas users even though they produce it themselves. Making sure that the massive digester is kept at the right temperature uses a lot of the energy that it produces (up to 15% of the produced biogas). The biogas that is burned to keep the digester running is essentially wasted and cannot be used in other industries, or sold. A good way to reduce this heat demand is to set up an array of solar thermal panels, which will supply heat to the digester as much as possible. Depending on the desired size of the solar thermal array, this can allow the reduction of gas use by up to 60%. Any bit of gas saved is extra revenue for the installation, which helps reduce the payback time of an anaerobic digester.
While discussing the possibilities of solar thermal installations (not just limited to heating anaerobic digesters), the visitors at the fair seemed particularly interested in its application to cost-effectively reduce your (thermal) energy bill, especially in the context of the current energy crisis.
Unfortunately, the event did not lead to any concrete plans for new installations in The Netherlands, although contact information was exchanged between CCS and several visitors who were interested in follow-up discussions.
