A fermentation plant in Amsterdam supplies approximately one thousand tonnes of CO2 to the greenhouse horticulture sector monthly. The gas is released during the production of green gas from organic waste streams and no longer disappears into the atmosphere, but enters the greenhouses as a fertilizer.
Waste management company Renewi collects organic waste from restaurants, supermarkets, and households in the Netherlands and Belgium. Kitchen waste, unsold food items, and vegetable, fruit, and food scraps enter a digester, where they are converted into biogas: a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide. The methane is upgraded to green gas for the Dutch gas grid.
Liquid at minus 65 degrees
The company removes the remaining carbon dioxide from the biogas using a CCU installation. For transport, the gas is cooled to 65 degrees below zero, causing it to liquefy and fit into tanks. Upon arrival at the greenhouses, it returns to gaseous form and is distributed through the cultivation area via pipes. In a case study on the website of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), Renewi's business development manager Joop Suurmeijer explains that it was of utmost importance to him to keep that CO2 out of the atmosphere, because emissions do not fit with a company focused on sustainability.
The supply is particularly valuable for growers who heat their greenhouses with geothermal energy. They burn little to no natural gas and therefore have less of their own CO2 left for their crops, while that CO2 actually stimulates growth.
The subsidy was the deciding factor.
The investment in the capture installation was secured through the Sustainable Energy Production and Climate Transition Incentive (SDE++) subsidy scheme. Suurmeijer informed the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) that the scheme made an acceptable payback period possible and that the installation would not have been realized without that support. The application process went smoothly, partly because the company was already familiar with the process of contacting the implementing agency.
To other entrepreneurs considering a similar step, he advises not to underestimate the administrative side. After the grant is awarded, reporting obligations follow and records must be maintained, something that, according to him, needs to be well organized from the start.
Source: RVO
Photo: Denise Nys – Pexels.com
