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| EU - AGROBIOGAS |
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| Monday, 27 April 2009 16:31 |
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Project summary The EU-AGRO-BIOGAS STREP project targets the area SUSTDEV-1.1.1 “Cost-effective supply of renewable energies” and in particular the topic “Innovative approaches to improving the yield of medium to large scale biogas plants” of the work programme. The main objectives of this project are to (i) develop and demonstrate a standard methodology to assess the methane yield of several regionally available raw materials as substrates for an agricultural biogas plant, (ii) to develop and demonstrate an automatic monitoring, management and early-warning system for agricultural, medium to large scale biogas plants and (iii) to optimise and demonstrate innovative approaches to improve biogas yield and energy output at agricultural biogas plants. The consortium combines know-how from universities, applied research institutions and companies. To ensure an efficient technology transfer into demonstration activities at full scale commercial agricultural biogas plants, selected operators (SMEs) of medium to large scale agricultural biogas plants have already agreed to provide access to their plants, being the main beneficiaries of the project. The consortium agreed to carry out demonstration activities at existing biogas plants in order to achieve concrete and usable results after 1-2 years, and not to build new biogas plants (planning, building and set-up phase of an agricultural biogas plant takes aprox. 1 – 2 years). The EU-AGROBIOGAS project focuses on the improvement of the entire biogas production and conversion process, thus, increasing the degree of efficiency in the fermenter and conversion technologies, as well as improving the competitiveness of such plants. A weak-point analysis will generate information about the main critical points at selected agricultural biogas plants (between 300 kW and 2 MW). This benchmarking activity will be the basis for the development and demonstration of an automatic monitoring, management and early-warning system for agricultural biogas plants. The main activities in this project are demonstration activities which will take place at selected commercial agricultural biogas plants. All activities in the EU-AGRO-BIOGAS project aim to improve biogas yield and energy outputs at more competitive costs, which means in detail, an improvement of the biogas yield by about 40% and a cost reduction of between 20 to 30%. Dissemination and exploitation activities will guarantee that the obtained knowledge will be used for the planning and operating of new agricultural biogas plants throughout Europe.
Project objective(s) The EU-AGRO-BIOGAS STREP project integrates the whole chain of the production of biogas from agricultural biomasses and residues, the provision and the utilisation of the biogas in several applications as well as the ecological and economic assessment of these new developments. It is the aim of the consortium to analyse and identify the most important influence factors which are responsible for the currently not optimum performance of agricultural agricultural biogas plants. The EU-AGRO-BIOGAS project will focus on the agricultural sector and the following several waste / substrate streams (and examples):
The innovative approaches of this project will be tested and demonstrated on pilot plant level and up-scaled on to the commercial plant level. The project focuses on already established agricultural biogas plants and will not build new agricultural plants. The planning, building and set-up of medium to large scale agricultural biogas plants normally requires about one year and an additional year to reach an optimised process. Therefore, the consortium already defined 16 agricultural biogas plants in Europe which will be used as demonstration sites for the activities during the work plan of the project. These plants will be medium to large scale agricultural biogas plants (300kW to 1MW and more) in different regions of Europe. The EU-AGRO-BIOGAS project focuses on agricultural waste streams and agricultural biogas plants because this sector has the highest potential in the future. Phase A: Quality of raw material as input biomass and substrate for an optimised Biogas production (liquid and solid and mixtures) Phase A includes research and development activities which are aimed to set-up a standard methodology for Europe to evaluate the biogas potential of regional available substrates. It also includes pre-normative research actions to define a standard to be used within quality control and assessment of the raw material and substrates. Work package 1: Development of an EU-MEVM standard methodology and atlas / database. Task 1.1: Set-up of the database The aim is to identify regional specific characteristics of the agricultural input material, which are energy crops, animal manure and agricultural residues. These waste streams will be analysed according to their suitability for anaerobic digestion and will be evaluated on the technical and economical feasibility being a potential biogas substrate. The main deliverable will be a European substrate atlas / database including regional specificities established as an online database with restricted access during the project. In addition, actions will be launched to set-up a standard as pre-normative research. The three mentioned waste streams or input materials will be analysed on their nutrient and methane yield and assessed for anaerobic digestion. These laboratory measurements will lead to find the most suitable nutrient combination for digestion that results in a high methane yield and fast fermentation at low inputs in the production chain. Especially crops differ in their levels of nutrient concentrations. Therefore, to identify the optimum harvesting time research in field trials will be performed in several regions and pre-defined farm scenarios will be demonstrated. An optimal harvesting time demonstrates a high input / output ratio with the lowest environmental impact. In addition, crop management systems will be developed to achieve high dry matters and methane yields and a decrease in environmental impacts. Substrates differ in their levels of nutrient concentrations and therewith the affiliated energy fluxes. For instance, crop management systems have the highest level of (fossil) energy input in the process chain of biomass. Optimised and standardised systems for cultivation of energy crops will result in high dry matter and methane yields and low environmental impact. In addition, the residues from digestion are usable a high quality fertiliser which decreases the input of mineral fertilisers. Therefore, the potential and the benefits for the recycling of anaerobic digestion residues for use as a fertiliser with regard to nutrient and energy fluxes will be assessed. In a final step, the feedback of the dependence of gas quality for the different biogas utilisation systems on the raw material input has to be considered for the assessment of substrate potential. Based on the national Database of KTBL / Partner 4 (Germany) the atlas / database will be extended and filled with data from the other participating organisations and countries. An adaption phase will lead to online atlas / database in the main European languages German, English and French. Task 1.2: Further experiments of substrates and mixtures of energy crops In the countries where such data is already available it will be structured to be implemented and demonstrated through the atlas / database. From countries with no data it will be necessary to do some experiments. Further experiments will be necessary for establishing the MEVM methodology as European standard. The following structure will be used to generate the European Substrate atlas / database. :
These experiments will done at Partner 1 (BOKU) and Partner 7 (FAL) and the samples will be analysed with their instruments. This is necessary to secure the collection of data that are comparable and reliable, but also to set-up a basis for the standardisation. This strategy is necessary to minimise the costs.
Task 1.3: Pre-normative research To optimise the biogas plant planning process it is necessary to include regional aspects concerning the input material (energy crops) and its biogas production potential. It is the aim to develop standards which allow an initial testing of the regional available raw material and its biogas potential which will then be the basis for the planning of a biogas plant and it’s up scaling. Several studies show that the process of anaerobic digestion is mainly influenced by the quality and composition of the substrate. Therefore, a methane energy value system (MEVM) will be used and developed as a standard methodology to determine the methane yield of substrates for Europe. The MEVM definition: Assignment of specific contents (Weender) of the raw material to a specific measured methane yield. This MEVM will be validated based on the data of the European substrate atlas and newly gained data from countries like Poland and Czech Republic (regression equation). The MEVM measurements will provide data which allow to find the optimum harvesting time for maximising methane yields. MEVM can be used to analyse energy crops, animal manures and agricultural residues as a European standard methodology. A demonstration of the MEVM will be done at selected commercial farms in the regions to be used on-site. Five selected medium to large – scale agricultural biogas plants chosen to use the data. Characteristics for the selection of the biogas plants: - Measurements have already been done – necessary data is available - Countries: UK, PL, CZ, IT, GE, AT, DK - Data to the following benchmarks shall be available:
The detailed working plan will be defined and agreed at the kick-off meeting. If it is possible to develop a standard methodology in determining the biogas potential of regional available substrates and to compare the data with other regions, where it will help to optimise the planning of a biogas plant. The main advantages of the MEVM methodology are:
A better planning will reduce investment and operational costs; it will even be the basis for setting up an economically efficient biogas plant. Furthermore, this new standard methodology will be used within the quality control at agricultural biogas plants to assess the incoming raw material and substrates. Finally, based on the results of this task it is the aim to develop a standard methodology for the assessment of the methane yield potential of agricultural raw material and substrates. Phase B: Technologies used in the process of biogas production (input technologies, fermentation technologies, management and benchmarking systems, early warning systems) to be optimised for a higher biogas yield Work package 2: Process Benchmarking The aim of this work package is to benchmark the performance and technical parameters of about ten existing agricultural biogas plants as a weak point analysis and to identify critical issues which mainly influence the biogas yield and energy output. The previous analysis in WP1 with the MEVM methodology will result in data which will be included into the benchmarking. The selection of biogas plants has already been done before the launch of the project. An indicative list is attached to this decription of work. Task 2.1: Benchmarking of European biogas technologies and plants Based on the selected biogas plant the main influence parameters which have an impact on the biogas yield, will be identified and benchmarked. The following parameters and parts of the whole process will be assessed and additional ones will be added on demand: - Biogas technology used - Substrate processing and input in the digester (Partner Vogelsang is expert for optimising the input technologies) - Pre-treatment of biomass (thermo-chemical, enzymes, etc.) - Hydraulic retention time and loading rate - Design of preparation pit - Fermenter, secondary fermentation tank - Effluent store and biogas store (Design and Size) - Biogas utilisation (is a main issue in WP4, identified improvement opportunities will be the basis for the developments in WP4) - Technology and Safety parameters of the gas bearing system - Fermentation temperature - Biogas yield - Methane and H2S content of biogas - Degree of heat utilisation - Utilisation of digested sludge - Plant management costs - Personnel cost and personnel requirement Examples for critical points could be the parameter: - Loading rate - Hydraulic retention time - Volatile fatty acids - Total Ammonium content (Free dissociated Ammonia) - pH value These benchmarking data will be collected to identify critical (weak points) points at the selected biogas plants. This is necessary for planning and setting up the demonstration activities, but also the automatic monitoring, management and early-warning system.These benchmarks will be the basis for the following demonstration activities at the biogas plants. Some of the data from task 1.3 will be used in task 2.1 to benchmark the quality of the raw materisl. Task 2.2: Preparation of specifications for the automatic monitoring, management system and early – warning system All these parameters will be analysed and valued. The parameters with the most influence on the biogas yield of such plants will be the basis for the preparation of specifications for an automatic monitoring, management and the early-warning system. These specifications will guide the involved participants in WP3 within their development tasks. Workpackage 3: Development early warning system Task 3.1: Development of automatic monitoring, management and early-warning system. The identified parameters and benchmarks will be used to develop a biogas plant monitoring, management and early-warning system. Optimised biogas production requires appropriate benchmarkingbenchmarkingfor individual stages of the biogas plant processes. Selecting the appropriate parameters to measure will be important and may be biogas plant specific. Equally important are the techniques selected to measure the chemical and physical characteristics as the technology needs to be appropriate, reliable, simple and inexpensive to maintain. This will require some experimentation and data from the other partners in the project are necessary. To be able to determine the appropriate sensors Partner 2 / IGER needs to investigate which properties are important using conventional chemical analysis. Biogas quality and volume would be assessed by benchmarkingbenchmarkingmethane, CO2, and H2S. Additional properties to be measured include; temperature, pH, conductivity, redox potential and ammonium. Anaerobic digestion will also produce volatile fatty acids and bicarbonate. The extent to which the digester can tolerate difficult feedstocks and the effect on methane generation will be determined. IGER can perform analysis of products that include biogas inhibiting components such as, sulphides, long chain fatty acids, C2 to C6 fatty acids, phenols and other protein decay products. Their measurement will be assessed as a means of improving biogas production and process control. It is planned to use a near infrared spectrometer to obtain real-time benchmarkingof the waste streams and processes. IGER would monitor the incoming feedstock, primary hydrolysis, the digestate (during biogas production) and the output material to optimise production. Initially with a research near infrared spectrometer and later purpose built devices that are economic/cheaper to purchase on the biogas plant. Results on manure and municipal waste have shown that clearly show that both near infrared analysis and an array of electronic gas sensors can provide simultaneous non-invasive in situ benchmarkingof important process variables in anaerobic digesters Development of sensor systems that need to monitor different fermentation process require flexibility and identification as to what part of the fermentation should be observed. Sensors used will include conductivity, pH and redox. Chemical analysis will include the recognised parameters of biogas production and will include, total nitrogen, dry matter content, ammoniacal nitrogen, oil, volatile solids and volatile fatty acids. Spectrometry will include near infrared and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Informatics approaches will include metabolic profiles (GC-MS) and phospholipid fatty acid analysis that can observe microbial community successions. Disturbances in the anaerobic digestion process must be avoided as they result in lower methane yields, require additional manpower input and decrease profits. Therefore a set of parameters for the automatic benchmarkingof the process stability will be developed. This new system has to be established as easy-to-use system for the technician at the biogas plant. The following parameters will be included in the planned online early warning system: PH (pH-meter) Methane content in the biogas Hydrogen partial pressure and fatty acid composition of the reactor material (it is suggested to use methanethiol for process assessment) Titration of the alkalinity ratio Results out of the process benchmarkingwork package and additional semi-continuous digestion tests will be used to identify which factors influence the resistibility of the biogas process. The experiments will be carried out in 20 l completely stirred reactors which will be fed once a day. Gas production and quality will be controlled daily and reactor material is will be analysed regularly, at steady-state condition. An extensive database which is filled with the results form WP2 and the lab experiments ensure a detailed description of critical “benchmarks” in the biogas plant processes. Based on this database and regional aspects the early warning system will be tested at pilot plant level. After an optimisation phase it will be implemented into a commercial plant.
Work package 4: Technical process optimisation In order to design and operate an optimal digestion system it is important to understand the kinetics and anaerobic digestion. Optimisation of the biogas production and utilisation processes does not only function through the implementation of new and innovative technologies, it is more realistic to implement and use management systems which can support the optimisation of the whole maintenance of the plant. Technological optimisation steps are planned in the following processes: Task 4.1: Optimisation of substrate (regional- and plant specific measures) It is planned to analyse and optimise the pre-treatment of energy crops. These input materials have to be analysed for their content and composition of nutrients, which deliver a defined amount of methane, which produce trace components of biogas, and which improve or decline the process of anaerobic digestion Further the analyses of input substrates from different regional origin will deliver information if there are regional differences in apparently identical material. These analyses will also give information on factors influencing these substrate characteristics. In order to fulfil this task it is necessary to conduct analyses of many kinds of input materials from all relevant regions. The analyses include standard values like dry matter, volatile organic substances, pH, nitrogen, etc., and the differentiation of crude fibre, crude protein, crude fat, N-free components, sugar content, etc. Further sulphur and phosphorus content and other chemical constituents will be analysed in order to establish their influence on the process of anaerobic digestion and also to assess the influence of input material quality on the composition of the digested slurry. The treatment is planned to be demonstrated by thermo-chemical treatment between 120-170 degrees Celsius which has large potentials for increasing the conversion of slowly degradable biomass and increasing the biogas production. However, the increased DIAS has lab equipment for testing the efficiency of pre-treatment. The consortium will also analyse and demonstrate optimised approaches at regional level on the logistics of the harvested energy crops which could be improved by an optimal design. The costs of the logistics of the biomass collection may determine a major part of the feasibility of medium to large scale anaerobic digestion plants. The logistics are often complex and can be set up in many different ways. The logistics, including harvest, storage, pre-treatments, and transport from source locations to the biogas plant will be modelled by means of a network structure. Nodes correspond with source locations, collection sites, transhipment sites, pre-treatment sites or the energy plant and arcs correspond with transport. For this research logistical simulation and optimization models and tools are available (such as Biologics and Bio loco). Task 4.2: Innovative approaches to feed the agricultural biogas plants The processing of the biomass (liquid and solid) has to be optimised through a technological innovation that the substrate enters the digester in a homogenous and fluid form. Several tests will be performed to find an optimised way for the input of substrate which can be used in all different regions of Europe and is not depending on specific raw materials. The planned steps are:
Task 4.3: Demonstration of the automatic monitoring, management and early-warning system at pilot level Feedstock volume and characteristics affect biogas production. Partner 2 / IGER will assess the effects of adding different or fewer feedstock’s or additives that improve biogas production with a pilot scale (about 20 litres) biogas vessel, where we can alter properties without serious financial penalties. The optimum microbial community populations (the driving force behind nutrient and gas changes) will be determined using a well established range of molecular techniques at IGER. IGER will optimise performance by determining the following;
The integration of informatics and modelling into operating software will be done by and will include advanced mathematical models and with the appropriate statistical methods for justification. Such bioinformatics approaches will be used that are currently successful at differentiating waste types and their sources. This will include data mining and multivariate analysis. Modelling is necessary to define operational limits and functionality for automation. Defined and validated parameters will be monitored by the appropriate sensor or spectroscopic method and will achieve this in real time or on a timescale that provides no delay in biogas plant functionality or efficiency. The pilot plant will run for several waste types and their mixtures to achieve optimised functionality. Stability, ruggedness and calibration of sensors for continuous us will be assessed. Testing and validation will be an integral part of developing an automated biogas control system. While there are many on the market, they differ in mode of measurement and performance but a real reliable system is not available. Partner 2/IGER will produce guidelines as a report for managing and automating biogas production.
Task 4.4: Technical solutions at the fermenter The following innovative approaches will be tested at commercial plant level: The use of enzymes (The company Novozymes from Denmark has already agreed to provide us with the needed enzymes)
Indicative List of plants: - Mureck: Raw glycerine, enzymes and ceoliths - Kohlrosser: Vinase, enzymes and ceoliths - Gadener: enzymes and ceoliths - Fehrbellin: enzymes, micronutrients and thermo-mechanic pre-treatment Basic mixture of raw materials: - Maize, silage, corn crop mix, grass silage, manures (in low amounts) In Southern Europe the focus will be on the technological optimisation of agricultural biogas plants in Southern European countries and regions which may need different approaches to obtain improved biogas yields. It is estimated that simplified agricultural biogas plants for animal slurry are the most suitable for southern European countries where environmental temperatures are high enough for anaerobic digestion without any external heating requirements. Aim of the activity is to improve the biogas yield in Southern Europe environmental conditions. Constructive and operative solutions will be assessed as follows: Two options will be assessed:
Phase C: Conversion of biogas into energy to be optimised for a higher energy output Work package 5: Biogas utilisation One of the main aims is to define standards on the biogas quality which is essential for the further use in the specific conversion technology. The biogas quality has a high impact on the energy output and on the based technology, like CHP . In addition it is the aim to demonstrate innovative technologies and approaches to increase the energy output but also to minimise emissions into the environment. Within these tasks the focus is based on three different innovations for agricultural biogas plants. The mainly used technology is CHP. In addition, it is very common that the produced heat of agricultural biogas plant is not further used which means a high loss of renewable energy. EU-AGRO-BIOGAS will focus on the improvement of the CHP technology and to increase its degree of efficiency, and to demonstrate the feeding of heat into the regional heating network. Task 5.1: CHP – Conversion CHP plants use for example biogas for the production of electricity and heat and modern gasengines are able to reach very good degree of efficiencies. The use of the remaining energy in the flue gas stream will be demonstrated through the use of the ORC technology, which increases the degree of efficiency. This also leads to a higher income out of the electricity production. Even at a CHP performance of about 500 kW the use of an ORC module may be efficient. The main advantages of this ORC technology compared to the conventional gas technology are lower investment costs, more simple process design, self-regulating and low operating efforts necessary. The very good thermo-dynamic properties of the ORC-media it will be possible to use the ORC module fully automatic and without any specific personnel. Within this task the following demonstration activities are planned:
Task 5.2: Optimised heat utilisation A demonstration activity is planned at the Austrian co-operating biogas plant to demonstrate an innovative approach of feeding the heating network with produced heat out of the biogas plant. Currently, agricultural biogas plants mainly concentrate on the electricity production not on the heat production and therefore do not use the heat efficiently. A feasibility study and profitability study will be organised to optimise and define the best solutions for an utilisation of heat. The produced heat from agricultural biogas plants is currently not really used and therefore in a lot of cases gone. As a preparation for the coming demonstration task it is necessary to find out which are the best and most innovative approaches in utilising the heat. It depends on the region where an agricultural biogas plant is build, when deciding on the optimum heat utilisation concept. Within this task the best solution will be demonstrated and assessed. It also will be analysed which utilisation opportunities are the most efficient one in terms of costs. Examples are:
Phase D: Demonstration at selected commercial agricultural biogas plants Work package 6: Demonstration activities at commercial agricultural biogas plants At the end of year one 3-5 agricultural biogas plants where the operators commit to offer the plant for demonstration will be defined out of the partnering and co-operating SMEs which operate the agricultural biogas plants. At these plants the following demonstration activities are planned: These tasks will for sure last a couple of months to be able to receive enough reliable data to show the added value of the new approach. It is planned to demonstrate these approaches within two- three hydraulic retention times. That means a time period of 3 to 6 months, depending on each demonstration measure. Task 6.1: Demonstration of feeding technology Based on the results out of pilot plant experiments and further up-scaling calculations the optimised feeding technology will be implemented into these selected agricultural biogas plants. The aim is to demonstrate that this innovative approach and technology will support to improve the biogas yield of the plant. These demonstrations will be mainly done at the co-operating agricultural biogas plants of Partner 12 / Vogelsang. Vogelsang will demonstrate its innovative approaches at the agricultural biogas plants number 12 and 13. The main demonstration activities are:
Task 6.2: Demonstration of monitoring, management and early-warning system: Newly developed and optimised sensors will be installed at the agricultural biogas plants. The monitoring, management and early warning system will be implemented and tested. Based on the results of testing the system at pilot plant level an up scaling onto the commercial plant level will be calculated. The results of WP 2 and WP 3 will be the basis for the selection of three agricultural biogas plants out of the provided list in this proposal. The main demonstration activities are:
Task 6.3: Demonstration at the fermenter Stirring technologies and additives will be demonstrated and tested at the Austrian biogas plants Number 1 and 2. Additional demonstration sites are 9 and 10 in Denmark, but also the plants in Germany, Poland and Czech Republic. At each of the sites several optimisation steps to reach an improvement of the biogas yield will be prepared. This includes the use of enzymes, micro-organisms, an optimisation of the stirring technologies, the use of energy crops and an optimisation of substrates and mixtures.
Task 6.4: Demonstration of biogas conversion technologies The innovative approaches of biogas utilisation through CHP combined with ORC will be demonstrated at the agricultural biogas plant number 14. The main demonstration activities are:
The innovative approaches of an improved and optimised utilisation of produced heat will be demonstrated at the agricultural biogas plant No. 1. There the heat will be fed into the regional heating network. This concept will be used as best practice. Furthermore a drying plant will be demonstrated at a new agricultural biogas plant in Austria. The plant is operated by Agro Energie GmbH & Co KG (SME) and will use waste streams such as maize, silage, renewable raw material and manures. The biogas will be converted into electrical and thermal energy through a CHP technology. The produced heat will then be used for a drying plant. This drying plant as a demonstration activity will be set-up for agricultural use. The agricultural raw materials to be dried are pellets, crops, maize, grass, and other products. The drying plant will have the following characteristics:
Task 6.5: Demonstration of the ECOGAS system and newly developed additional modules At one selected agricultural biogas plants the ECOGAS software tool will be applied to calculate and to present the economic value of the demonstrated improvements and technological solutions. At the beginning the initial situation at the selected agricultural biogas plants will be calculated with ECOGAS. The comparison with the situation after the several improvements it will be able to proof their economic impact and environmental impact. The software will show a decrease in costs and a decrease in emissions (gas: CO2, NOx, N2O, CO)). The newly developed modules will visualize the most important material and energy fluxes. work package 6: Demonstration activities at commercial agricultural biogas plants At the end of year one 3-5 agricultural biogas plants where the operators commit to offer the plant for demonstration will be defined out of the partnering and co-operating SMEs which operate the agricultural biogas plants. At these plants the following demonstration activities are planned: These tasks will for sure last a couple of months to be able to receive enough reliable data to show the added value of the new approach. It is planned to demonstrate these approaches within two- three hydraulic retention times. That means a time period of 3 to 6 months, depending on each demonstration measure.
Pharse E: Economic and environmental assessment ECOGAS extended version.
This work package is expected to identify specific environmental and economic benefits for each of the applied optimisation measures under WP5. In this way any person (such as designer or plant operator) will be able to multiply the indicator by biogas plant’s specific parameters and evaluate such benefits as costs reductions and emission abatements. Additionally calculation of global benefits for ten most typical agricultural biogas plants for the European market will allow the politicians to evaluate which optimisation options should be promoted in a given region due to their highest level of benefit. Work package 8: Dissemination and Exploitation This combined dissemination and Exploitation WP includes innovation-related activities which are aimed to disseminate the obtaind results to important stakeholders in the agricultural biogas field, e.g. farmers, planners, investors, the communities, but also the regional citizens. In addition, this WP includes activities to ensure an efficient exploitation of results into economic success. Dissemination: In order to guarantee the effective and sustainable dissemination of the project results, work package 7 has ongoing activities across the full duration of the project. The following measures are particularly designed for raising awareness beyond the renewable energy/ biomass community and the general public especially in the rural areas. Task 8.1: Website: Project web page: aims at informing the general public about scope and progress of the project (new developments in agricultural biogas plants, with the possibility for relevant stakeholders to use the demo version of the early warning system)
Task 8.2: Dissemination material Awareness concerning the benefits of a agricultural biogas Europe wide, its potential for new business opportunities and economic viability new developed methods and technologies and its positive impacts on nature and environment. Therefore, a well balanced quantity of dissemination material (publications, flyer, practical examples etc.) will be produced. About 1000 flyers will be produced. Furthermore, it is aimed to reduce existing prejudices and to allay the social fears towards biogas production which very often can impede the establishment of agricultural biogas plants.
Task 8.3: Seminars and workshops Involvement of stakeholders, regional and national bodies through various seminars and workshops. Involvement of relevant scientific bodies and interest groups, such as national and international biogas and biomass associations, EC- scientific experts and international Certification Standard Bodies (ISO,EN) Task 8.4: Biogas Symposium to be held in Vienna at the end of the project. Task 8.5: Final plan for using and disseminating knowledge The consortium will set out a plan following the guidelines for the Consortium Agreement and associated IPR documents provided by the EC relating to “use” or “dissemination” of knowledge submitted by contractors. Issues of exclusion of pre-existing know-how will be discussed and either incorporated into the Consortium Agreement or if necessary, dealt with in a separate Collaboration Agreement. This issue will be dealt within the period between the proposal approval and the start of the project. IPR developments are an agenda point at each consortium meeting and suitable mechanisms will be built into the knowledge management scheme to ensure that potentially valuable patents are not deemed invalid by pre-mature dissemination. A specially designed communication manager has the task to evaluate intellectual property issues during the life time of the project with more emphasis on the second and third phase of the project. This will accumulate in an analysis of access rights for use purposes, including guidelines for continuing and extending the assessment after project completion. As a result an analysis of access rights for use purposes (“use” = exploitation and further research) including guidelines for continuing and extending the assessment after the project completion, will be part of the plan for using and disseminating knowledge which will be delivered at the end of the project. It is the aim to organise about six workshops for presenting the project results and show the demonstration results to a wide range of experts out of the field of biogas. (planners, decision makers – EU, national, regional -, researchers, farmers, political and economic representatives). The objective is to iniate further research projects (EU, national), to initiate further co-operations, to intiate further implementation of demonstrated technologies. In the time when this project will be ended, it will be in the phase of the 7th Framework programme. Maybe it is possible to set up consortia and to propose topics. The invited experts shall also come from countries which are not represented in this project. |
| Last Updated on Wednesday, 19 May 2010 18:26 |
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