On the 31st of May Extremadura´s expert mission took place in Finland (Lahti). As we are all aware, an Expert Mission aims to study a selected good practice from another region in greater depth.
Two biogas experts from METANOGENIA, a spin-off company from Extremadura´s university, were invited by AGENEX to exchange different points of view, experience and knowledge with our Lahti partners on how biogas operates in each region.
As a result, two main destinations were distinguished in the expert mission.
Labio biogas plant visit
The CEO of the Labio plant, Niko Wassholm explained the function and the wide range of services that the company has, besides the waste treatment process that they follow.
LABIO Ltd company produces biogas and fertilizer from municipal biowaste, food industry, sludge from wastewater treatment plants and biodegradable material from farming, forestry, fisheries, and so on. It’s the largest biogas production and refining plant in Finland and processes 80 000 tons of waste/year producing 50 GWh/a biogas and 20.000 t/a compost.
The biogas generated in the dry digesters is transported through the pipes to the nearby operator for upgrading and distributing to the gas grid. The digestate is processed with other biowastes in the composting facility to produce compost and other growing solutions used in agriculture, cultivation and gardening. Heat energy from the composting process is used to heat the biogas facility.
Besides other benefits of dry anaerobic digestion, no additional water is required to dilute biomaterial for transportation through pipes. The operation of the plant offers an environmentally friendly, reliable, secure and odourless production of biogas and compost.
Lahti University of Applied Sciences
Our last visit was to the Lahti University of Applied Sciences facilities, where Sami Luste and Mikko Rahtola gave us a brief presentation regarding the current projects that are being developed within the university.
There were several topics discussed during the meeting, such as the energy consumption levels, the direct impact that gas has had on the country due to the recent war, as well as the number of energy sources used in electricity production.
Finally, Mikko with the help of our Finnish partner, Vilppu Eloranta, showed us the potential that their labs presented, approaching goals such as circular economy, sustainability, design and innovations projects.
Author: Javier Torres Fernández de Soria.
