‘A milestone in the direction of sustainability’
The significance of the project lies in the combination of different processes. The finalised energy plant will not only produce 600 m3 of biomethane per hour. The plant is also breaking new ground in dealing with the CO2 produced during fermentation and refinement: 9,000 tonnes of CO2 will be used to produce biogenic dry ice, which will replace conventional fossil-based dry ice in the industry. The additional storage of CO2 in precast concrete parts made of recycled building materials is intended to avoid a total of 20,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. ‘The combination of these innovative solutions and technologies will utilise the potential of biowaste in an unprecedented way. Nieheim will therefore be a milestone towards sustainability,’ explains Karlgünter Eggersmann, Managing Director of the Eggersmann Group. KOMPOTEC is part of the Eggersmann Group.
A ceremonial act with signal effect
For many of those present, the project has a signal effect – not only for the region, but also for NRW and beyond its borders. ‘At a time when we read every day about the lack of economic growth and declining investment in Germany, the Eggersmann Group is investing in OWL in a remarkable way. Eggersmann has already proven several times in the past that they can successfully develop new business areas with innovations, even and especially in economically difficult times, and at the same time use the OWL location for this purpose,’ expressed the President of the NRW state parliament Kuper the economic significance of the project. ‘We need beacons like Eggersmann to create and maintain jobs in our region.’ In contrast, Mr Dürdoth, 1st Deputy District Administrator of the district of Höxter, particularly emphasised the contribution of rural areas to the energy transition and remarked, that the ‘Nieheim energy plant lighthouse project’ is a strong expression of this. KOMPOTEC Director Sebastian Böhme in turn highlighted the concept of the plant itself: ‘Our new plant will not only holistically utilise biowaste but will also produce urgently needed biomethane as quasi-green natural gas in addition to electricity. Even the CO2 will be sensibly processed. If we are aiming for a genuine circular economy, then approaches with such a high level of production must become the standard in the future.’
Team effort by a strong group from the region
The project is a team effort by the internationally active Eggersmann Group. The East Westphalian family business is made up of the »constructing«, »recycling« and »composting« divisions. The operator and owner of the new energy plant will be the composting division KOMPOTEC, while compost and liquid fertiliser will be marketed by BIOTERRA. Eggersmann Anlagenbau has been entrusted with the design, while the new dry fermentation process is coming from BEKON. Fechtelkord & Eggersmann will be responsible for the construction work and the BETONT concrete plant will supply prefabricated concrete parts for the building shell and later store the CO2 collected during the production of new concrete parts. A shredder and a digestate mixer from BRT HARTNER will also be used. ‘The composting plants in Nieheim and Gütersloh were actually the beginning of the rise of the Eggersmann construction company to a group of companies in the 1990s. 30 years later, the new energy plant is proof of the enormous depth of production and the exemplary synergies that we have achieved since then through the further development of our group,’ said Thomas Hein, Managing Director of the Eggersmann Group, emphasising the symbolic value of the project for Eggersmann. ‘We were able to design the new energy plant in this form because we have all the necessary companies under one roof. Now we will realise it together.’