2012|13 Annual Report Fraunhofer IGB

27 Dr.-Ing. Ursula Schließmann, departmental head at the Fraun- hofer IGB, went on to present the project and the demon- stration facility, designed as a ﬂexible “multi-substrate plant”. The project involves taking watery biowaste with a low lignin content and extracting the maximum possible amount of bi- ogas, which is then further processed as fuel for vehicles. The project consortium wants to use the concept implemented in Stuttgart to utilize all the materials streams arising – from bi- ogas to liquid ﬁltrate to the residues that cannot be further fermented – and so complete the cycle of materials. First of all, the market waste is size reduced for fermentation in a plant developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV in Freising together with the machinery and instrumentation manufacturer NETZSCH. The comminution process is designed to require as little energy as possible. The size reduced waste is stored in various stor- age containers that feature automated measurement of pa- rameters such as the pH value. A management system uses these data to calculate how many liters of the waste and from which containers are to be mixed and fed into the bioreactors. Here, microorganisms degrade up to 90 percent of the waste, producing the desired biogas in only a few days. This is then collected outside in a gas tank. Membrane tech- nology is used to remove carbon dioxide from the biogas, and its methane concentration increased to 80–95 volume per- cent. The treated biogas is compressed under high pressure and stored in a gas station. In the end it was possible to refuel two of the test vehicles with biogas. New lab building for the BioCat Project Group in Straubing Fraunhofer IGB’s BioCat Project Group in Straubing, set up in 2009 and funded by the Bavarian State, develops new chemi- cal and biocatalytic methods for the material utilization of renewable raw materials. Construction of a new lab build- ing commenced with a groundbreaking ceremony on July 22, 2010, and on October 11, 2012 the project group and 200 invited guests representing industry, science and politics inau- gurated the ﬁnished complex at Straubinger Schulgasse 11a – in the direct vicinity of the Straubing Science Center, which had made labs and ofﬁces available to the project group for its research activities for two years. The new building currently houses 15 members of staff. It is imperative to develop the next generation of catalysts and processes as soon as possible, so that biomass and carbon dioxide can be used as sources of raw materials for chemi- cals and energy carriers in the place of fossil oil, said Profes- sor Volker Sieber, head of the project group, at the inau- guration ceremony. The senior mayor of Straubing, Markus Pannermayr, made a short welcoming speech in which he was pleased to point out that the inauguration of the building co- incided with the 225th birthday of Straubing-born Joseph von Fraunhofer. Undersecretary Dr. Georg Ried passed on con- gratulations from the Bavarian Secretary of Commerce, Martin Zeil, who was unable to attend due to illness. Dr. Alexander Kurz, Senior Vice President Personnel and Legal Affairs at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, also said some words of greeting. After the speeches, Hans-Peter Gartner of the architectural of- ﬁce Gartner, handed over the keys to the new landlord Profes- sor Sieber, and pastors Erna Meiser and Franz Alzinger blessed the new lab building. Afterwards, many guests took the op- portunity for a tour. Only recently the project group received an undertaking of further funding from the Bavarian State for the topic “chemical energy storage”. 5 5

2012|13 Annual Report Fraunhofer IGB

Pages