Award for biogas company

A system developed by EnviTec Biogas for controlling and monitoring the feeding of materials – such as liquid manure, maize and whole-crop silage — into its biogas digesters gained the ’Machine of the Year’ award at this year’s Agritechnica 2009 show in Germany, the world’s largest trade fair for agricultural equipment.

The system helps operators of biogas plants achieve optimum capacity utilisation. Steady production is dependent on regular feeding of materials into the fermenter. EnviTec’s "Feedcontrol" system adjusts the feeding intervals according to the quantity of biogas required, avoiding the need for fixed feeding times.

The award was made by the technical editors of Deutscher Landwirtschaftsverlag (German Agricultural Publishers) and EnviTec gained its prize in the ’Renewable Energies’ category.

EnviTec Biogas reported an increase in international demand for its products, not just by farmers but by industrial companies and investors. It says that operators of biogas plants with a rated electrical output of 500 kW can save as much as 20,000 Euros a year in operating costs by using the system.