Profitable collaboration – for farmers and the environment

20 July 2017

Monica Westman Svensleius

More Biogas started as a simple study group, and has become a profitable biogas facility that supplies vehicle fuel throughout the Kalmar region, and KRAV-labelled fertiliser to farmers. The latter are also joint-owners in the company.

More biogasCollaboration is taken for granted in Kalmar. Several farmers north of Kalmar had their curiosity aroused by biogas and started a study group. This led to a project to investigate whether it could be economically justified to produce vehicle fuel in a joint facility.

The More Biogas Småland company was established, and clear objectives laid down: the gas must be sold before construction started, the economy must be sound, and capital must be available.
The construction of a biogas facility in Mosekrog, 10 km north of Kalmar, started in 2013, in premises that had previously been home to Läckeby Water. Eighteen farmers are joint-owners of the plant, together with the Kalmar company Purac AB, Almi Invest, Kalmar Energi and some private individuals.

Operating company was formed

Mats Eklund, LiU, Krister Thulin, Scania and Mats Söderström, LiUThe raw material is chicken, pig and cattle manure from the farms, slaughter offal, and food waste from neighbouring municipalities. The farms are located at an average distance of 7.5 km from the facility. Sanitised fertiliser is returned to the farms, while E.ON takes the gas. The biogas is upgraded to vehicle fuel on site, and sold at several locations, including a vehicle filling station next to the facility. More Biogas has a capacity of just over 4 million m3 vehicle fuel per year.

An operating company was formed in the spring of 2015 to operate More Biogas and Kalmar Biogas. This company coordinates the selection of substrates and transport, in order to optimise operations. Puregas Solutions contributes personnel to the operating company, while the facility at Mosekrog houses also a laboratory in which the processes are followed.
More Biogas has been making a profit for the past few years.

But it’s clear that there are problems to overcome, one of which arises from the fact that the animals are allowed to feed freely in the open:
“We had to remove 300 tonnes of stones and gravel from the reactor. This demands a high level of commitment from the joint-owners,” Gunnar Bergström, process engineer at More Biogas, concludes.

Key parameters

Annual consumption
Car, 15,000 km 0.01 GWh
Bus 0.4-0.5 GWh

4 million m3 of vehicle fuel per year corresponds to approximately 40 GWh
The vehicle fuel is 99.7% methane.

Gunnar Bergström berättar om verksamheten Gunnar Bergström Photo credit: Roozbeh Feiz

Biogas tour, 10 stops in 3 days

A biogas bus takes a tour

More than 30 researchers and representatives for companies involved in the Biogas Research Center, BRC, spent three days this summer touring southern Sweden to exchange experiences with companies and decision-makers.

Biogas and fertiliser from fish sludge

Biogas solved problems with slimy and foul-smelling wastewater from the fishing industry in Västervik. The sludge is now used as a source of both fuel for vehicles and top-quality fertiliser. There are, however, several other benefits.

Moving to biogas saves Kalmar money

When Kalmar County invited tenders for operating public transport, biogas was the obvious preferred option. “Our starting point was that we believed it to be best for the county,” says Ulf Nilsson, chairman of the Kalmar Regional Association.

National centre

Biogas Solutions Research Center

BSRC is a national competence center for biogas research administered by the LiU. It's base for the development of innovative and resource-efficient biogas solutions often with positive local and regional effects on the environment and the economy.

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