Morsø Bioenergi

– benefiting the environment and agriculture

MBE
MORSØ BIOENERGI
The Future of Biogas
With the opening of the Morsø
Bioenergi plant, local farmers
have taken an important step
towards sustainable animal
production on the island of
Mors. The Morsø plant is the
first farmer owned centralized
biogas facility where the pro-
duction of biogas is based
solely on livestock manure and
may well become a model for
future farmer owned plants.
Construction started in August 2008
and by April 2009 works manager Per
Bisgaard received the first tanker load
of slurry into the plant. Less than one
month later there was sufficient biogas
to start the engine and send green
electricity to the grid.
“We have been able to observe the
schedule and the estimated budget,
and it all looks promising”, says Chair-
man Anders Bovbjerg. He has been
involved in the project since the start in
2000 when a group of farmers began
planning for more environmentally
friendly handling of the large quantities
of livestock manure on Mors.
“It has been a long process. The
process of examining the application
submitted to the authorities has been
complicated and there has often been
doubt about interpretation of the
rules”, Anders Bovbjerg said. However
he can also see advantages to the long
planning time. “We have ended up
with an excellent plant and this is es-
pecially due to our competent advisers
and the fact that we have spent a long
time preparing. We considered many
different designs but ended up with a
Bigadan facility which is based on
decades of operating experience at
Danish centralized facilities. This gives
us assurance that things will work as
intended.”
Agriculture and the
environment
For the farmers on Mors the biogas
plant is primarily about improving the
environment through better utilization
of livestock manure and the possibility
of expanding animal production on the
island.
It is the first centralized biogas plant
in Denmark where the production of
biogas is based solely on livestock
manure. In other centralized plants
industrial waste is added to manure,
but today there is a shortage of indus-
trial waste and the farmers on Mors are
not interested in the island receiving
additional nutrients. On the contrary,
the biogas plant will make it possible to
remove nutrients from the island in
order to retain and possibly increase
livestock production. This is achieved
by separating the digested biomass
into a liquid fraction that contains most
of the nitrogen and potassium and a
solid fraction that contains much of the
phosphorus. The liquid is returned to
the farmers and the solid fraction is
sold to crop farmers in other parts of
Denmark. As a result the land base
the farmers need for spreading their
manure is reduced by about 2,500
hectares.
The farmers’ investment
The cost of the Morsø Bioenergi facility
is 73 million DKK (about 9,8 mill euro)
including site, road tanker and a mo-
bile plant for separating slurry at the
farms. The Danish Energy Agency
contributed with a grant of more than
6 million DKK and the 70 farmer mem-
bers of the cooperative that owns the
plant each invested 1,100 DKK per
animal unit for a total of 7 million DKK.
The remaining 60 million DKK is fi-
nanced with bank loans from two local
financial institutions.
According to the budget annual in-
come from the sale of electricity and
district heating will be 10 million DKK
and additionally the farmers will annu-
ally pay 6 million DKK in treatment fees
or about 40% of the total income.
“This is a lot of money for the indi-
vidual farmer and it only adds up be-
cause the farm land on Mors has cost
nearly 300,000 DKK per hectare” says
Chairman Anders Bovbjerg.
In return the farmers get a more
balanced organic fertilizer which can
be used to meet their nitrogen require-
ment since most of the phosphorus is
exported with the fibre fraction. The
farmers will need to buy less artificial
fertilizer and at the same time be able
to raise more animals on fewer hect-
ares while observing environmental
regulations.
Annually the biogas plant will treat
390,000 tons of slurry. A portion of
 MORSØ BIOENERGI
Receiving tank
Decanter
centri-
fuge
Fibre storage
MORSØ BIOENERGI
The heart of the biogas plant is the large digester vessel where methane bacteria transform the organic matter into
gas. After degassing the biomass it is separated, the fibre fraction is sold to crop farms and the liquid fraction is
returned to the farmers. The gas is utilized to generate electricity and for district heat production.
the slurry will be separated on individ-
ual farms and only the fibre fraction
transported to the biogas plant. There-
by the amount of biomass transported
will be reduced to 119,000 tons per
year.
The anticipated annual production of
biogas is 4.3 million m3, corresponding
to 3 million m3 natural gas.
During the winter heat from the gas
engine will be sold to the local heat
and power plant, while during the sum-
mer there will be a heat production
surplus which may be used for drying
the fibre fraction.
Pasteurization
tank
70°C
Mixing tank
Storage tank
Gas boiler
District heating
Prepared for expansion
Today Morsø Bioenergi treats about
one third of the slurry on the island
but the facility is designed so that the
capacity can be doubled. The plant will
be expanded when it becomes possible
to supply gas to the natural gas distri-
bution network since the demand for
district heat is now a limiting factor.
“An increased capacity will yield an
improved operating profit so this is
clearly something we will consider” said
Chairman Bovbjerg. He hopes that in
time the farmers’ treatment fees can
be reduced and that even more farm-
38°C
Digester Storage tank
CHP unit
Heat Electrical
exchanger power
grid
ers will have the opportunity to deliver
slurry to the plant.
With the plant in Mors there are now
22 centralized biogas plants in Den-
mark. The Danish political agreement
on Green Growth made in 2009 con-
cerns a Denmark 2020 Environment
and Nature Plan. The plan calls for at
least 40% of livestock manure in Den-
mark to be treated in biogas plants by
2020. This will require the construction
of 30 to 40 biogas facilities of the
same size as the Morsø plant, which
may well become a model for such
future facilities. ■
 Morsø Bioenergi
Treated slurry 390,000 ton/year Næssundvej 234
DK-7970 Redsted Mors
Treated biomass 119,000 ton/year www.morsbioenergi.dk
& +45 2265 0001
Land released from slurry application 2,500 hectare
Gas production 4,300,000 m3/year
Electricity production 10,000 MWh/year
District heating 8,500 MWh/year

Biogas plant + site DKK 42 mio

Combined power and heating station DKK 11 mio
Transport and separation DKK 9 mio
Financing, running in DKK 4 mio
Lawyer, consultants, etc. DKK 5 mio
Miscellaneous DKK 2 mio
Total plant price DKK 73 mio

Sale of electricity 7 mio DKK/year

Centralised biogas plants built between 1984 and 2009
Sale of district heat 3 mio DKK/year
Morsø Bioenergi is situated in the south western part of the
Treatment fee 6 mio DKK/year island of Mors – an area with a large concentration of live-
Total income 16 mio DKK/year stock agriculture. The plant’s design is based on the best
practices from plants built in Denmark since 1984.

Complete biogas solutions

he exp
www.bigadan.dk et
We hav

25 eri
& +45 8657 9090 ence
year

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US affiliate of Bigadan A/S
Developing renewable energy facilities with livestock
producers, food processors and waste haulers

CH4 BIOGAS, LLC

www.biopress.dk • August 2009

www.ch4biogasllc.com
H H Bob Blythe, President
607-592-4727
H bblythe@ch4biogasllc.com