The largest monosubstrate biogas plant in Europe

This plant is located in the Poltava Region in Ukraine. The regional economy is based on agriculture, and primarily on the production of sugar beet. The biogas plant was integrated into ASTARTA HOLDING’s sugar production plant.

ASTARTA saw an improvement with this type of system that was perfectly in line with the group’s policy: a fully integrated sugar production and refining system, from cultivation to sales. The system now also includes:

• Production of thermal energy for self-consumption
• Agronomic recovery of organic by-products

The feeding system developed has the capacity to incorporate more than 45 tons/hour of pulp. Furthermore, the biological process was developed to support a monosubstrate diet with an Organic Load Ratio (OLR) of up to 12. Thus, it operates without any other type of waste, making the plant more sustainable and efficient.

The plant consists of 4 digesters and 2 post-digesters for a total volume of 31,500m3.

Biogas production achieves up to 7000 m3/hour and is used to cover up to 75% of the  sugar factory’s thermal demand.

After digestion, the exhausted beet pulp is converted into a  subproduct called digestate. After a solid-liquid separation, this material is transported to the agricultural plots and used as organic fertiliser, therefore completely closing the cycle.

This plant is capable of processing and treating all of the waste generated and can process up to 60 tons/hour.

Conclusions drawn from the project

A biogas plant of this type, associated with a factory with a large volume of organic waste and on-site waste treatment, enables significant operational and logistical energy and waste management savings, making the activity sustainable and eco-friendly .

We have also seen that the larger the size of the plant, the shorter the return on the investment.