Innovative solution for organic waste recycling in Paris
Franco-German consortium to build pilot plant for innovative technology combination in greater Paris
Contract awarded to a German-French consortium: Beginning in March 2020, the five partners Tilia GmbH (Leipzig), GICON - Grossmann Ingenieur Consult GmbH (Dresden), France Biogaz Valorisation (Strasbourg), Fraunhofer IGB (Stuttgart) and DBFZ Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum gemeinnützige GmbH (Leipzig) will build and operate a pilot plant with cutting edge processes for the joint treatment of residual organic waste and sewage sludge in the greater Paris area. If the pilot project proves successful, this concept envisages that from 2025 onwards, a large-scale industrial plant will be able to process up to 76,000 tons of organic residues per year into biogas and fertilizer in an environmentally friendly manner.
New contract model makes more possible
The project was launched in 2017 with a new contractual model - the innovation partnership. "This new type of public contract makes it possible to meet requirements and needs that the market and existing products or services were previously unable to meet," says Christophe Hug, Managing Director of the Leipzig-based service provider Tilia. "In contrast to conventional research projects, however, it does not stop at developing innovative solutions - they are also directly implemented in industrial practice. The client then has the opportunity to work with several contractors and test different approaches before deciding on a solution".
For an initial lab-scale phase and concept-development phase, two Parisian municipal special-purpose associations (Syctom and SIAAP) selected four consortia in 2018 to develop technological concepts for a maximum recycling rate of waste fractions. This took place in parallel in the sense of a competition. During the Phase 1, the Franco-German consortium led by the Leipzig-based Tilia presented an innovative technology concept consisting of various modules that enable maximum conversion of organic carbon into the energy source biomethane and nutrient recovery. To this end, almost 8,000 kilograms of organic residues (household waste, sewage sludge, horse manure and fat) were analyzed and hundreds of tests were carried out.
In order to prove the feasibility and performance of the treatment concept, the consortium then designed a pilot plant, which will later be a “small-scale” version of the large-scale plant. The basis for the planning and design of the pilot plant were the test results obtained in the laboratories of DBFZ, Fraunhofer IGB and GICON.
GICON® Managing Director Dr. Hagen Hilse describes the importance of in-house research & development: "Since the company was founded more than 25 years ago, GICON has focused on the development of innovative technologies and has established close cooperation with research institutions in addition to its own research activities. Thanks to the know-how we have built up and the infrastructure available for feedstock testing, we have been able to work with our partners to develop a tailor-made solution for the treatment and recycling of Parisian waste. This is a prime example of application-oriented research".
From pilot project to large-scale industrial plant
The concept seems to have been convincing: in January 2020, Syctom and SIAAP commissioned two consortia to build a pilot plant in Phase 2 of the innovation partnership, including the consortium led by Tilia. The German consortium members' many years of experience in methanization and nutrient recovery also played a decisive role in the contract. "Tilia has a broad knowledge in the design of innovative technical solutions as well as in the operation of plants and guarantees the technical-economic integration", said Christophe Hug. "As a Franco-German company and thanks to our experience in working with partners from different sectors, we were also able to successfully master the cooperative dialogue and project management".
The implementation of the pilot project will start in March 2020, for which the Dresden-based engineering service provider GICON will assume overall general planning for the entire pilot plant. Initially, the consortium will deal with the detailed planning of the pilot plant, which consists of more than eight individual technological components (modules) and will have a treatment capacity of approx. 400 tons per year.
Construction work will start near Paris beginning in 2021. Thereafter, all modules will be operated together in a twelve-month test phase. This will determine the optimum operating parameters as well as an operating regime that is coordinated for all innovative modules. Based on this, the feasibility and performance of the treatment concept for the industrial plant will be validated.
At the end of this test phase, the two special-purpose associations will decide, on the basis of the test results and the performance of the pilot plant, whether the concept should also be implemented on an industrial scale. The industrial plant would then be able to process enormous quantities of organic residual materials with a high degree of added value each year - including up to 76,000 tons of processed organic residual waste and considerable quantities of sewage sludge and horse manure.
Background information:
The processing of waste and wastewater produces various types of residual materials. In France, their recycling, disposal or recirculation is now strongly regulated - in some cases even prohibited. Solutions for material and energy recovery are in demand. This is also the case in the greater Paris area, where the Syctom and SIAAP associations are responsible for waste and wastewater treatment. In order to implement the strict regulations, they have set up a joint co-treatment project: "Cométha".
About the members of the consortium
Tilia is a German-French company founded in 2009. The basis was and is the common vision of a successful and sustainable future for utility companies. Tilia is the partner for cities, municipalities, public and private utilities, industrial companies and co-investors. Together, they work on new opportunities to develop projects, make investments, improve workflows, define strategies and meet the increasingly complex challenges in the fields of energy, water and the environment. The Tilia model is flexible: it ranges from consulting and support in project management to the joint implementation of projects. Together with its subsidiaries, Tilia already employs almost 150 professionals and can look back on more than 500 projects in more than 20 countries. A large part of Tilia's current activities take place in Germany and France.
France Biogaz Valorisation is an Alsatian company specializing in the development and construction of industrial and agricultural biogas plants. France Biogaz Valorisation supports its clients along the entire value chain of their projects: Feasibility, development, management, implementation, commissioning, maintenance and monitoring of the biological processes.
The DBFZ Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum gemeinnützige GmbH is owned by the Federal Republic of Germany, represented by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL). The research center was commissioned by the Federal Government to promote the efficient use of biomass as a renewable energy source of the future within the framework of applied research, both in theory and practice. The scientific efforts to establish and integrate biomass into the range of existing energy sources take into account technical, ecological, economic, social and energy management aspects. All aspects within the utilization chain are taken into account, i.e. from production to provision and distribution of the energy to the end user. In addition to theoretical and practical research in the field of energetic biomass research, the DBFZ also develops scientifically sound decision-making aids for politics. At present, approx. 140 scientific staff work at DBFZ in four research areas.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB develops and optimizes processes, technologies and products for health, sustainable chemistry and the environment. By combining biological and process engineering expertise, the institute's strengths include complete solutions from laboratory to pilot scale. Research focuses include water and wastewater technologies, membranes, catalysts and regenerative resources, industrial biotechnology and functional materials. In this way, the IGB is actively addressing the challenges of sustainable healthcare, a sustainable bio-economy and climate-neutral and resource-efficient recycling management. The Fraunhofer IGB is one of 72 institutes and research facilities of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Europe's leading organization for applied research.
GICON - Grossmann Ingenieur Consult GmbH is an independent engineering and consulting company based in Dresden. The interdisciplinary, experienced staff is the basis for a comprehensive and state of the art consulting and planning offerings in various economic sectors. In addition to engineering services, this includes specialized expert services and comprehensive expert activities. GICON - Grossmann Ingenieur Consult GmbH is active in the business areas of plant and construction planning, environmental and approval planning, ecosystems, soil and water management, technical informatics and research/technology development.
Syctom, the household waste agency in the greater Paris area, is the leading European public operator for the treatment and recycling of household waste with 10 industrial plants. Each year, it processes and recycles almost 2.3 million tons of household waste generated by almost 6 million inhabitants of 85 communities, including Paris, in five counties of the Paris region (~ 10% of household waste in France).
The SIAAP (Syndicat Interdépartemental pour l'Assainissement de l'Agglomération Parisienne), Europe's leading operator of public wastewater treatment facilities, is the association that disposes of the wastewater of almost 9 million people in the Ile-de-France region, as well as rainwater and process water. With its 1700 employees, SIAAP purifies almost 2.5 million m³ of water 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, which is transported through 440 km of sewers and treated by its six wastewater treatment plants.