Wastewater-to-biogas facility opens in Strasbourg

Strasbourg is today inaugurating Biovalsan, a wastewater-to-biogas facility which will bring renewable gas heating to over 5,000 local homes.

France’s minister for Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy Segolene Royal who was present at the inauguration today noted that the project is a textbook example of circular economy where waste is transformed into energy.

Inauguration BIOVALSAN. 1ère nationale : station d'épuration dont biométhane est injecté ds réseau gaz naturel #COP21 pic.twitter.com/wV5kOES7cE

— Ségolène Royal (@RoyalSegolene) September 8, 2015

The amount of biomethane to enter France's gas networks could very well reach the equivalent of 6 to 8 TWh per year by 2023, that's 400 to 500 times the capacity of the Biovalsan project, the minister said.

By the end of the year the energy ministry will prepare an ordinance to outline a tender procedure, target trajectory and rules for injection of biogas into existing gas distribution networks, Royal noted.

Biovalsan is a pilot project which aims to produce more than 1.6 million cubic metres of methane per year from the wastewater of the urban community of Strasbourg. The biomethane produced by sludge digestion at the Wantzenau wastewater plant, will be injected directly in to the gas network of the city.

The project was initiated in 2011 and a year later it was included in the LIFE+ programme, EU’s financial instrument for the environment, co-funding up to 50% of innovative and demonstrable environmental projects.

Biovalsan has been developed by water supply company Lyonnaise des Eaux, waste treatement specialist Degremont Services, a subsidiary of Suez Environnement (EPA:SEV), and the local operator of the natural gas distribution network Reseau GDS. In Strasbourg, Lyonnaise des Eaux and Degremont have established Valorhin, the company that will operate the wastewater treatment plant of the Urban Community of Strasbourg.

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