Biogas Plant for Fermenting Organic Materials and for Generating Biogas

Abstract

The invention relates to a biogas plant for fermenting organic materials and for generating biogas, having a plurality of containers and/or tanks, which form at least one slurry store (7), at least one fermenter container (8) downstream of the slurry store (7), at least one post-fermenter container (9) downstream of the fermenter container (8) and/or at least one final storage container (10) downstream of the fermenter container (8). According to the invention it is provided that the entire functional biogas plant is, as a floating biogas plant, a component of a one-part or of a multi-part connected floating body.

Claims

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23. A floating biogas plant fermenter tank system comprising: a plurality of containers forming at least one slurry store; at least one fermenter container downstream of said slurry store; at least one post-fermenter container downstream of said fermenter container; and at least one final storage container downstream of said fermenter container; wherein said biogas plant fermenter tank system is a component of a floating body, and wherein said floating body further includes a component selected from the group consisting of a traction drive, a device for docking a towing vehicle, a device for mooring in a port, a device for mooring or docking a transport ship, and a device for anchoring.

24. The floating biogas plant fermenter tank system set forth in claim 23, wherein said floating body includes multiple floating body parts.

25. The floating biogas plant fermenter tank system set forth in claim 23, wherein the individual components of said fermenter tank system are arranged on or integrated into said floating body.

26. The floating biogas plant fermenter tank system set forth in claim 24, wherein the individual components of said fermenter tank system are distributed over said multiple floating body parts and arranged on or integrated into respectively assigned said floating body parts.

27. The floating biogas plant fermenter tank system set forth in claim 23, further including at least one tank for processing water or contaminants.

28. The floating biogas plant fermenter tank system set forth in claim 23, further including at least one pre-processing means for organic waste for separating organic materials as fermentable biomass from contaminants; and wherein said contaminants are adapted to be unloaded onto a transport ship and used for energy thorough combustion or gasification.

29. The floating biogas plant fermenter tank system set forth in claim 23, further including at least one biogas processing device for processing said biogas produced.

30. The floating biogas plant fermenter tank system set forth in claim 29, wherein said biogas processing device further includes: at least one means for liquefying and compressing said biogas into liquid natural gas; at least one gas tank for storing said compressed liquid natural gas, wherein said gas natural gas is adapted to be reloaded or used in said biogas plant during a port stay on shore or during a stopover on a transport ship.

31. The floating biogas plant fermenter tank system set forth in claim 23, wherein said floating body includes a traction drive with a natural gas engine that can be operated with natural gas generated by said biogas plant fermenter tank system.

32. The floating biogas plant fermenter tank system set forth in claim 30, wherein said biogas processing device is formed by at least one combined heat and power plant, wherein electrical power or heat are generated for the biogas plant's own consumption.

33. The floating biogas plant fermenter tank system set forth in claim 30, wherein said traction drive has an electric motor operated by electricity generated by said biogas plant fermenter tank system.

34. The floating biogas plant fermenter tank system set forth in claim 30, wherein at least one height-adjustable agitator device is operatively connected to a component selected from the group consisting of said slurry store, said fermenter container, said post-fermenter container, and said final storage container.

35. The floating biogas plant fermenter tank system set forth in claim 23, wherein fermentation residue is collected from said final storage container, and is pumped into a sewage treatment plan in a port or is partially diverted into the sea during the journey between ports.

36. The floating biogas plant fermenter tank system set forth in claim 23, wherein said floating body is designed as a raft-like pontoon structure.

37. The floating biogas plant fermenter tank system set forth in claim 23, wherein said floating body is a thermally insulated hull of a seaworthy ship equipped with said traction drive; and wherein said hull includes at least one component selected from the group consisting of said slurry store, said fermenter container, said post-fermenter container, and said final storage container.

38. The floating biogas plant fermenter tank system set forth in claim 29, wherein at least one biogas processing device is selected from the group consisting of (i) a device for liquefying and compressing said biogas into liquid natural gas and storing said liquid natural gas in a storage tank, (ii) a power plant, and (iii) at least one device for pre-processing organic waste.

39. The floating biogas plant fermenter tank system set forth in claim 37, wherein said ship is a converted, double-walled, oil tanker, wherein oil tanks within said oil tanker are used as containers.

40. The floating biogas plant fermenter tank system set forth in claim 38, wherein said following components are housed within said ship's hull: a plurality of adjacent slurry stores separated by bulkheads, a plurality of adjacent fermenter containers, a plurality of adjacent post-fermenter containers, and a plurality of adjacent final storage containers; and wherein means are arranged in said ship's overlying superstructures for processing organic waste or for processing biogas for liquefying biogas, storing liquid natural gas produced, burning contaminants, drying, or pelleting.

41. The floating biogas plant fermenter tank system set forth in claim 39, wherein said ship's hull houses a plurality of additional containers for processing water and contaminants, at least one intermediate final storage container or tank, and said ship's propulsion system.

42. A ship comprising: a converted, double-walled oil tanker; wherein said ship includes: a functional biogas plant for continuously fermenting organic materials and for generating biogas, said biogas being stored in a plurality of containers that form at least one slurry store; at least one fermenter container downstream of said slurry store; at least one post-fermenter container downstream of said fermenter container; and at least one final storage container downstream of said fermenter container.

43. A raft-like pontoon structure, wherein said pontoon structure carries a functional biogas plant for continuously fermenting organic materials and for generating biogas; said biogas plant having a plurality of containers that form at least one slurry store; at least one fermenter container positioned downstream of said slurry store; at least one post-fermenter container downstream of said fermenter container; and at least one final storage container positioned downstream of said fermenter container.

44. A method for converting a discarded oil tanker into a floating biogas plant comprising: providing a double-walled oil tanker that has been discarded from oil transport; welding steel walls into the steel construction of said oil tanker; providing a biogas plant carried by said converted oil tanker, said biogas plant including a plurality of slurry stores separated by bulkheads, fermenter containers and post-fermenter containers, downstream final storage containers, and additional containers for process water or contaminants; providing a propulsion system for driving said converted oil tanker; providing means carried by said converted oil tanker for processing organic waste, liquefying biogas, burning contaminants, and drying and pelletizing; and providing a liquid natural gas tank that is carried by said converted oil tanker.

45. A method for operating a floating biogas plant comprising: providing a floating biogas plant; calling at different ports of coastal cities or temporarily predetermined water-side locations in the coastal region of coastal cities or outside a 12-mile zone, for the collection of organic waste; collecting said organic waste from said ports, from the shore, and from transport ships; and processing organic materials of said organic waste during the port stays, stopovers, or while underway at sea in a continuously running fermentation and gasification process.

Description

[0026] The invention is further illustrated by way of example based on a drawing, in which:

[0027] FIG. 1 is a schematic longitudinal section through an oil tanker converted into a floating biogas plant along the line A-A from FIG. 2,

[0028] FIG. 2 is a schematic horizontal section along the line B-B of the oil tanker according to FIG. 1,

[0029] FIG. 3 is a schematic representation for a first operating mode of the floating biogas plant, and

[0030] FIG. 4 is a schematic representation for a second operating mode of the floating biogas plant.

[0031] In the sectional views of FIGS. 1 and 2, a floatable biogas plant 1 is shown, in this case only by way of example as a double-walled oil tanker 2 converted for this purpose. In the order from the bow 4 to the stern 5, three adjacent slurry stores 7a, 7b, 7c separated respectively by bulkheads 6, three adjacent fermenter containers as fermenter tanks 8a, 8b, 8c, three adjacent horizontal post-fermenter containers as post-fermenter tanks 9a, 9b, 9c, three adjacent final storage containers as final storage tanks 10a, 10b, 10c, and four further tanks 11a, 11b, 11c, 11d, in particular for process water and for collecting contaminants, and a ship's propulsion system 12 with a liquid natural gas engine 13 are arranged in the hull 3 of the oil tanker 2. A fourth final storage tank 10d is also arranged in the longitudinal direction behind the final storage tank 10b. It goes without saying that a different number of the respective containers/tanks can of course also be provided.

[0032] The sectional view according to FIG. 1 also shows two height-adjustable agitators 14a, 14b in each tank 8, 9, 10, 11 (in this case only by way of example as an agitator with one agitator blade), which are not shown in FIG. 2.

[0033] In FIG. 1, three (schematically shown) superstructures 15 are shown above the hull, which among other things can contain means 16a, 16b (not shown in detail), for processing organic waste, for incinerating contaminants, for drying, for pelleting, etc. In addition, a means 17 for liquefying biogas and/or for generating CNG (compressed natural gas) is contained in the superstructures 15, the biogas being stored in a gas tank 18 and being used partly for the gas engine 13 of the ship's propulsion system 12 and, if necessary, for other additional units. The means 17 could alternatively also be a power plant, in particular a block-type thermal power station, and the gas engine 17 could be an electrical machine.

[0034] In FIG. 3, a first operating mode for the use of a floating biogas plant 1 for the disposal of organic waste is shown in a highly schematic manner and only by way of example: For this purpose, six coastal cities S1 to S6 located at a distance on a schematized coastline 19 are shown here by way of example. The floating biogas plant 1 corresponding to the converted oil tanker 2 from FIGS. 1 and 2 is intended to call at these coastal cities S1 to S6 in a regular cycle, in this case once a week, and there in each case pick up the organic waste for a week via an acceptance opening 20 on the oil tanker 2 and then continuously feed during the port stays and the journeys between the ports of the coastal cities S1 to S6 to the running fermentation process.

[0035] For a suitable one-week cycle, starting from the coastal city S1, leaving out the next coastal city S2, the coastal city S3 can be approached, and then the coastal cities S5 and S6 can be approached. On the return journey, the coastal stands S4 and S2 left out on the outward journey can then be approached back to the coastal stand S1, so that a one-week organic waste collection is provided for each of the coastal cities S1 to S6 and the routes between the coastal cities S1 to S6 are largely adapted in the same way.

[0036] To estimate the order of magnitude, it is assumed that the coastal cities S1 to S6 have a total of around 2 million inhabitants. A suitable size for organic waste disposal is obtained when each of the tanks comprises approx. 10,000 m.sup.3, i.e. a total of 150,000 m.sup.3, whereby the plurality of, for example three, slurry store tanks 7a, 7b, 7c should cover a total of approx. 25,000 m.sup.3, the plurality of, for example three, fermenter tanks 8a, 8b, 8c should cover a total of approx. 30,000 m.sup.3, the plurality of, for example three, post-fermenter tanks 9a, 9b, 9c should cover a total of approx. 30,000 m.sup.3, or the optionally available plurality of, for example four, final storage tanks 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d should cover a total of approx. 40,000 m.sup.3. A suitable size for the gas tank 18 for a liquid natural gas tank is approximately 5,000 to 10,000 m.sup.3. In our example, this could then possibly also be emptied to the shore about once a month. Analogously, this would of course also be possible with CNG instead of liquid natural gas, in which case the tank volume would then have to be adjusted accordingly. The magnitudes of the individual volumes are only given here by way of example and can be halved for 1 million inhabitants, for example.

[0037] In FIG. 3b, an alternative embodiment of a floating biogas plant 1 to the converted oil tanker 2 is shown with a pontoon structure 21 on which the functional units of the biogas plant with the necessary containers and additional equipment are arranged and which is relocated from a towing vehicle 22 for picking up organic waste in port facilities of coastal cities, for example, to the coastal cities S1 to S6. Obviously, this alternative according to FIG. 3b is only suitable for comparatively simple circumstances, in particular for relatively short routes in calm waters.

[0038] In FIG. 4, an alternative second operating mode of the floating biogas plant 1 is shown for the coastal cities S1 to S6 of FIG. 3, which, if necessary, can also be combined with the first operating mode with port stays. As can be seen from FIG. 4, the floating biogas plant 1 is here temporarily in the coastal region, here by way of example outside a 12-mile zone 23, at a predetermined location 25 in front of the coastal cities S1 and S2. If possible, the floating biogas plant 1 anchors there with an anchor device 24. From the coastal cities S1 and/or S2, organic waste arising there is transported by transport ships 26 to the floating biogas plant 1 for fermentation. The floating biogas plant 1 then drives to a further predetermined, temporary location 27 in the coastal region of the coastal cities S3 and S4, for example, and then accordingly further to a location 28 in the coastal region of the coastal cities S5 and S6, from where, with transport ships 26, organic waste, so to speak, is brought in an analogous manner from the mainland to the respective temporary location, which is preferably and if possible an anchorage.