A long perspective thinking

The municipality of Örebro is producing biogas since many years. The gas is a mix of gas produced from our sewage works, and of landfill gas which is coming from two landfills of waste disposal (one of them has not been in use for 20 years). At the sewage works, the thickened sludge is pumped into a digestion tank and the decomposition of the organic materials in the sludge takes place without any oxygen being added. The gas is led via a gas pipe to the University hospital boiler plant and two other industries to replace oil. The University hospital uses as well the gas as heating production. To reach the environmental goals set up by the municipality, we are going now to produce biogas which can be used in our municipal vehicles (CBG or compressed biogas). Since 2005, we have a biogas filling station in Örebro. This gas is delivered to the station by a truck from a production plant situated at 140 kilometres from Örebro. It was planned that before 2007 there will be one more biogas filling station in the city. Thus, all gas produced will come from the local production and delivered through pipelines.

The sewage works have a reserve capacity today which makes it possible to produce 700.000 m3 CBG. In 2006, a new treatment plant is constructed to be able to clean the gas produced through anaerobic decomposition of organic waste to a good quality for vehicles. The project is a partnership between the municipality and the Swedish Biogas company which will deliver extra biologic waste to our sewage works and will have the property of the filling stations.

The City Council has taken the decision to renew the fleet (cars, service vehicles and lorries) with vehicles which are running with gas (per year it will be one lorry, 60 cars and 15 service vehicles). The intention is to work with a long perspective which is both economically and environmentally justified, where biogas in 2010 will replace at least 4 % of all fossil fuel to our vehicles. Incentives of all kinds are planned to inspire companies and private persons to buy gas vehicles. The price for CBG is going to be fixed in five years and is today much cheaper than petrol or diesel. In 3-4 years the goal is to start a bus traffic which will also use biogas from local production. The idea will start a good partnership with the agriculture sector to get more raw material.

by Ms Carinne Lancereau