Stercore may finally start construction of their Bio-Based Carbon plant. The company has been fighting for the construction of their plant since 2020, but Milieudefensie stopped it because of suspected nitrogen emissions. That discussion, as is often the case these days, revolves around nitrogen emissions.
Now, the Council of State has finally declared Milieudefensie’s appeal against the construction completely unfounded. The company can now start preparing to build its first green gas and Bio-Based Carbon plant in Emmen.
Photo impression of manure gasifier: Stercore
The plant will produce around 23 million M3 of green gas (739 TJ of energy) annually, equivalent to the gas consumption of around 21,000 households. The Stercore green gas and Bio-Based Carbon plant will be operated without an SDE subsidy.
Bio-based Carbon is produced from feedstock from animal manure and digestate. Bio-Based Carbon from co-digestion is an organic fertilizer and soil conditioner and reduces the use of artificial fertilizers and plant protection products. Bio-based carbon also qualifies for “end-of-waste status,” the only product derived from animal manure in the Netherlands. Furthermore, Bio-Based Carbon contributes to CO2 storage in the soil and the ‘Carbon Farming’ principle.
Stercore has commissioned a very detailed Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) to demonstrate its own climate impact. The main outcome from the LCA is that a Stercore plant has an annual avoided CO2 eq. of 225,000- 345,000 tonnes of CO2. Furthermore, no waste streams are released during the process. With this, Stercore contributes to up to a 10% reduction in the Province of Drenthe’s total 2019 CO2 emissions.
The 30,000 tonnes of CO2 released directly from the process is captured and upgraded to food-grade quality; this makes it suitable for use in horticulture, product cooling, and future applications that currently use CO2 from natural gas, among others. The heat released (approx. 5 MW per hour/70°C) can also be used externally for, e.g., district heating, low-temperature drying of products, and heating water for cleaning operations.
Here is an artist’s impression of what the plant will look like.
For more information:
Stercore 
[email protected]
www.stercore.nl