In June 2021, KEPLER’s experimental anaerobic digestion (AD) plant was moved to the CALIDAD PASCUAL farm in Fuentespina.

At its new site, the plant will continue to perform its triple function as a demonstration, research and training unit, generating renewable electricity for self-consumption and high quality fertilizer.

Index

• RESEARCH
• DEMONSTRATION AND DISSEMINATION
• TRAINING

Specific aspects will be covered in each of these facets:

RESEARCH

The main objective of the plant is to demonstrate the technical and economic viability of this biotechnology in agri-food industries, through R&D&I projects that are currently part of an ongoing “CDTI-PID” project.

Evaluating the potential of coupling a biogas plant to the farm process involves:

• Study the biogas potential of by-products and/or wastes generated by the farm to be used as substrates in a biological AD process.
• To know in detail the operation at pilot scale and to evaluate the exportability of the own waste management model to other farms of the group or collaborators, promoting the implementation of SELF-CONSUMPTION to the industrial model.
• Study the possibility of applying the digestate produced in the plant as biofertilizer in crops and landscaped areas.

KEPLER will apply its 20 years of experience in Biogas within the food industry.

DEMONSTRATION AND DISSEMINATION

It will be carried out through conferences, publications and guided tours of the plant, highlighting the added value that a DA plant can provide within a cattle farm.

TRAINING

The plant will be used as a pilot facility to provide theoretical and practical training, based on twenty years of experience in this technology. In this sense, on July 21, 2021 KEPLER has signed a Collaboration agreement with the University Isabel I through which it articulates the delivery of training courses aimed at professionals in the Biogas sector. The content of these courses is prepared on the basis of the experience that both KEPLER and its German partner Snow Leopard have in the area of biogas, offering always updated information on regulations and upcoming trends thanks to associations such as AEBIG, of which KEPLER is a member.