At project WABICO (Waalwijk Biomass Combination) in Waalwijk (The Netherlands) , the first biomethane gas is injected into the national gas grid last week. The plant, built by HoSt from the Netherlands, produces biomethane from different waste streams. Now that the quality of the gas has been approved, the plant has started delivering sustainable energy to the gas grid.

In this project, biogas from digestion is upgraded to biomethane with a capacity of 3.760.000 Nm3 biogas per year. This is equivalent to the natural gas consumption of approximately 2,100 households per year and contributes significantly to the sustainable ambitions of the municipality Waalwijk.

Different waste streams, mainly residual products from the food processing industry and roadside grass, are converted into biogas by means of anaerobic digestion, after which the biogas is upgraded to natural gas quality.

At the WABICO location, different innovations are used for the processing of waste streams. Not only biomethane is produced, but also a wastewater treatment facility is present.

With the use of membrane technology, the biogas upgrading plant by HoSt is capable of separating the methane out of the biogas with a very high efficiency, up to more than 99%. Also, at this phase a maximum of heat is recovered from the project. Heat pumps are deployed as heat techniques, so the consumption of (natural) gas is reduced to zero.

WABICO is a project developed for the production of sustainable energy at the 'Ecopark' in Waalwijk. The 'Ecopark' is an unique initiative in the field renewable energy in the Netherlands. At this park, three different forms of sustainable energy techniques are combined: solar energy, wind energy and now also energy from biomass.