Advanced Substrate Technologies

EUDP

Advanced Substrate Technologies (AST) is specialized in inventing methods for biomass recycling and upgrading through innovative add-on technologies for already running biomass and biogas plants. The Add-On method developed by AST enables an increased the use of the energy potential in biogas plants from the current approx. 55% to more than 80% by recycling used sponge substrate.

In 2020, 1st Mile helped AST write an application for EUDP. The overall objective of the EUDP project was to demonstrate the efficiency and added value of a circular system which produces green energy and transforms former residual or low-value products to high-value green product.

Some of the goals were:

  • Demonstrating that the AST Add-On pre-treatment (grinding and N-steaming cut straw before feeding it into the biogas plant) will result in an improved capacity of any given biogas plant. More practically, the goal is to demonstrate that the AST Add-On pre-treatment provides the same amount of methane gas a regular cut straw digesting would provide after 30 days, in just 17 days.
  • Demonstrating that in 30 days the combined grinding and N-steaming effect gives an extra methane gas yield of +63% compared to a regular cut straw digesting process.

Both these goals had already been demonstrated in pilot scale, but in the EUDP project, they would be demonstrated in full scale.

In December 2020, ATS was awarded almost DKK 10 million for this project

A biogas plant with AST Add-On technologies showing the principle of the circular process with bioenergy (biogas) production and AST’s Add-On processes for pre-treatment of the biomass (cutting / grinding and nitrogen evaporation) and subsequent value increase of the degassed biomass for energy (heat), solid fuel and / or fertilizer pellets, as well as substrate that can be used as a medium for plant cultivation.