On June, 10th 2009 SCHACHTBAU NORDHAUSEN GmbH got the contract to build a biogas plant with a combined electrical capacity of 1.6 MW at the site of Uthleben quality pork GmbH & Co. KG. The construction of the biogas plant, which is located only 5 km away from the Schachtbau-headquarter, was performed in two staggered phases. The configuration is in addition to the core of the whole system, the two central mixed high-performance bioreactors (each 5,050 m3), characterized by the Schachtbau typical slim design (ratio diameter / height ~ 1), mainly a sub-floor solid contribution by walking floor (80 m3), a hydrolysis-tank (500 m3), a secondary digestion tank (3,000 m3) with a double membrane gas storage roof and a technology center with instrumentation and control technology. As shown in the expertise from Prof. Dr. Gerd-Rainer Vollmer especially the aforementioned type of digester leads, here provided with pig manure, maize and grass plants, silage, grain and optionally chicken manure, leads to a 20 to 25% increase in gas yield and a corresponding reduction of the fed material flow quantities referring to conventional flat-built digesters. This technology-related high utilization of the substrates used in the plant leads together with a well-conceived implementation of possible bonuses (air pollution control and usage of manure) and an also well-conceived heating concept to an overall successful project for the client. Additional requirements of the client, e.g. an enlarged gas storage capacity at the secondary fermentation tank, a surrounding walkway on the post-digester, housing of the entire machine technology in an on-site indoor body, an upper connecting walkway between the two digesters, the continuing usage of the existing liquid manure storage as digestate storage were implemented commercially acceptable. After clarification of the technical and regulatory requirements the two sections were realized in a very short construction period (April 2010 - February 2011), so that the finalization of the entire system including the start-up and testing periods could be made until Match, 1st 2011. Further information and statements about the project you can hear from the manager of the biogas plant, Mr. Martin Hesse (Tel: +49 (0) 3631-656700).

In May 2006 SCHACHTBAU NORDHAUSEN GmbH was commissioned with the construction of a biogas plant for the farmer`s cooperative Schkölen with a planned electrical power output of 1.0 MW.

The project was realised in a very short construction period (launch into operation on the 31 st December 2006) and according to the law of renewable energies. The final completion of the project including the finishing of all aoutdoor facilities was reached in July 2007.

The main parts of the biogas plant are a silage deposit with a capacity of 10.800 m³, two slurry stores each with 161 m³ capacity, a second level fermentation processor with a capacity of 10.800 m³, two slurry stores each with 161 m³ capacity, a second level fermentation processor with 3.886 m³ volume, a fermentation remainder deposit with 2.500 m³ volume, three block heat and power plants with 1 X 526 kW output, a control centre in container design and the core of the whole system, the two parallel working, high performance fermentation processors (each covering a volume of 3.255 m³. These fermenters are characterised by the slim, for SCHACHTBAU typical design.

As the from the financing bank required  expertise by Prof. Dr. Gerd -Rainer Vollmer shows, this kind of fermenter has compared to the conventional flat design and in this case used input of slurry, maize, grass silage and loppings 20 to 25% more gas exploitation. The high efficiency of the plant even allowed the instalment of further three micro gas turbines without any other constructive changes at the plant.

The installed equipment met the high demands for running continuously in high-performance operation to complete satisfaction. The biogas plant, meanwhile being for more than 24 months in permanent operation, proved the robustness and reliability of the applied equipment and technology.

Contact person for getting references about zhe experiences with SCHACHTBAU NORDHAUSEN GmbH from the employer`s point of view is Mr. Tino Köbe from the farmer`s cooperative (phone +49 (0) 36694 - 22246.

The sewage treatment plant Gut Großlappen north of the city Munich is one of the most advanced sewage treatment plants in Europe. Together with the sewage treatment plant Gut Marienhof, both plants can handle the sewage of 3 million people and process the complete waste water from the city Munich.

SCHACHTBAU NORDHAUSEN GmbH was commissioned by the Munich Urban Drainage Authority in 2005 with the complete pipeline construction for the new sand filtration plant as part of these facility. This required the manufacturing and installation of about 3 kilometers pipelines in total. The pipes were mainly manufactured of stainless steel with inner diametersfrom 25 up to 1800 mm. Furthermore, the contract coverd the delievery and installation of 390 fittings (mainly slider and flap valves) as well as 30 tons steel construction for erecting bearing structures and catwalks.

Beside the costumer, the Munich Urban Drainage Authority, the engineering consultants Regierungsbaumeister Schlegel GmbH Munich were part of the realization of the project. They were in charge of design and supervision. 

The sewage tratment plant Baesweiler was enhanced by atwo years taking reconstruction project to process now the sewage of 51,000 people. The special challenge for the realization of these reconstruction works was the tight available working space on the local facilities and the fact that the uninterrupted  operation of the palnt had to be guaranteed at all time. This required very precise process planning and large amount of flexibility during execution.

First part of the contract was the outfitting of a newly raking house with raking systems, a monitoring shaft as well as sand and fat separation equipment. The most demanding part was then the turning of the existing activated sludge tank (capacity 5000 m³) into a final cleaning tank. Precondition for doing this was the partly new construction of an actiated sludge tank, where the biological waste water cleaning could be done during the constructionworks. For the generation of compressed air were simultaneously new rotary piston blowers installed in the compressor station.

The secound part of the contract covered the enlargement of the new activated sludge tank to a capacity of 10,000 m³. The tank was designed as one-lane, cascaded, biological treatment with upstream denitrification chamber. The secound part was finished with the conversion and partly replacement of the mechanicla equipment for the existing final cleaning tank. For the renewal of the primary sludge treatment was parallel the existing biogas system modified tomatch the new working conditions of the block power plant, where the biogas is used to create heat and energy.

The sewage treatment plant Dortmund - Deusen is part of the infrastructure of the Emscher Association. For the restructing of its complete system it became necessary to enlarge the capacity of this plant from 500,000 to now 1,000,000 people, which was commissioned by the Emscher Association in several contract sections.

So far, the river Emscher represented with its adjacent areas a network of open sewage trenches that delivered the waste water by natural stream flow to the plant Dinslaken near the Emscher estuary for cleaning. With the restructuring of the system, several sewage treatment plants and pumping stations had to be built newly or modernized and enlarged. Furthermore, several sewage trenches and rain water processing plants had to be erected.

Also part of the capacity enlargement of the Dortmund - Deusen treatment plant was the constructing of an new activated sludge tank lane, which was together with the two existing lanes outfitted by our company with the necessary mechanical equipment. For this, we delivered and installed the pressured air supply and distribution pipelines, as well as air ventilation grids made of stainless steel. The replacement of several worn out stirring units, the installation of new stirring units and the assembly of about 12,000 meter ceramics pipe aerator finally fulfilled the contract.