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What is Landwärme?
What is Landwärme and can you share more about yout mission?
Zoltan Elek: As a Biomethane supplier, Landwärme has been actively involved in biogas and biomethane projects across Europe for over 15 years. We provide climate-positive Carbon Removal solutions and supply biomethane to hundreds of energy providers and municipal utilities across Europe's electricity, heating, and transportation sectors. Landwärme provides comprehensive advisory services throughout the value chain, including biomethane production, certification, transportation, compensation claims, liquefaction into Bio-LNG, CO2 marketing concepts, and greenhouse gas quotas.
CDR Inspiration
What inspired your Clean Energy company to transition into the field of CDR and establish a new business branch?
Zoltan Elek: Capturing CO2 is already part of the biomethane production process. Upgrading biogas generates exhaust gas streams rich in biogenic CO2. In our pursuit of a sustainable future, it was a natural step to advance clean energy generation by implementing Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies within biomethane production. It is widely agreed that negative emissions are needed to combat climate change, as explicitly and repeatedly emphasised by the IPCC.
Caroline Braun: With the establishment of our Carbon Removal team, our goal is to leverage the expertise garnered over 15 years in the biomethane market to pioneer into a new sector focusing on an even more positive impact on climate. CCS is the future for all biomethane plants and we currently focus on scaling the technology across as many plants within our portfolio as possible.
'aha' Breakthroughs
Can you share that 'aha' breakthrough in your business' journey that left you especially excited about its potential?
Caroline Braun: The launch of our first CDR project, in collaboration with two of our partners, MVV and @neustark, marked a significant milestone in our Carbon Removal journey. In the German city of Dresden, MVV operates a biomethane plant processing the city’s organic waste. The CO2 captured is then liquified for transport to Berlin, where our partner @neustark mineralises the CO2 in demolished concrete aggregate during a conventional concrete recycling process. The site can store an average of 10 kg of CO2 per ton of demolished concrete, enabling us to sequester 1000 to 1500 tons of CO2 each year. Our approach enhances two environmentally friendly processes through negative emissions, making them even greener. Our project demonstrates that, with the right mindset and partners, coupled with strong collaboration, implementing carbon removal effectively and cost-efficiently is achievable today. The fact that our chosen technology can be put into action immediately marks a huge impact in this effort.
Zoltan Elek: Receiving the 2022 innovation prize for sustainable production from the German gas industry spurred our determination to break new ground in generating negative emissions. The award honours the innovative joint project with our partner Reverion at our biomethane plant in the Bavarian town of Reimlingen. Our pioneering solution is set to remove about 9,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere annually. Additionally, Reverion’s cutting-edge solid oxide fuel cells provide a dual benefit: They double the electricity conversion rate and facilitate hydrogen and synthetic methane production through electrolysis.
With these projects, we demonstrate that carbon removal with bioenergy can immediately begin to yield negative emissions.
Investor Attention
What have you found the best way of garnering investor or buyer attention?
Zoltan Elek: Positively impacting the climate and economic viability are not mutually exclusive as many might think. It is possible to act environmentally friendly while simultaneously enhancing existing processes’ efficiency and achieving economic success. Given the forecasts for the progression of climate change, acting green is no longer optional but rather an imperative for every business in the long term.
With the ambition for growth in mind, our primary goal has always been to contribute to a more sustainable world. Our decisions are always rooted in shaping a better future. This commitment to authenticity and our success story sets us apart from others.
Scaling the Industry
How are you approaching scalability, and what tools or strategies have proven most effective in levelling up your solution?
Caroline Braun: Our capture solution is already available and operational at a commercial scale. This means our focus moving forward is to scale out to more sites, rather than significantly increasing plant size. There is huge untapped potential available from existing biogas upgrading plants. The Carbon Removal potential of these plants can be harnessed at very low specific capture costs. Just by using all existing biomethane plants in Germany, about 2 million tons of CO2 can be captured out of the atmosphere every year. Adhering to the EU’s plans to scale biomethane production to 35bcm by 2030, volumes as high as 55 million tons of negative emissions can be achieved.
In terms of scalability, there is still significant potential for growth in both carbon removal and biomethane production solely through the utilization of currently unused organic feedstock. For example, German biomethane production alone could increase tenfold without requiring any new agricultural space. Recognizing the huge potential in the fermentation of especially organic waste and manure comes with huge upsides: Increased production value, facilitates defossilisation by replacing natural gas, prevents methane emissions, increases biodiversity, and creates economic activity in rural areas. Integrating biomethane in plans such as the EU's 35bcm target, provides significant scaling opportunities.
Regarding CO2 storage options, we see significant future potential in decentralized solutions alongside the large-scale storage projects currently in development.
Into the Future
What's the biggest challenge your business/the industry at large is facing in 2024, and what do you think is required to solve it?
Zoltan Elek: Carbon management and carbon removal continue to gain relevance globally. It is crucial that bioenergy, as a carbon removal solution, is included in strategies and legislation as a cost-effective and quickly scalable technology.
Our biggest concerns are the ambiguous and, at times, contradictory regulatory frameworks. A huge challenge for the industry arises in the biofuel sector, where a significant increase in biodiesel imports, particularly from China, destabilizes the biofuel market. There are many concerns about the legitimacy of the biodiesel imports from China, suggesting it may have been refined from lower-priced, restricted feedstocks. These circumstances have undermined climate efforts and inflicted economic harm on the entire biofuel supply chain. Prompt intervention by authorities is imperative to bring fraudulent imports to a halt.
Ensuring that schemes certifying carbon removals or endorsing sustainable initiatives, projects, products, or companies are transparent and enable the verification of climate and environmental benefits is crucial. Aligning with current initiatives like the European Carbon Removal Certification Framework set to come into effect in 2024, we are actively working towards this goal. For instance, we are a partner in the CCS+ initiative, which aims to develop a robust carbon accounting methodology to quantify climate mitigation impact.
