Press releases

"We come from an agricultural society, we live in an industrial society and we are evolving into a scientific society", said Prof. Dr. Dr. Franz-Josef Radermacher from the Research Institute for Applied Knowledge Processing (FAW/n), one of the keynote speakers at the 2nd International CLAAS Biogas Symposium held at TECHNOPARC in Harsewinkel on January 16th and 17th. Indeed, CLAAS's motive for staging this international symposium was to impart knowledge and share information and ideas.

Held for the second consecutive year, this year's CLAAS Biogas Symposium had the motto "High Energy / 2012“. It brought some 500 national and international representatives and biogas industry experts to Harsewinkel to discuss current political, scientific and international developments in the biogas sector.

Dr. Theo Freye, Spokesman of the CLAAS Management, welcomed the guests, who had come from all over Europe to attend the event, and spoke of the major contribution the agricultural machinery industry can make in terms of raising awareness of biogas production.

Dr. Theo Freye, Spokesman of the CLAAS Management, welcomed the guests.

He was followed by Dr. Gerd Müller, Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection: "Our energy supply and energy markets are on the threshold of major changes and challenges. The essential questions facing humanity today are - in addition to safeguarding the world's food supply – the reliability of energy supply and climate protection." As a renewable raw material, biomass will, said Dr. Müller, have a key role to play in the transition to alternative energy sources in Germany. This is because biomass is a safe, storable energy source with the great advantage that it is always available - in any weather, at any time of year, and even without sun or wind.

The event's opening speech was given by State Secretary Dr. Gerd Müller to an audience of 500 guests.

There is no turning back now because the resolution to make the transition to alternative energy sources has been effective since the start of this year in the form of an Amendment to the German Renewable Energy Act (EEG). What are the implications of EEG 2012 for existing and future plants? Will it provide new opportunities? Which plants and crop rotations - in addition to or in place of maize - deliver high gas yields at which locations? How are the requirements relating to fertilisation with fermentation residues changing? These are some of the numerous questions and challenges which the biogas sector in Germany is currently facing.

A total of eleven renowned speakers from science and industry answered these important issues and discussed the topic of agricultural biogas production from various perspectives - biodiversity, ethics, climate protection, technology, economic viability, etc. - both in and beyond Germany.

International correspondents and other representatives of the agricultural trade press utilised the CLAAS Symposium as a forum and later reported extensively on the event via their respective media.

Alexander Kirchbeck, product manager with responsibility for forage harvesters, and Karl-Heinz Krudewig, head of product management at CLAAS Agrosystems, spoke on behalf of CLAAS about the challenge of providing systems operators, farmers and farm contractors with versatile harvesting systems capable of efficiently and cleanly harvesting and conditioning miscellaneous arable crops. In his opinion, one challenge that is not new but that is very important is the technical solution for the fair and trustworthy invoicing between the biogas plant and the substrate supplier.

In his concluding talk, Prof. Dr. Dr. Franz-Josef Radermacher from the Research Institute for Applied Knowledge Processing (FAW/n) outlined his vision of the world in the year 2050, when it is predicted that 10 billion people will be living on the planet. Supplying humanity with food and energy will, in his view, be the most crucial issue in the coming decades.

On the second day of the event CLAAS invited the symposium guests to visit the Claas production facility in Harsewinkel and various biogas plants in the region.
The biogas plants visited included the Haus Düsse Agriculture Centre (180 kW el.) in Bad Sassendorf. This plant is affiliated to the teaching and experimental facility of the North Rhine Westphalian Chamber of Agriculture and is operated experimentally using a wide range of rations and fermentation substrates. The fermentation substrates were tested by Haus Düsse for their suitability in biogas production at all stages from planting to gas yield. They include igniscum, cup-plant, deer grass, amaranth, sweet sorghum or Sudan grass.

Guests visit the biogas plant of the Haus Düsse Agriculture Centre.

Photos are available in our Picture Archive > 2012 > Veranstaltungen/Events > Biogas Symposium