CULTIVATING ENERGY
A virtuos cycle with the biogas plant
The biogas plant occupies a flat area of about 3000 sq mt. It is in the well-irrigated flatland area next to land sown with the crops it requires. The plant is composed of three cylindrical cement digestors covered by a green sheet underneath which the biogas is collected. The plant is governed by a computerized system which controls both the entry of the organic matter and the final emission of biogas. The biogas drives the engine which is connected to an electricity generator which produces, yearly, a very large amount – 5 million kw! – of clean energy.
Corn, sorghum and wheat are harvested in the hectares devoted to the functioning of the plant, and the waste products of the vineyards (grape-stalk, marc etc) are used as well, stocked nearby, after being chopped into small pieces, in special silos covered with sheets. Each day these products are put into the first of the three silos (the primary fermentator) in exact percentage quantities decided by the biologist who follows the project. Here, in absence of oxygen and at constant temperature (42°) the metanigenic anaerobic bacteria which digest the biomass are activated and the product of their metabolism develops bio-methane.
Once this first phase is over the matter is transferred to the second silos (secondary fermentator) where the fermentation process begins once again with more specialized metanigenic bacteria. The methane gas produced in these two passages is first purified by sulphur and them immediately put into the motor that moves the generator of electric current. The heat produced by the cooling of the motor is used to keep the temperature in the digestors at the correct level.
The third silos finally collects the “digested” material which is used as organic fertilizer for all crops of the estate, vines included.
The energy developed is used on the estate for its own needs and the rest enters the national electricity network and supplies electricity to 1281 families.
“Land must live and in order to live it must be part of the economic system, a system whose most precious raw material is energy.
Until now, in Tuscany, the gold of our land was wine, which, especially along the coast, gives excellent results. But today we have made several steps forward and we have tied our traditional agriculture, our wine and its added value, to energy as well.
Our objective is to be a contemporary agricultural business enterprise, to go beyond the concept of quality for quality’s sake and to show that a new balance is possible, without having to forego growth …”
Luigi Malenchini, CEO of the company
“Land must live and in order to live it must be part of the economic system, a system whose most precious raw material is energy.
Until now, in Tuscany, the gold of our land was wine, which, especially along the coast, gives excellent results. But today we have made several steps forward and we have tied our traditional agriculture, our wine and its added value, to energy as well.
Our objective is to be a contemporary agricultural business enterprise, to go beyond the concept of quality for quality’s sake and to show that a new balance is possible, without having to forego growth …”
Luigi Malenchini, CEO of the company
