SPIN members event at the Limeco

On the 15th In June 2023, 21 members and interested parties from SPIN met at Limeco in Dietikon to find out about the planned energy center for a climate-neutral energy supply of the Limmattal, as well as about Switzerland’s first industrial power-to-gas plant.

After the opening speech by SPIN Co-President Prof. Markus Friedl (OST), co-managing directors Roger Sonderegger and Peter Metzinger presented the mandate of SPIN and conducted a survey on the perception of SPIN and Power-to-X as well as on the main topics for SPIN DAY 2024.

According to the impression of the participants, Power-to-X is much more present in public than a year ago. Scaling production and highlighting products like methanol were desired as key topics.

Strategic project manager Markus Bircher presented Limeco and how it wants to contribute to the supply of CO2-neutral energy to the Limmattal by 2050.

In 2035, the current waste incineration plant and the sewage purification will have to be replaced. Limeco’s vision is to create a multi-energy hub that not only disposes of waste, but by means of sector coupling and power-to-gas also produces heat, electricity and green gas. „To provide the right energy at the right time in the right place, that is the vision,“ Markus Bircher summarized the vision.

Currently, Limeco already produces synthetic methane per year for 2500 households.

Whether their vision can be implemented in the planned way, however, depends on the approval of the sponsoring communities, whose population will vote already on 3 September on a project planning loan and land purchase.

Thomas du Lorenzo then presented the power-to-gas system.

This serves the following goals or purposes: Operate power-to-gas on an industrial scale, proof of technology and economic efficiency, gain insights into the integration of PtG systems into the energy system and regulatory framework conditions.

Technically, the power-to-gas system is based on the use of sewage gas from wastewater treatment, with the CO2 content and self-generated electricity contained therein.

Thanks to the cooperation partners, who can arrange sufficiently long acceptance guarantees in the form of certificates, it only became possible to build the plant.

At the end of April 2022, the plant went into operation and surprised from the beginning with a higher performance than expected. But there were also setbacks, such as power cables, which overheated. Important experiences such as this one will be announced as much as possible. One learning is that one should only use standardized products.

Afterwards, there was a guided tour of the power-to-gas plant.