Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 25th April 2024 Issue no. 1111
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Weltec Biopower and GTS extend service partnership for UK and Ireland
Weltec Biopower has extended the successful cooperation with its service partner, Gordons Technical Service (GTS) from Northern Ireland, until the end of 2026. The German biogas plant manufacturer's cooperation with GTS has been in place since 2017 and applies to Weltec customers from Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland.
Both companies have many years of experience in the region. Weltec Biopower had built one of the first biogas plants in England in 2006 and is one of the pioneers of biogas plant construction there.
GTS managing director Trevor Gordon also has expertise in the field and has, for example, been successfully responsible for servicing Weltec's Ballyrashane Creamery plant. The plant processes dairy waste, energy crops and cattle slurry. Since Irish dairy cooperative Lakeland Dairies acquired Ballyrashane in 2019, GTS has been involved significantly in repairs, new installations and commissioning upgrades to increase the plant's performance.
"The support of Trevor and the GTS team is very important to us - especially their assistance with continuous improvements," emphasises Ballyrashane Creamery's environmental manager, David Hughes.
GTS offers a wide range of services, from fixing minor breakdowns of stuck valves to replacing roofs, mixers, and servicing the MultiMix liquid input system. In addition, there are regular maintenance and remote monitoring services. This also includes necessary modifications to the plant control system, which are carried out on site together with Weltec specialists. Ultimately, the service ensures efficient operation for a high energy yield. Says service manager at Weltec Biopower, Rüdiger Ötken: "We value enormously at GTS that the team can be at any Weltec plant in the region within 12 hours if necessary,"
Another success factor is the stable biological digestion process. The operators of Weltec plants in the UK and Ireland, are in direct contact with the biology team in Vechta, where the technology is manufactured, for this purpose.
The service includes monthly process monitoring and regular laboratory analyses of the biological parameters as well as individual troubleshooting. For this purpose, digester samples have to be examined and assessed by the biological service. This facilitates economical operation. In addition, the optimisation of the substrate mix through the assessment of feed materials and feed changes - even during the planning phase of a plant. The service package is rounded off by fermentation tests when new substrates are used, the preparation of biological start-up plans during commissioning, and biological training on the plants.
Also on the basis of these services, Weltec Biopower has succeeded in helping to build up the biogas industry in the UK and Ireland - because only with the help of a technically well-engineered and biologically stable production process, operating costs are reduced and the profitability of biogas production is secured.
16th March 2023