Italgas with Bonollo for the first biomethane plant from grappa
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A biomethane production plant connected directly to the Italgas distribution network was inaugurated at the Distillerie Bonollo Umberto plant in Conselve (Padua), the first in Italy to serve a grappa distillery. Starting from the liquid residues of distillation activities, a daily average of 10,000 cubic meters of biomethane will be produced for an annual total of around 2.5 million cubic metres, corresponding to the average consumption of around 3,000 families.
Circular economy
The plant is part of a circular economy process that the grappa-producing company based in Mestrino (Padua) started some time ago, as Elvio Bonollo, head of external relations and fourth generation at the helm of the company, said: « We were already producing biological gas with anaerobic digestion, thanks to the investments made in the last 10-15 years. Now there’s the next step: we have a methane molecule of a purity that can be introduced into the network. Circularity is native to us: it is part of our production philosophy. Starting from the pomace, which the cellars have to get rid of and which we buy and use. Since the 1960s, since the Conselve distillery was built, the skin of dried grapes has also been used as fuel, and it is also used as a supplement in animal feed. Then there’s the grape seed oil and the woody flour, the biomass, that’s left over after the oil is extracted. Finally, polyphenols: a world that we have opened up in the last ten years and which allows us to obtain antioxidant substances from the seed of fresh pomace. Through innovation we value by-products. The gas which is then introduced into the network is sold at market price and can potentially be considered advanced biomethane for automotive use. We will also arrive at that intended use ».
Today Bonollo has 120 employees and a commercial network in Italy that employs another 120 collaborators throughout Italy. In 2022 it recorded a turnover of 73 million euros, up from 65 in 2021. The investment for the new plant amounted to 3 million euros.
Digitization and capillarity of the network
The distillery project has also found a suitable infrastructure for distribution: the digital transformation and the capillarity of the Italgas network are in fact enabling elements for the development of renewable gases. The connection of Bonollo to the distribution network is managed thanks to a technology developed in-house by Italgas itself: it is the Dana (Digital Advanced Network Automation) application which allows remote regulation of the flows at the emission point.
«We are working with the utmost alacrity on the digitization of the gas networks under our responsibility and, as envisaged in our 2018-24 plan, which has allocated 2 billion euros for this purpose, by the end of 2023 we should have achieved 90% of the work on the networks», explained the CEO of Italgas Reti Pier Lorenzo Dell’Orco, who added: «Our goal for 2028 is to connect 150 new biogas plants in Italy. There are currently 140 requests, 50 of which have already passed the feasibility check phases. Europe expects to produce 35 billion cubic meters of biomethane by 2030 while it is now around 5. This is a challenging goal that Italy can win even though it is currently bringing up the rear among the large countries. We have a chain of first-rate industrial skills as well as a thriving agri-food industry that can guarantee important support for this challenge”.
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