We take responsibility.
Prolignis biomass energy plants operate climate positive. Thereby we take responsibility for our environment, economy and society.
Within our own business:
We take responsibility for our own positive CO2 balance in accordance with our objective of sustainable corporate management that is socially, economically and environment-friendly. It goes without saying that Prolignis examines its in-house CO2 emissions very carefully and compensates emissions with equivalent carbon certificates to achieve an overall positive CO2 balance.
In our projects:
Whether we are dealing with day-to-day office management or our environmentally-friendly energy concepts and biomass plants, which we develop for our customers, one thing is certain: we always focus on a sustainably attuned corporate management approach, based on an assured long-term supply of energy with the renewable resource wood - our core competence.
The Prolignis supply chain
Prolignis covers the entire value chain of energy generation, from biomass procurement and process management to the utilization of the remaining ashes.
Climate positive instead of climate neutral
Prolignis biomass plants operate climate positive. This means that more CO2 emissions are saved than emitted during combustion. Furthermore, the residual ash can be utilised as biological fertiliser.
This has the following reasons:
Within the forest
- In Germany, more forest grows than is used. This means that the total forest area is increasing every second. Forestry measures ensure that forestry residues can be utilized sensibly without disturbing the ecological balance of the forest. A sustainable supply of forest timber also means that the ecological balance is maintained by leaving sufficient resources of dead wood in the forest.
- Wood that is left to rot in the forest produces methane gas - this is not the case when wood is utilised in our biomass plants.
During transportation
The transportation of the renewable resource wood creates CO2 emissions. By focusing on a regional utilisation of fuelwood, transportation routes are short and CO2 emissions are limited.
In the combustion process
- CO2 emissions are saved by replacing oil and gas.
- The amount of CO2 that is released during the combustion of wood is equal to the amount of CO2 the tree has absorbed whilst growing. The tree also stores heavy metals. These elements are separated during combustion and permanently removed from the nutrient cycle and can be deposited with the so called fly ash.
Prolignis biomass plant: Combustion process
Prolignis biomass plants save 0.7742 g/kWhelCO2 over the entire life span according to a scientific study by the University of Augsburg in Germany
Source: carbon Footprint und Carbon Management am Beispiel eines Biomasse Heizkraftwerkes (Stefan Nertinger, 2011)