23. - 25. January 2024

Niloofar Abdehagh is Research Council Officer at the National Research Canada (NRC) in the Energy, Mining and Environment Research Centre working on developing processes to convert organic substrates into valuable bioproducts such as renewable natural gas (RNG). Niloofar owns a PhD degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering from the University of Ottawa and is a member of the Professional Engineers Ontario. She is also an Adjunct Professor in the Civil Engineering department of the University of Ottawa working on projects related to Biogas and RNG production and GHG emission reduction. Niloofar has a great deal of experience in applied research projects in the field of clean technologies involving industry and academia as well as governmental organizations.

Carmit Berger has more than 15 years of experience in the field of water treatment.

She joined SGTech in 2020 and works as a Senior Process Engineer, in charge of developing solutions based on SGTech Integrated Ecosystem Solution (IES).

She started her career at Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), where she designed waste water treatment plants.

Carmit then contributed to the “Beyond Zero Emission” plan in Australia, as a Research Assistant, to address the transition to a carbon neutral economy.

Then Carmit worked later on for TAHAL Group, a global corporation, leader in solutions for sustainable development projects, where she was in charge of planning and design.

Carmit graduated from the Technion Institute of Technology, as an Environmental Engineer and did her Master in environmental engineering at Tel Aviv University

• 2002 – 2007 Geography studies at universities of Hamburg and Göttingen
• 2008 – 2009 Research position at the LBEG in Hannover
• 2009 – 2014 Research position and phD. studies at the university of Göttingen
• 2015 – 2016 Advanced trainig in geoinformatics
• 2016 – 2019 Free-lance work in the fields of geography and geoinformatics
• 2019 – today Senior scientist at the university of Göttingen

Geologist and Project manager with wide ranging experiences in different fields such as circular economy and environmental protection based projects within the lime industry and in the exploration of reservoirs in the oil and gas industry. Ongoing projects include phosphorus recovery from sewage sludge and the subsequent production of Calcium Phosphate fertilizers with the aid of a fluidized bed reactor and hydrated lime, and the recovery of ammonia from digestate with a lime based ammonia stripper. As the in-house specialist for water treatment applications with lime, also involved in climate protection projects such as flue gas treatment. Advisory role on a national and European level regarding water applications with lime. Substantial technical know-how in reservoir quality assessment studies of highly complex reservoir types.

Professor & Deputy Director General at the Institute of Environment and Sustainable development in Agriculture (IEDA), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences(CAAS).

Professor DONG Hongmin’s research focus on the livestock environment, manure management, and greenhouse gas emission & mitigation. She is leading researcher of Livestock Environment Engineering Program CAAS; she had been the principal investigator of national project on livestock environment and manure management from “The 9th Five Plan” to “The 12th Five Plan”; she is PI of national project on low carbon livestock production. Due to excellent achievement in research on livestock environment engineering, she won the second prize of National Scientific and Technological Progress Award. She has also been responsible for national GHG emission inventory for livestock sector, and was lead author of chapter 11 on livestock and manure management of 2006 IPCC guideline for national greenhouse gas inventories; she has been lead reviewer of national GHG inventory of originated by UNFCCC, and lead author of IPCC AR5.

Studied agricultural sciences at the University of Göttingen 1978- 1983.
Scientific employee at the University of Bayreuth Agricultural Ecology 1984 - 1989.
Scientific employee and Head of Department KTBL Darmstadt 1990 - 2014. 
Since 2014 self-employed entrepreneur / management consultancy DöhlerAgrar.

Researcher and professor at the Institute of Agricultural Engineering and Soils, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and at the Transdisciplinary Center for Environmental Studies and Sustainable Human Development, CEAM, both from Austral University of Chile.

TRAINING

Agronomist PUC. Professor and researcher in energy and ecology, with emphasis on territorial perspective (Distinction). Master of Science in Holistic Science (systems and complexity in ecology) of Schumacher College - University of Plymouth, England (Distinction). PhD from Program "Sustainable Use of Bioenergy", at the Interdisciplinary Center for Sustainable Development of the Georg August Universität Göttingen, Germany (Distinction).

RESEARCH LINES

Sustainable use of energy (biofuels technology, energy balance and ecological footprint of energy use, organic waste management, bioenergy and climate change), and the Territorial Planning of Rural Ecosystem (power and territory, cognition and territory, landscape ecology, ecological design).

Chandan Gadgil is an Electrical Engineer from the University of Mumbai India. He has been an entrepreneur in the field of IT and renewable energy. In 2013, he joined BAIF Development and Research Foundation, Pune, India, as Hon Advisor, Renewable energy. Chandan is also a founder trustee of Sankalp Medi Education Society, Pune, an NGO working to support new ideas in sustainable agriculture. He has developed a low cost, compact and user friendly BAIF slurry filter (patent applied jointly with BAIF) for filtering bio-slurry into slurry cake and liquid from family size biogas plants. He has also worked on a proprietary process to manufacture (BIOPROM) a value-added phosphate rich organic product from the slurry cake. Based on this, a business model has been successfully implemented. BIOPROM can reduce/replace phosphatic chemical fertilisers, improve soil productivity and a livelihood for the farmer. A special Bio-inoculum (patent applied) used in the BIOPROM process is developed by him together with BAIF, Pune.

Assistant to the management Geltz Umwelttechnologie GmbH.
Studies in process engineering at the TU Dresden, graduation 2016.
Since 2017 as engineer at Geltz Umwelttechnologie
Process and plant design, development.
Involved in the development of the NuTriSep procedure since 2014.

Mathias Hartel studied landscape planning and has been working on the topics of energetic biomass use and material flows in the landscape for several years. As a research assistant, he has worked on topics such as toxins, trace elements and alternative energy crops and their possible effects on the biogas process. Since 2019 he has been supporting European and national legislation in the German Biogas Association, mainly in the field of waste, fertiliser and veterinary law, by participating in various working groups, preparing statements and holding direct talks with representatives from the relevant ministries. Recently, the amendment of the Fertiliser Ordinance, Material Flow Balance Ordinance and EU Fertiliser Regulation as well as the separation of foreign substances prior to the biological stage have been a major part of his work.

Dr. Helle was a management consultant worldwide (for Daimler, Porsche, RWE, among others) for 25 years in his own company before he decided to pursue a second career in the field of renewable energies and the use of residual materials.
Since 2008 Novis GmbH is internationally active in the construction of biogas plants and the value-added processing of residual materials on the market.

Nicolas Heyn began his career as an officer in the German Army in 1983. During his work for four different companies, he gained many years of experience in managing projects and companies.
In 2004 he came into contact with the unique method of water desalination by humidification / dehumidification.

In 2007 he had the opportunity to found Terrawater GmbH together with partners.

Aterward, he has dedicated himself to the task of extracting resources and water from wastewater.
Since 2016 he has been active in the biogas sector with the product line TerraOrganic and offers products for nutrient separation.

Katrin Kayser is a trained Environmental Engineer who discovered her interest in biogas during a 9-month stay in Vietnam after graduating from university. During her career she worked five years in a biogas engineering company where she designed biogas plants, especially the pipelines. Starting 2013 she became consultant and trainer at IBBKs international courses with focus on digester biology, digestion technology, digestate management and safety on biogas plants. Beyond that she works in (EU-funded) projects where biogas expertise is needed. In NoAW she contributed mainly to best practice examples and represented the interest of plant operators with regards to NoAWs approach and technical development.

Jan holds a M. Sc. degree in renewable energy from the University of Oldenburg, Germany.
He worked for over 25 years with SNV Netherlands Development Organisation in Nepal,
Cambodia and a number of African countries on household biodigester sector
development. In all country programmes he has been involved in the optimisation of the
return on the farmers’ investment through the use of bio-slurry and bio-compost as a major
component. Since 2012, he is based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and attached as a
Senior Advisor to the National Biodigester Programme. This Programme strongly promotes
the use of digestate through composting to improve food security in the country.

Ms Laub has been working in the field of material flow management at IZES gGmbH since 2013. Her work at IZES gGmbH focuses on agriculture, agricultural markets, bioenergy, biomass as well as digestate processing and marketing in regional and European research projects.

Dr. LIU Yi, graduated from Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, specializes in research and practice of large and medium-sized biogas projects, household digester design construction and management, as well as scale-up livestock and poultry farms wastewater treatment. He is a committee member of International Standard Organization, team committee 255 (ISO/TC 255) “Biogas” and lecturer for international training courses on agricultural waste treatment with biogas technology sponsored by the Chinese government and international organizations including UNIDO and FAO since 2012.

CEO of Pantreon GmbH.

Studies and doctorate at University of Vienna.

Has set impulses for the innovation of dynamic membrane technology for more than 20 years and thus broken new ground for membrane applications.

Dr. Sara Milner holds a PhD Environmental Sciences with the specialty of Geochemistry (Institute de Physique du Globe de Paris, Université Paris Sorbonne) and a master degree in environmental sustainability (ICTA, Autonomous University of Barcelona). She is involved in the biogas business as a consultant on anaerobic digestion projects, where she has expertise in the optimization of the digestate treatment to recover the nutrients and to produce high added value fertilizers. Currently, she is involved in a R&D project (Pwer Digest, PIDCOP-CV funding) aiming to test the recovery of ammonia from the digestate for agronomical purposes.

Himanshu holds M.Des in Product Design from IISc (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore), and a Mechanical Engineering graduate of National Institute of Technology, Allahabad. Through more than 12 years of experience in developing and scaling product innovations for the rural indian customers, he has gained expertise in large scale implementation at grassroot level and building hyperlocal Infrastructure and teams for sustained success of these technologies. Currently employed as Technical Director at Sistema.bio India, Himanshu leads development and implementation of diverse clean energy and biofertilizer packages suited to the needs of subsistence and productive scale farmers in India.

Dr. Motasemi holds a Ph. D. specializing in conversion of biomass and waste material into renewable energy resources and bio-products. His entire academic and industrial experience has been focused on how to model these processes more efficiently. With an in-depth knowledge of biochemical and thermochemical processes, he has incorporated leading-edge techniques for energy recovery from waste materials into anessa’s products. anessa’s Core Technologies act like an engineer’s or an operator’s power tool. What would be impossible for manual or basic software tools to handle due to lengthy, complex calculations, anessa software achieves it quickly by incorporating software models and algorithms that closely follow engineering principles.

Michel is an Industrial and Management Systems Engineer with over 20 years of experience leading cross functional teams to deliver quality, innovative products and services. He holds a B. Sc. degree from the University of Nebraska, USA. As the current Program Coordinator of Biogas Solutions Uganda Limited, he is dedicated to developing the national biodigester sector through a market-based approach that is designed to improve livelihoods through disseminating biodigester technology in a sustainable, eco-friendly manner. Application of digestate from these digesters to increase agricultural production is part and parcel of this approach.

Asaah Ndambi is a Senior International Animal Production Specialist at Wageningen University and Research (WUR), Netherlands. He has over 18 years of working experience in international and interdisciplinary research on the improvement of animal production systems including climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies and manure management.

Before joining WUR, he worked at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya as a scientist in the team Livestock Systems and Environment. He made major inputs to the Manure Knowledge Kiosk (a knowledge platform of the Climate and Clean air Coalition), based on his research in several African countries and experience with training technicians and lead farmers on manure management, construction & maintenance of biodigesters and bio-slurry management. He holds a Ph. D. in Agricultural Sciences with a specialty in Livestock Management and Economics.

Stephen Nolan is the General Manager at Green Generation, a pig farm and 1.2MWe biogas plant in Ireland, converting manure, food processing and retail food waste to renewable energy. Stephen is also Field Research Lead with GlasPort Bio, an Irish startup aiming to eliminate emissions from stored manure, for which GlasPort Bio have recently received significant EIC funding. Prior to working with Green Generation, Stephen has worked as an agri-environmental consultant assessing impact of major infrastructure projects and consulting on anaerobic digestion projects (four years). Stephen has undertaken a PhD in Environmental Microbiology examining the potential for environmental mitigation using anaerobic digestion of slurry and organic waste. Stephen has authored and contributed to several publications around biosafety and landspreading of anaerobic digestate. Stephen is a highly experienced liaison between industry, public sector and stakeholders in agriculture, environment and renewable energy sectors, with particular expertise in microbiology of anaerobic digestion.

Robert Ohneberg

51 years old

married 2 children

International sales at Biogastechnik Süd GmbH

Norbert Rossow is the CEO of PRE Power Recycling Energy service GmbH.

Title: Graduate Engineer
References: Waste water, technical building equipment

Company foundation: 1995 PRV GmbH; PRE GmbH; 2009 Institute for Biogas Technology MV Neubrandenburg

Core business: Optimisation of biogas plants; development of advanced technologies to increase efficiency

Experience: Anaerobic digestion technologies; specially developed technologies and components in the field of biogas

Dr. Britt Schumacher got a diploma for Environmental Engineering at the University of Rostock and a master degree for waste management at the FH NON in Suderburg. She worked as a project engineer in the sectors of civil engineering as well as waste and material flow management. She was employed as a scientist at the University of Hohenheim from 2004 to 2007, where she investigated energy crops in terms of its specific methane yields and ethanol yield in bench-scale units. Since 2007, she is project manager at the department biogas technology at the Institute for Energy and Environment respectively since 2008 at its legal successor the German Biomass Research Centre (DBFZ). In 2008, she also finished her PhD-thesis.  

She does research in pre-treatment and anaerobic digestion mainly of fibrous material in the frame of inter-/national projects. Her key interests are the development and implementation of bio-refineries concepts to foster the bio-economic transition. She published nine peer reviewed articles and four book chapters (March 2020). 

Dr. Eva Sternfeld is senior advisor for the Science & Technology Platform of the Sino-German Agricultural Center (DCZ) in Beijing. Previously she has been a visiting professor at the Institute for East Asian Studies at Freie Universität Berlin (2014-17), head of the Center for Cultural Studies on Science and Technology in China at Technische Universität Berlin (2008-2014) and a foreign expert at the Center for Environmental Education and Communication (CEEC) of the Ministry for Environmental Protection in Beijing (2000-2008).

Walter Stinner is an agronomist by study (University of Bonn), working in the field of biogas since 1997. After study, he was farm manager at LOICK company (swine, suckler cows, fattening bulls, arable and grasslands) and part of the team to realize the first biogas plant with trigeneration. He did research on nitrogen efficiency, yields, quality effects, greenhouse gas emissions & nitrate leaching risks mitigation as well as methane potentials from agricultural residues in organic farming systems as base for his PHD thesis (University of Giessen). After being the head of business field bioenergy at a project developing company in northwest Germany, he is researcher at DBFZ since 2008, responsible for biogas systems optimization (energy use, substrate aspects agriculture, nutrient cycles); Since 2018 he is guest professor at Hefei University

Felix holds a B. Sc. degree from the Vocational Teachers Training College of Eindhoven, the Netherlands. He has been working for SNV-Netherlands Development Organisation since 1990 in both Asia and Africa. Initially involved in Vocational Training and Youth Employment projects, he switched to renewable energy projects from 1996 onwards. Felix focused on bio-slurry extension and bio-slurry valorisation, aiming to enhance its value for farmers.

Mrs. Marieke Verbeke holds a master degree in Biomedical Sciences (2012, University of Antwerp) and Bioscience Engineering – Environmental science (2014, University of Leuven). She has experience as a consultant in industrial wastewater treatment.

Since 2017, she works for VCM (Flemish Coordination Centre for Manure Processing) as leader of WP3 of the H2020 project SYSTEMIC (www.systemicproject.eu).

In SYSTEMIC, she works on the roll-out of project results, knowledge and experiences on nutrient recovery technologies towards European biogas installations (Outreach Locations).

For VCM, she organises the Ivan Tolpe award for innovations in manure processing and also contributes to the organisation of international conference ManuREsource on valorisation of manure in the framework of a transition of the sector to circular economy.