“We have halved our oil costs! Without jeopardizing our biogas engine.
And we are now always able to adjust the composition of the biogas mash in good time. A significant cost reduction, especially in this day and age…”
Andrea Schempp, Operator of a biogas plant
Lowering costs by safely extending oil change intervals.
In biogas plants, the engine oil is usually changed approximately every 300 operating hours. Depending on the size of the gas engine, 50 liters of engine oil are required every 14 days. The cost of the oil alone adds up to several thousand euros per year.
But is the engine oil really at its limit after this fixed period, or can the oil change interval be safely extended?
Avoiding damage to the motor
and system
DAPONA helps to reduce the risk of damage to biogas and CHP units. A sensor transmits the oil status to the DAPONA digital platform at all times. DAPONA records the processes in real time and issues an alarm in the case of deviations. For example, if water enters the oil circuit due to a cylinder head gasket failure, DAPONA triggers an alarm. Multi-stage alarms can also trigger signal lights or other actions according to freely programmable rules.
Maintenance costs in biogas plant reduced by over 50%
Every 14 days, a total of 120 litres of engine oil are changed in a agricultural operation based on the operating hours of one 50 kW and one 70 kW biogas plant. Although laboratory tests provide information about the condition of the engine oil from time to time, oil analyses only ever look at the past. The current condition remains in the dark.
Risk-free extension of the change intervals through alignment with actual requirements
An engine oil sensor installed on the engine now analyzes the engine oil around the clock. Using a patented process, it provides a quality indicator that determines the level of contamination and chemical content, providing an indication of oil quality from brand new to end of life.
The sensor sends readings 24 hours a day to the DAPONA IoT platform. This data is stored and used to provide real-time information in freely configurable dashboards about
- Oil condition (quality indicator)
- Oil temperature
The current level of oil deterioration and the time remaining until the next oil change are always available in real time.
DAPONA triggers a maintenance order in due time before the engine oil reaches the end of its usable life, thus enabling a safe extension of the change intervals by tailoring them to the true needs.
In the event of deviations (temperature or oil condition), DAPONA triggers alarms via freely programmable rules and enables immediate intervention to prevent damage before it occurs.