About us News service Jobs & Career Press bayern-innovativ.de
  1. Bayern Innovativ
  2. eMagazine
  3. # energy & construction
  4. Detail

Process steam from the oat dish

Rubinmühle uses oat hulls for its own steam generation - MVV Enamic builds biomass plant for CO₂-neutral process heat

12.06.2025

Source: E & M powernews

MVV Enamic is building a biomass plant to generate process steam for one of the largest oat processors in Germany.

Grain has been processed in Lahr, Baden, for more than 300 years. The 14th generation of the Rubinmühle family business has now awarded MVV Enamic the contract to build a biomass plant. "For us, the new plant is a milestone in our energy supply," says Christopher Rubin, Managing Partner of Rubinmühle. Independence, sustainability and efficiency are the goals that he is convinced the new plant will contribute to.

The plant, which will replace an existing wood-fired heating plant, is due to go into operation in April 2027 and will cover a large part of the company's steam requirements with oat hulls from its own production. The yield should be five tons of steam per hour. However, a gas-powered reserve boiler will be available to cover the remaining demand.

According to a joint announcement by the partners, the federal program "Energy Efficiency in the Economy" (EEW) has funded 20 percent of the project costs. However, they are not disclosing the amount of the investment.

24 million kWh of natural gas will be replaced

The biomass plant will replace around 24 million kWh of natural gas per year and thus enable annual CO2 savings of 4,800 tons, according to the statement. In addition, truck journeys to transport the oat hulls will be avoided, which will also improve the carbon footprint.

MVV Enamic will be responsible for the planning, construction, financing and operation of the plant as part of a long-term supply contract. The term of the contracting agreement is 16 years and is effectively an "all-round carefree package with planning security", as Marcel Ruschel emphasizes. "The energy is generated directly where the raw material is produced - an efficient and sustainable approach," says the Regional Sales Manager at MVV Enamic.

The company's Managing Director, Johannes Wehrhahn, hopes that the project will send out a signal. It shows how residual materials from the respective production processes can be used efficiently to replace fossil fuels.

According to its own information, Rubinmühle processes around 200 tons of oats per day at its site in Lahr. Of this, 90 percent goes to the food industry. However, the oat hulls make up around 30 percent of the mass. These were previously also used as animal feed. With the decline in meat consumption and the resulting fall in demand for animal feed, Rubinmühle has been looking for alternative uses. An alternative has now been found in the form of steam generation.

Author: Fritz Wilhelm