References

Heat interruption reliably bridged with Hotmobil

Supplying heat through a biomass power plant is considered a sustainable, sensible solution. However, if a customer, such as the company Katz Biotech AG from Baruth near Berlin, is dependent on the reliable provision of heat even during the seven-day inspection work that takes place once a year in early summer, an interim solution must be found.

As in the previous year, this came from the service provider Hotmobil. The service-oriented company is considered the leading rental company for mobile heating, cooling and steam systems in Germany.

Summer temperatures always prevail on the premises of Katz Biotech AG. There is a good reason for this. Because the company produces a wide range of beneficial insects for biological plant protection, such as ichneumon flies and predatory mites, at two locations in Germany. They act like the commonly known ladybugs that feed on aphids. Temperatures of 24 to 25 degrees Celsius are essential for breeding the beneficial organisms. This is because these organisms develop most optimally in greenhouses on plants infested with pests, which also serve as food for them.

To supply heat, the production site in Baruth, south of Berlin, is connected to a neighboring biomass power plant. But this has to shut down once a year for a seven-day inspection run. During this time, the producer of beneficial insects receives heat for the 5,000 square meters of production space from a heating system on wheels. This comes from Hotmobil, the leading supplier of mobile energy centers in Germany. After the application already ran smoothly and reliably in 2013, Jörg Rademacher, graduate biologist and head of development at Katz Biotech in Baruth, ordered a mobile heating center with a capacity of 950 kW again this year. In 2014, the cooperation went even better. Mr. Rademacher explains why this was the case: "Thanks to our experience from the previous year, we knew how to prepare ourselves optimally. That is, we had firmly installed the necessary connections in the meantime. This meant that the plant was able to start operation even faster. As in the year before, it did its job reliably."

Beneficial insects as an essential part of integrated pest management are especially preferred in commercial horticulture operations as well as greened interiors, such as the atriums of the Federal Chancellery. Biological plant protection is considered a sustainable solution, is harmless to the user and is not subject to approval procedures, as is the case with chemical agents.