scientific & practical experience

Dr.-Ing. Frank Scholwin

Dr.-Ing. Frank Scholwin is the managing director of the Institute for Biogas, Waste Management & Energy, which he founded in 2012. He advises biogas plant operators, energy suppliers and authorities in the areas of biogas, biomethane and the integration of renewable energy sources into the energy system. He is an environmental engineer and worked at the universities of Rostock and Weimar. At the University of Rostock he worked as an honorary professor for biogas/bioenergy. At the German Biomass Research Center (DBFZ), he coordinated research on biogas technology for many years while also being the scientific director in 2011/2012. Frank Scholwin is the author of a large number of publications and a regular speaker at national and international specialist events.

Renate Buchwald

From Monday to Wednesday, Renate Buchwald is available for all the small and large tasks in the background and for your enquiries, calls and e-mails as well as invoices and bookkeeping preparations – basically, all of the administrative work. She dedicates the other days to her self-employment as a qualified social pedagogue.

M.Sc. Friedrich Brandes

M.Sc. Friedrich Brandes studied at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg and received a bachelor's degree in environmental engineering followed by a master's degree in chemical process engineering. The course of study at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg, which is characterized by ecological sustainability and resource conservation, provided him with practical knowledge for the use of renewable energy sources. During his master’s program emphasis was placed on gas processing, process analysis and environmental process engineering.

Key activities:

• Assessment of process engineering options for the production of renewable gases
• Technical and economic evaluation of concepts for the use of biogas

Dipl.-Ing. M.Sc. Angela Clinkscales

Dipl.-Ing. M.Sc. Angela Clinkscales is from the USA and has been living in Germany since 1998. She studied Architecture at Clemson University in South Carolina, USA (B.Sc.) and received a “diplom” in Architecture from Bauhaus University Weimar and has been a “diplom-engineer” since 2005. After changing fields she completed her M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering at Bauhaus University Weimar with a focus on hydrogen from biogas.

From 2001 through 2006 she worked at the chair for Waste Management at Bauhaus University Weimar – mostly with knowledge transfer programs for Southeast Asia, for example the long-distance study course “Environmental Engineering and Management”. From 2006 through 2009 she worked as a project coordinator and architect with projects in Germany and the USA – the focus ranging from historical preservation, fire protection measures and energy-related renovation and modernization. In 2011 she started a company together with a partner, whose main focus was developing a baby diaper, which is designed for the circular economy from the beginning to the end – including production, use and disposal concepts.

She has been working at the Institute for Biogas, Waste Management and Energy since the end of 2015.

Key activities:

• Project conception and coordination including financial planning and funding acquisition
• Biological process monitoring (at biogas plants)
• Establishing networks for international and interdisciplinary projects
• National and international knowledge transfer
• Renewable gases - mainly in connection with biogas

Dr.-Ing. Cornelia Rönsch

Dr.-Ing. Cornelia Rönsch studied infrastructure and environment (Infrastruktur und Umwelt) at the Bauhaus University Weimar with a focus on recycling management. After graduating, she initially worked for 5 years at the German Biomass Research Center (Deutschen Biomasseforschungszentrum gGmbH - DBFZ) in the field of bioenergy systems. There she managed and worked on projects for various clients, e.g. Federal Ministry of Economics, Federal Environment Agency, Stadtwerke Leipzig. The topics included the use of biogenic residues, self-sufficiency from biomass / renewable energies and the focus on heat generation from biomass. The role of biogas in the energy system played a role in all topics. Building on this, she completed her doctoral thesis as part of her three-year employment as a doctoral candidate at the DBFZ in cooperation with the University of Leipzig. She With the entry into the Institute for Biogas, Circular Economy and Energy, you build on more than 10 years of experience in the field of bioenergy.

Key activities:

• Technical and economic evaluation of concepts for the use of biogas
• Ecological assessment (with a focus on GHG calculation) of concepts for the use of biogas

M.Eng. Georg Siegert

M.Eng. Georg Siegert studied agricultural economics at the University of Applied Sciences in Dresden followed by a master's degree in Renewable Resources and Renewable Energies at the University of Applied Science and Art in Göttingen. By combining both courses, he was able to acquire in-depth knowledge along the entire value chain from the cultivation of biomass, through harvesting, fermentation and power generation in biogas plants to the return of nutrients to agricultural land. In addition to the conversion of biomass into energy, the legal framework was also a focus of his master’s program.

Through internships on farms, at the Institute for Bioplastics and Biocomposites in Hanover (IfBB) and at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), he has already gained experience along the supply chain of biomass for fermentation and GHG calculation.

Key activities:

• Agricultural production all the way to biogas production and recycling of residues
• Economic evaluation of agricultural production processes
• Biological process monitoring of biogas plants
• Economical evaluation of options for future operation of biogas plants

Dipl.-Ing. Tino Sperk

Dipl.-Ing. Tino Sperk is an engineer for renewable energy systems. He completed his studies at Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences. During his professional career, he was able to gain and contribute his experiences in the areas of solar and wind energy. Over the last 12 years he worked for BOSCH Solar Energy AG in Arnstadt, for Stadtwerke Group in Erfurt and for InnoVentum AB in Malmö. As a project manager he was involved in large-scale PV projects in Germany and the UK, as well as in the construction process of hybrid, wind- and solar power stations in countries such as Sweden and Morocco. He has an enthusiasm for new ideas and enjoys working on complex technical topics. Furthermore, Tino Sperk works as a freelance consultant for universities and companies and supports university teams in finding solutions for complex research topics in the fields of innovative and sustainable technologies.

Key activities:

• Technical and economical evaluation of the use of biomethane as fuel
• Feasibility studies and technical concept development in the area of power generation and energy efficiency
• Cross-divisional consulting on solar and wind energy technology

M.Sc. M.Eng. Jens Strahl

M.Sc. M.Eng. Jens Strahl is an economist and engineer for energy and resources. In his professional positions over the past 13 years at the Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute (Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forests and Fisheries), at the German Biomass Research Centre gGmbH (DBFZ) and as a project manager and department leader for energy supply companies, he has been able to gain experience both in research and consultancy and in the development and implementation of practical projects. At the DBFZ, he led projects on policy advice and feasibility studies on biomethane production and use (e.g. grid operators in Great Britain or the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Luxembourg). Furthermore, as a project manager he accompanied various large-scale projects, mainly in the field of renewable energies (e.g. biomethane plants, CHP plants, electrochemical storage, biomass cogeneration plant) and dealt with topics such as biomass production and utilisation paths, energy concepts, economic and technical assessments and material flow analyses.

Through the processing of technically diverse project tasks, he gained a high level of understanding for the challenges of complex and cross-thematic issues in the fields of energy management and resource use.

Key activities:

• Technical and economic assessments and analyses (biogas, biomethane, combined heat and power, biogenic solid fuels, energy concepts, biomass utilisation pathways, storage technologies).
• Feasibility studies and technical concept development in the field of energy production and energy efficiency
• Agricultural production and agricultural economics

M.Eng. Oliver Viertmann

M.Eng. Oliver Viertmann studied industrial engineering (specialising in energy and environmental management) at Flensburg University of Applied Sciences and later at the European University of Flensburg. After graduating, he worked for two years as a project manager in the areas of funding acquisition and further education with a focus on biomass use at the Competence Centre for Renewable Energies and Climate Protection Schleswig-Holstein (EEK.SH). He then worked as a research assistant at Flensburg University of Applied Sciences in a project on biological methanation. Here he was responsible for the economic evaluation of the integration of a pilot plant for biological methanation at an agricultural biogas plant. In parallel, he worked as a freelance project engineer. The focus of his freelance work was on energy and GHG balancing as well as the acquisition of funding in the areas of energy-related neighborhood concepts and circular economy. Since 2021 he works as a consultant at IBKE.

Key activities:

• Techno-economic evaluation of future options for biogas plants
• Bio SNG/biological methanation
• Technical Due Diligence for biogas- and biomethane plants
• Funding acquisition

Dr. rer. nat. Steffi Formann

Dr. rer. nat. Steffi Formann studied biology and bio-geo-interactions at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena and completed her doctorate in microbiology at the Chair of Microbial Communication. Through her work as a scientist at the Max-Planck-Institute for Bio-Geochemistry Jena, the Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Biomass Research Centre Leipzig, Steffi was able to expand her expertise in nutrient and trace element uptake, carbon storage and the substantial-energetic use of biomass.

As research associate at Institute for Biogas, Circular Economy and Energy, Steffi specialises in the following areas:

• Ecological assessment of biogas processes,
• Greenhouse gas balancing,
• resource management.

Antares Heinrich

Right in the middle of his studies for Environmental Technologies at the Ernst-Abbe University of applied sciences in Jena, Antares Heinrich helps out the team as a student trainee.