Biogas is a mixture of methane, CO2 and small quantities of other gases produced by anaerobic digestion of organic matter in an oxygen-free environment. The precise composition of biogas depends on the type of feedstock and the production pathway; these include the following main technologies: Contact online >>
Biogas is a mixture of methane, CO2 and small quantities of other gases produced by anaerobic digestion of organic matter in an oxygen-free environment. The precise composition of biogas depends on the type of feedstock and the production pathway; these include the following main technologies:
The methane content of biogas typically ranges from 45% to 75% by volume, with most of the remainder being CO2. This variation means that the energy content of biogas can vary; the lower heating value (LHV) is between 16megajoules per cubic metre (MJ/m3) and 28MJ/m3. Biogas can be used directly to produce electricity and heat or as an energy source for cooking.
Biomethane (also known as "renewable natural gas") is a near-pure source of methane produced either by "upgrading" biogas (a process that removes any CO2 and other contaminants present in the biogas) or through the gasification of solid biomass followed by methanation:
Biomethane has an LHV of around 36MJ/m3. It is indistinguishable from natural gas and so can be used without the need for any changes in transmission and distribution infrastructure or end-user equipment, and is fully compatible for use in natural gas vehicles.
A wide variety of feedstocks can be used to produce biogas. For this report, the different individual types of residue or waste were grouped into four broad feedstock categories: crop residues; animal manure; the organic fraction of MSW, including industrial waste; and wastewater sludge.
Specific energy crops, i.e.low-cost and low-maintenance crops grown solely for energy production rather than food, have played an important part in the rise of biogas production in some parts of the world, notably in Germany. However, they have also generated a vigorous debate about potential land-use impacts, so they are not considered in this report''s assessment of the sustainable supply potential.
Using waste and residues as feedstocks avoids the land-use issues associated with energy crops. Energy crops also require fertiliser (typically produced from fossil fuels), which needs to be taken into account when assessing the life-cycle emissions from different biogas production pathways. Using waste and residues as feedstocks can capture methane that could otherwise escape to the atmosphere as they decompose.
Most biomethane production comes from upgrading biogas, so the feedstocks are the same as those described above. However, the gasification route to biomethane can use woody biomass (in addition to MSW and agricultural residues) as a feedstock, which consists of residues from forest management and wood processing.
The feedstocks described above were considered in this report''s assessment of the sustainable biogas and biomethane supply potential, and are further discussed in Section 3 below.
The development of biogas has been uneven across the world, as it depends not only on the availability of feedstocks but also on policies that encourage its production and use. Europe, the People''s Republic of China (hereafter, "China") and the United States account for 90% of global production.
Europe is the largest producer of biogas today. Germany is by far the largest market, and home to two-thirds of Europe''s biogas plant capacity. Energy crops were the primary choice of feedstock that underpinned the growth of Germany''s biogas industry, but policy has recently shifted more towards the use of crop residues, sequential crops, livestock waste and the capture of methane from landfill sites. Other countries such as Denmark, France, Italy and the Netherlands have actively promoted biogas production.
In the United States, the primary pathway for biogas has been through landfill gas collection, which today accounts for nearly 90% of its biogas production. There is also growing interest in biogas production from agricultural waste, since domestic livestock markets are responsible for almost one-third of methane emissions in the United States (USDA, 2016). The United States is also leading the way globally in the use of biomethane in the transport sector, as a result of both state and federal support.
Almost two-thirds of biogas production in 2018 was used to generate electricity and heat (with an approximately equal split between electricity-only facilities and co‑generation facilities). Around 30% was consumed in buildings, mainly in the residential sector for cooking and heating, with the remainder upgraded to biomethane and blended into the gas networks or used as a transport fuel.
Today there is around 18GW of installed power generation capacity running on biogas around the world, most of which is in Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom. Capacity increased on average by 4% per year between 2010 and 2018. In recent years, deployment in the United States and some European countries has slowed, mainly because of changes in policy support, although growth has started to pick up in other markets such as China and Turkey.
The levelised cost of generating electricity from biogas varies according to the feedstocks used and the sophistication of the plant, and ranges from USD50per megawatt-hour (MWh) to USD190/MWh. A substantial part of this range lies above the cost of generation from wind and utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV), which have come down sharply in recent years.
The relatively high costs of biogas power generation mean that the transition from feed-in tariffs to technology-neutral renewable electricity auction frameworks (such as power purchase agreements) in many countries could limit the future prospects for electricity-only biogas plants. However, unlike wind and solar PV, biogas plants can operate in a flexible manner and so provide balancing and other ancillary services to the electricity network. Recognising the value of these services would help to spur future deployment prospects for biogas plants.
Where local heat off-take is available, the economic case for biogas co‑generation is stronger than for an electricity-only plant. This is because co‑generation can provide a higher level of energy efficiency, with around 35% of the energy from biogas used to generate electricity and an additional 40-50% of the waste heat put to productive use.
Certain industrial subsectors, such as the food and drink and chemicals, produce wet waste with a high organic content, which is a suitable feedstock for anaerobic digestion. In such industries, biogas production can also have the co‑benefit of providing treatment for waste while also supplying on-site heat and electricity.
For the moment, a relatively small but growing share of the biogas produced worldwide is upgraded to biomethane. This area has significant potential for further growth, although – as outlined in subsequent sections of this report – this is heavily contingent on the strength and design of policies aimed at decarbonising gas supply in different parts of the world.
The biomethane industry is currently very small, although it is generating growing amounts of interest in several countries for its potential to deliver clean energy to a wide array of end users, especially when this can be done using existing infrastructure.
Currently around 3.5 Mtoe of biomethane are produced worldwide. The vast majority of production lies in European and North American markets, with some countries such as Denmark and Sweden boasting more than 10% shares of biogas/biomethane in total gas sales. Countries outside Europe and North America are catching up quickly, with the number of upgrading facilities in Brazil, China and India tripling since 2015.
Biomethane represents about 0.1% of natural gas demand today; however, an increasing number of government policies are supporting its injection into natural gas grids and for decarbonising transport. For example, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have all introduced support for biomethane in transport. Brazil''s RenovaBio programme has a target of reducing the carbon intensity of fuels in the transport sector by 10% by 2028. Subnational schemes are also emerging, such as low-carbon fuel standards in the US state of California and in British Columbia, Canada.
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