Biogas
What is biogas?
Biogas is a renewable energy produced through anaerobic digestion of organic materials like waste and sewage, yielding methane. This methane can be utilised for cooking, heating, electricity generation, and as a clean fuel for vehicles, contributing to sustainable energy practices and waste management. Biogenic CO2 is by-product of biogas and has several uses including the production of e-SAF.
How can etasca help?
The etasca team has extensive commercial and technical experience across the biogas value chain – covering all major process technologies, feedstock types and several global markets.
Interested? contactus@etasca.com
Mtoe
of biogas production
projected by 2040 (1)
%
CAGR
growth between
2023-2033 (2)
Commercial considerations:
Global biogas demand is expected to nearly double from today’s levels by 2030(1).
- Significant capacity is planned in China, other Asian markets and Africa. China is expected to more than double its capacity by 2030 as it aims to reduce pollution generated by coal power and improve its waste management practices.
The biogas market is fragmented with approximately 20 000 installations in Europe – largest number in Germany – followed by Italy and France.
- Biogas is generally produced in small-scale plants with localised market dynamics (e.g., local sourcing of waste feedstock and wastewater treatment) resulting in a fragmented market.
Biogenic CO2 produced from biogas plants will become an increasingly important feedstock for synthetic fuels, e.g., SAF production from 2035 – following proposed legislation in Europe limiting the use of industrial CO2 as a feedstock.
The natural gas price is generally lower than the cost of biomethane production (particularly in North America) demonstrating the need for government policy to support biomethane supply.
- Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have all introduced support to incentivise biomethane use in transport.
- The cost gap is projected to narrow over time as biomethane production technologies improve and as carbon pricing makes natural gas more expensive.
The levelised cost of generating electricity from biogas ranges from USD 50 – 190 MWh depending on the feedstock used and plant characteristics – making it higher cost in many cases relative to wind and utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV).
- The transition from feed-in tariffs to technology-neutral renewable electricity auction frameworks (such as power purchase agreements) could impact growth.
Technical considerations:
Feedstock type has a significant impact on a biogas plant’s yield.
- Livestock manure is the most common feedstock used, but the biogas production yield (up to 0.05 toe/ton of feedstock) is significantly lower than crop residues (up to 0.25 toe/ton of feedstock). Industrial waste is the highest-yielding feedstock (0.40 toe of energy per ton).
- Access to sufficient feedstock volumes is critical to supporting a biogas plant’s economics – therefore, a spoke-and-hub model can ensure a secure supply and adequate volumes.
Feedstock dictates the biogas technology to be used, e.g., wet vs. dry digestion processes etc.
- To properly design a biogas plant, the developer must fully understand its feedstock supply chain. This will include considering the long-term security of supply, constraints such as poor waste and collection and quality of segregation etc.
Biogas plants typically transform only 10% of the mass they process into biogas.
- The remaining 90% of the mass fed into the digester comes out as digestate – typically used as a fertilizer. Therefore, plants will typically require a long-term offtake for the digestate.
Co‑generation improves the economics of biogas plants. Typically, a biogas CHP will convert 40% of the biogas energy into electricity, and 50% into hot water.
- A CHP has a typical capacity factor of 95% which means that they can produce electricity steadily throughout the year (8300+ hrs/yr) making them a reliable energy production asset.
1. IEA Stated Policies Scenario
2. Biogas Market Size, Growth, Drivers & Opportunity 2033 | FMI