BI GAS magazine | Edition 16 | 2021
Bio-LNG for aircraft? Pg 36
European biogas policy landscape: Pg 16
MSW role in battle against climate change: Pg 32
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Index IBA News IBA’s commitment towards leapfrogging the prospects in the biogas/bioCNG industry (Period: Apr, 21-Jun 21)
08
National Corner Role of Sustainable & Innovative Technologies to spur India’s indigenous efforts in Biogas sector, to achieve self-reliance in Energy Space
12
Primary Treatment of Raw materials for Biogas Digester
20
Bio-Liquefied Natural Gas (Bio-LNG) as the Next Aviation Fuel
36
International Corner A model for describing the European biogas policy landscape
16
Biogas – making what everybody needs from what everybody has
28
The Role of Biodegradable Municipal Waste in The Battle Against Climate Change and Importance for The Biogas Sector
32
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Biogas Magazine | Edition 16 | 4
Foreword Dear Reader, We hope that you are safe and healthy along with your near and dear ones! Amidst the imposed lockdowns in almost all parts of the country during the second wave of COVID 19, India is leaving no stones unturned in putting efforts to vaccinate its vast population. These are real unprecendented times and we pray for the pandemic to be over soon, and the economy bounces back on track at the earliest. Despite the difficult time, good news kept pouring in for the biogas industry. One such revolutionary moment for the industry was in form of the liquid slurry from biogas plants getting recently incorporated as ‘Fermented Liquid Organic Manure’ in the Fertilizer Control Order (FCO). We express our gratitude to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare (MOAFW), Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas ( MoPNG), Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and other concerned ministries and organizations in edition to our biogas fraternity for their unwavering support towards achieving this long pending moment. A snapshot of this historical moment has been explored further in this magazine’s article “IBA’s dedication to leapfrogging the prospects in the biogas/bio-CNG industry.” We would also like to highlight that IBA has collaborated with Biogas Development & Training Centre (BDTC), Karnataka. A pipeline of activities has been earmarked for under this collaboration which shall facilitate promotion of the biogas sector, and accelerate the awareness-raising activities in the state of Karnataka.
Furthermore, we would take this opportunity to thank the team IBA and #TeamShvaas to support the fund-raising activities for the oxygen generation plants in the fight against the COVID. Theinitiative has been backed by American Indian Foundation, and with due support of our members and many philanthropist supporters, we are in the process of installing ten more oxygen plants in several parts of the country. In this issue, we cover several articles to provide you with an overview of several contemporary developments in the biogas industry. One of the fascinating topics covered in this edition is the innovation featuring bio-LNG utilization in aircrafts. A detailed article has been included on Pre-treatment, which is an extremely important cog in biogas projects, especially the ones operating on hard to degrade feedstocks-like agroresidues. Also, the coverage in this issue entails an overview of MSW as a substrate in biogas plants, a notion that’s becoming increasingly popular in India. The article on European viewpoint about the biogas sector provides an international policy perspective. As always, our efforts are focused on updating our readers with the latest and interesting information about the sector. We’d like also to hear your thoughts on garage type biogas plant and bio-CNG installation so as to boost up this sector. To share your thoughts and articles, please get in touch at info@biogas-india.com. We wish you a safe, healthy, and greener future!
Dr. A. R. Shukla
President Indian Biogas Association www.biogas-india.com
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Say NO to one bin Waste segregation is no longer a choice, it’s an everyday practice we must all follow.
Waste segregation means biogas to power success. Municipal solid waste with high organic and moisture contents, are suitable substrates for anaerobic digestion process to recover biogas for energy and digestate which can be used as fertilizers or for soil amendments. One of the most reasonable ways that biogas energy can save businesses money is by reducing their energy bills. Companies can install biogas based cogeneration plants using Jenbacher gas engine technology, and this source can cover a significant part or even all of their energy needs.
For more details, please contact Clarke Energy India Private Limited Shivkiran, Plot No. 160, CTS No. 632, Lane No. 4, Dahanukar Colony, Kothrud, Pune 411038, India
Tel. 020-30241777 Email. india@clarke-energy.com
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IBA’s commitment towards leapfrogging the prospects in the biogas/bio-CNG industry Period: Apr’ 21 - Jun’ 21 Incorporation of ‘Fermented Organic Liquid Manure’ in FCO
A
s per the latest amendment (dated 1st June 2021) in Fertilizer Control Order (FCO) from Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare (MoAFW), which now recognizes the ‘Fermented Organic Liquid Manure’ as a form of organic fertilizer. The persistent effort of all the stakeholders of biogas ecosyem needs to be applauded for achieving this breakthrough moment.
Furthermore, just last year, the solid fraction of the produced slurry from biogas plants was incorporated as ‘Fermented Organic Manure’ in the FCO. Now with the latest notification from the Ministry on recognition of the liquid fraction as well, it would legally facilitate production and sales of organic manure (in both solid and liquid fraction) from biogas/CBG plants. This in turn
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would catalyze the process of setting up new biogas/CBG projects. Investors will be able to realize better returns upon fairly monetizing the produced digestate, a byproduct of all biogas/ CBG plants. It’s also worthwhile to note that digestate produced from any biogas/CBG plant is excellent manure for crops. It also improves the overall soil health, which has been deteriorating rapidly due to rampant and imprudent usage of chemical fertilizers. Some of the salient benefits of using digestate as organic fertilizer are: improves soil’s physical and biological properties, supplements nutrient requirement for the crop, improves carbon content of soil, augments nutrient mobilization rate in soil, increases microbiological activity, improves water holding capacity, improves crop productivity, and most importantly optimizes usage of chemical fertilizers strictly on supplementary nutritional need basis.
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It would be fair to anticipate that this declaration from Ministry shall aid the realization of target i.e., installation of around 5000 CBG plants over a period of 5 years, set by MoPNG under its SATAT scheme launched in October 2018. Election of IBA Board Members In line with IBA’s pursuit to attain representativeness and transparency in its operations, we solicited nominations from our members for three open positions in IBA Board, i.e. A. Vice-Chair (1 open position) and B. Independent Board Member (2 open positions). Upon receiving the nominations and their validation, we opened the voting lines for IBA members to choose their representatives for the aforementioned positions. We are pleased to announce that the following personnel have been elected (on a majority basis) by the IBA members: 1. Vice-Chair- Mr. Hatim Bhanpurawala 2. Independent Board Members- Mr. S. R. Kumar and Mr. Sandeep Garg The process of the election began with receiving the nominations for respective positions in between 22-30 April 2021. Thereafter, upon validating the received nominations, a voting link was opened (between 3-10 May 2021) for voting by all IBA members. Each IBA member could cast one vote for their preferred choice across each of the open Board positions. The candidate receiving the highest number of votes for a given position was considered a winner for the respective position.
Vice President Mr. Hatim Bhanpurawala
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On behalf of the IBA family, we congratulate the elected Board Officials and wish them success in their upcoming roles in their respective positions. IBA also extends its gratitude to all its members for their overwhelming participation in the voting and for making the Board election process a success. IBA commitment to set up 11 Oxygen Plants across 11 Cities in India Indian Biogas Association and #TeamShvaas in collaboration with American India Foundation (AIF) is committed to roll out Oxygen Plants in 11 of the most virus-ravaged cities in the country. “Working as installation and technical partners, the Oxygen plants will bring a decentralized solution of Oxygen generation for any present or future oxygen crisis and is a quick and longterm solution to make hospitals independent from oxygen supply chain issue, which in turn shall also reduce the load on oxygen distribution channels” said Mr. Gaurav Kedia, Chairman, IBA. As per the press release done by AIF ‘The Plants are based on the proven Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) technology and can deliver 90%+ oxygen concentration, only requiring power and water supply from the hospitals. Bringing in industry and domain experts, the Oxygen Plants will be able to scale up production capacities in the future as per the demands, while maintaining uniform pressure and flow distribution in the PSA towers, a mandate for high purity of produced oxygen.’
Independent Board Member Mr. Sandeep Garg
Independent Board Member Mr. S. R. Kumar
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Survey conducted at the behest of MNRE IBA, in its pursuit to ensure the growth of the biogas industry, has been working closely with different Ministries featuring in the biogas ecosystem. Recently, IBA at the behest of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), circulated a structured questionnaire amongst its members to solicit relevant information on ‘Skill Set requirement for the Biogas Industry’.
tinent to the industry. This in turn shall be helpful in adept tailoring of appropriate training courses and devising needful capacity building programs for the industry.
The survey entailed questions on skill level (unskilled to highly skilled) requirements across the value chain of the biogas industry. The obtained results from the survey were extremely insightful to identify the existing skill versus role gaps per-
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Role of Sustainable & Innovative Technologies to spur India’s indigenous efforts in Biogas sector, to achieve self-reliance in Energy Space
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ustainable Biogas Systems are being regarded as a key step towards making adoption of alternative renewable energy widely accepted and making the planet greener. India, among other countries, has been promoting ‘Waste-to-Energy’ projects using bio-methanation since 1982. Recently, CBG became a valuable component of India’s future green mixture, outlined in the Government of India’s 2018 Suswww.biogas-india.com
tainable Alternative towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) scheme. CBG being an environment-friendly fuel with the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 98 per cent, will help support the country in minimizing dependency on fossil fuels. Under the SATAT scheme, the Government of India envisages of setting up 5,000 CBG plants by 2023-24 with a production target of 15 MMT. This is expected to create both Biogas Magazine | Edition 16 | 12
greener fuels and new employment opportunities in rural belts. Biogas has emerged as a promising energy source globally not only because it is an environmentally sustainable solution, but because of the crucial role it has played to help nations transition to a circular economy. To promote circular economy between municipal solid waste and industrial/agriculture waste management systems, Sustainable biogas systems can play a significant role. Waste management, especially organic, poses a severe challenge to nations. Methane (greenhouse gas-GHG) emissions are now posing a major challenge owing to the harmful effects of GHG. Governments across the world have realized the potential of harnessing this as a renewable energy source. Compressed Biogas (CBG)is an enriched form of biogas containing more than 90% methane. A key requirement before biogas can be fed into the natural gas grid or used as biofuel is an extensive upgradation process that removes impurities because in addition to the methane energy source, raw biogas also contains carbon dioxide (CO2) and other trace gases. Because CO2 is not combustible, it lowers the calorific value of the gas and must therefore be separated out. This helps increase the methane concentration up to 95%–99.5%. While traditional methods for biogas upgradation continue to exist, global technology innova-
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tors have also introduced the latest technologies for turning biogas into pure biomethane, breakthroughs that not only offer high-grade purity of methane, but simultaneously also contribute to the ultimate aim of sustainability and ‘green’ output driven by their efficient and sustainable operating parameters. One such breakthrough method of biogas upgrading is membrane technology, a relatively new and promising technology. Membranes that have the highest CO2/CH4 selectivity and are a superior technology for upgrading biogas. This selectivity of the membranes enables the production of high purity biomethane with superior methane recovery and possible to obtain methane with a purity level of up to 99% from the raw biogas. Membrane separation technology is particularly alluring for biogas advancement due to their lower energy consumption, high selectivity, easily engineered modules and, therefore, lower operating costs. A patented 3 stage membrane-based gas separation process technology significantly increases the recovery of biomethane, which has a corresponding effect on the profitability of biogas processing plants, hence making the upgrading process as efficient and economical as possible. Consequently, this type of biogas upgrading technology helps conserve resources and protect the environment as it requires comparatively little energy and does not need any auxiliary materials or chemicals. No waste or wastewater
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is produced that would otherwise have to be treated and disposed of. Biogas production is an efficient and developed technology. Commercial use of Biogas can be amplified or increased significantly provided biogas is upgraded on-site before shipping or before being injected in city-wide grids. While cost plays a key role in shortlisting of technologies for biogas purification, it is also important that the various OEM’s and technology providers remain mindful of employing technologies that are Sustainable and GREEN, to render biogas as a truly sustainable energy source in the world.
If one considers development in countries where biomethane production is being embraced on a large scale, two factors have played major role in its development: Strong policy support, and Technology innovation. While Indian policy makers have
given a positive thrust to this market to gain significant interest from investors and entrepreneurs, it is technology innovation that will be crucial for the next phase of growth, giving this sector the much-needed push to move towards large-scale biogas plant set-ups in India. This is where global players with advanced solutions could play an integral role to spur India’s own efforts to achieve self-reliance in biogas-led energy.
Vinod Paremal Regional President
Evonik India Pvt. Ltd.
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A model for describing the European biogas policy landscape
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iogas solutions are typically multi-functional systems spanning several sectors, such as waste handling, agriculture, energy, and transport. While this can be an advantage in comparison to other alternatives, it also creates an intricate policy structure that is challenging to overview, making it difficult to evaluate the consequences of different policy changes that might not be directly related to biogas. To provide a comprehensive view of the policy framework for biogas solutions, we have developed a model entailing five dimensions: 1) Type of policy instrument 2) The administrative area where policies are valid 3) Administrative level, from local to global 4) Part of the biogas value chain that is targeted
Enforcing
instruments can be classified into two groups based on two sets of criteria: enforced and encouraging: further subdivided into regulatory, economic, and voluntary. Since voluntary policies cannot be enforcing, this results in a total of five categories, as shown in Figure 1. Legislation, directives, norms, and goals are examples of regulatory tools. Although goals are usually “enforcing,” but can also be “encouraging.” Taxes, tradable certificates, procurement, and various types of subsidies are all examples of economic incentives. Green certificates can be seen as a motivating tool for the vendor and a restraining tool for the buyer. One example is the European Emission Trading System (ETS) for greenhouse gas emissions, Education, information, cooperation, and research and development are examples of voluntary policy instruments.
Regulatory
Economic
Legislation
Taxes
Directives
Green certificates
Standards
Procurement
Voluntary
Goals Goals Encouraging
Subsidies
Education
Green certificates
Information Cooperation R&D
Figure 1: Categorization of policies according to the model regulatory/economic/voluntary; enforcing/encouraging
5) Temporal dynamics, variation, and continuity The model is based on research into biogas policies and discussions with members of European national biogas association. The five dimensions are described in depth below, with examples from the European setting. Type of policy instrument We discovered that biogas policies and policy www.biogas-india.com
Administrative areas One of the most intriguing dimensions in the biogas policy landscape is the administrative areas and the vital question is regarding which agency or governmental body is responsible for biogas solutions. Figure 2 shows eight administrative or policy areas that can influence biogas solutions: Energy, Environment, Waste, Water, Agriculture, Transport, Economy and Construction. The wide Biogas Magazine | Edition 16 | 16
Figure 2: Examples of policies affecting biogas solutions within 8 different administrative areas: Energy, Environment, Waste, Water, Agriculture, Transport, Economy and Construction
division of administrative responsibility makes policy harmonization in the biogas sector quite challenging. In many circumstances, different ministries or agencies can act independently of one another, without taking into account interconnections with other fields. In addition, many policies and policy instruments only have an indirect influence on biogas solutions, making the policy framework even more difficult to define. One such example is regulations against landfilling of organic waste, which favors anaerobic digestion as an alternative treatment method. Likewise, the use of biogas is indirectly influenced by regulations and taxes on non-renewable energy.
Administrative levels Policies and policy instruments are formed and governed on different administrative levels. Figure 3 illustrates the administrative levels of biogas policies for a European context, with examples of policies on global, EU (continental), national,and regional/local level. On the global level, we find international goals and agreements such as the UN sustainable development goals, and agreements on climate change mitigation. Global policies set a common framework for all the included countries. However, there are often countries that choose to do more than the agreed minimum and others that do not succeed to meet the base goals. EU policies can serve a similar function, but can also have a direct
Figure 3: Examples of policies on different administrative levels affecting biogas solutions within the EU: Global level, EU-level, National level and Regional/local level
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Figure 4: Examples of policies directed towards different parts in the value chain of biogas: Production, Distribution and Use
influence on national legislation in the member states. There are also economic instruments on the EU level, such as rural development support directed towards the agricultural sector. Until recently, there have not been any specific EU policies regarding biogas solutions. In 2020; however, three new strategy documents emerged, as part of the European Green Deal: the Methane Strategy, the Energy System Integration Strategy, and the “From Farm to Fork”-strategy. Anaerobic digestion plays a significantly bigger part in all of these plans than it did in prior EU policy documents, and it’s seen as a key technology for climate change mitigation, reduced fossil energy usage, and enhanced circularity.
Targeted part of the value chain Different biogas policies are relevant for different parts of the value chain of the biogas system: from production to distribution and use of biogas and biofertilizer. The policy framework for biogas in certain countries is primarily focused on production, but in others, the use of biogas is the strategic focus of the formulated policies. This is perhaps most evident in the financial support system, which in many countries is directed towards the producers (e.g., through feed-in tariffs), but in some countries rather concern is for the users of biogas (e.g., tax exemption). Examples of policies addressing different parts of the value chain are given in Figure 4.
Economic instruments, such as taxes and subsidies, are mainly formulated on the national level. A large variation can be observed between biogas policies, strategies, and support schemes in different countries, resulting from varying production conditions, demand situations, and policy traditions. Energy security can be a powerful motivation for biogas production in nations that are net importers of power and fuel, as compared to countries with abundant domestic energy resources. One factor for the slow development of biogas systems in oil-producing countries like Canada and Australia appears to be this.
Bearing this in mind, it’s worth noting that biogas production, biogas use, and biofertilizer use are all linked to a variety of services and benefits, including waste or wastewater treatment, reduced impact on climate change, abatement in pollution level from transportation usage of biogas, and nutrient recycling. A policy framework that focuses on either the supply or demand side does not ensure a good influence across the entire value chain, therefore some of the benefits of biogas solutions may be lost. One example of this is Sweden, where tax exemption for use of biogas has been the main instrument for stimulating the biogas sector. The neighboring country, Denmark, on the other hand, have directed their economic subsidies towards the producers of biogas. This has led to a situation where the increasing demand for biogas in Sweden is met by imported biogas from Denmark, as the Danish biogas receives more subsidies and can be sold at a lower price than the Swedish biogas. Consequently, the benefits of producing some of the biogas used in Sweden, and the use of biofertilizers, end up in Denmark.
The local or regional context is often significant when it comes to biogas solutions. In European countries, biogas production has often started in wastewater treatment facilities or landfills, in many cases with public companies as owners. Even agricultural and industrial biogas plants are strongly connected to their local area, as substrates are usually not transported over long distances. In the biogas policy framework, local and regional governments have the role of implementing national policies, but can also influence the local biogas development independently, for example through green procurement of public transportation, and building permits for new biogas plants. www.biogas-india.com
Temporal change and continuity Finally, it is important to consider the temporal dimension of policies, that is, how the policy landscape changes over time. As illustrated in Biogas Magazine | Edition 16 | 18
Figure 5, policies may be introduced or discontinued and can reappear or change character over time. Variable and unpredictable policy conditions are often described as one of the main barriers to the development of biogas solutions. In many European countries, stable conditions for biogas producers have been warranted through long-term contracts, stretching up to 20 years or more. As a result, investors have been able to develop new biogas facilities with little risk, and consequently biogas production has risen significantly. However, the stability and continuity of such support systems come with a risk of lockin effects that hold back further development. For example, Italy has made changes in their support system steering new biogas production towards biomethane for transport, but a large share of the existing biogas production facilities are still contracted to produce electricity for several more years. Conclusion This five-dimensional model for biogas policies reflects the complexity of the biogas policy landscape and can be used for describing, discussing, and developing biogas policies. It can be difficult to build an effective and harmonized framework because of the multiple levels and interconnections within and between policy domains. The occasional indirect influence of regulations from several administrative divisions makes it difficult to determine who is ultimately accountable for biogas development. In Europe, the new strategies for renewable energy, methane emissions reduction, and sustainable food production provide much-needed additions to the policy framework for biogas solutions, and will hopefully help the biogas program gather momentum.
The model described here is mostly based on studies of the European policy environment, although it should be adaptable in other geographic contexts with some modifications. Many of the elements described in this model are almost similar in many Asian or American countries, although the administrative levels may vary in terms of character and importance. For example, in countries with a high degree of regional independence, the local policy level can be very central for the biogas development, while the national policies will rather have the role of EU regulations for European countries.
Marcus Gustafsson
Assistant professor Environmental Technology and Management at Linköping University
Stefan Anderberg Professor
Environmental Technology and Management at Linköping University
Figure 5: Illustration of the temporal dimension of policies, showing that policies can be long-term (“Policy A”) or short-term (Policy D), introduced or discontinued, and can reappear (“Policy C”) or change character over time (“Policy B”)
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Primary Treatment of Raw materials for Biogas Digestion
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iogas processing is a well-known anaerobic digestion process for producing biogas, in which the raw material is broken down and converted to biogas and organic manure (by microorganisms). Dairy waste, food waste, vegetable waste, biodegradable industrial waste, and some agriculture waste/crops are the most widely used raw material. However, certain raw material can take a long time to break down for a number of reasons, including the existence of chemicals that impede microorganism growth and operation, the occurrence of physical problems such as floating, foaming, and blocking equipment or pipes in biogas plants, and the fact that their molecular structure is inaccessible to microorganisms. These issues may appear one by one or all at the same time. If the raw material prior to being fed to the digester is treated, these issues can be avoided. If one wants to avoid the problems described above, pretreatment of the raw material is the only solution that works. Generally lignocellulosic raw material which has poor molecular structures, for example, maize, certain grasses, or palm oil fruit bunches does necessarily require pretreatment before adding them to the digester. Based on the raw material and which are of non lignocellulosic in nature there are other pretreatment technologies also exist are mentioned further. Various pretreatment technologies have been developed in recent years to increase the availability of anaerobic digestion www.biogas-india.com
of sugars and other small molecules in biogas substrates, particularly lignocellulosic material. These treatment technologies aim to speed up anaerobic digestion, potentially increase biogas output, and eliminate processing issues such as high electricity requirements for stirring or the formation of scum/crust or floating layers while also preventing processing issues. Mechanical pre-treatment The raw material that is to be fed to the digester is broken down into smaller parts or squeezed to break down or break open the cellular structure. This helps to increase the precise surface area of the raw material, and is carried out by different crushers, shredders, macerators, mills, and so on. This improves digestibility within the digester, where microorganisms can thrive. Particle breakdown or reduction in size not only speeds up the rate of digestibility or deterioration, but also lowers viscosity in the digesters, which reduces foaming. Few Biogas plant operators prefer the particle size to be between 1-2 mm, few others operate above 5 mm particle size, but for the best results, particle size of 1-2 mm is recommended for better hydrolysis of the raw material which contains more lignocelluloses. There is only one major disadvantage of this treatment that is the blades, plates, etc., get damaged by the foreign materials in the raw material such as stones, glass pieces, or metals and hence the repair of these equipment’s consume time and is very expensive. Biogas Magazine | Edition 16 | 20
Thermal pre-treatment In thermal pre-treatment, the raw material is heated at a certain pressure and held at that particular temperature for some time (typically up to one hour). It is simple to monitor such a condition in smaller plants, but in medium to large plants, this method becomes costly due to regular power consumption expenses. This method proves to be costly and works well if the raw material to be fed to the digesters is adequately mixed with water. Certain feedstocks may need additional water if the raw material’s total solid content is higher. The hydrogen bonds that keep crystalline cellulose and lignocellulose complexes together are broken by heat and water, causing the raw material to swell to a point where it breaks easily. Few plant operators combine thermal pretreatment with chemicals and even few of the operators combine it with mechanical shearing, also known as thermal hydrolysis where the plant operators claim the biogas enhancement between 15-20%. Also, at the same time the overall residence time of the digestion comes down. Few studies have been conducted in which this method has been shown to work on specific feedstocks as opposed to many other raw products being used as feedstocks. At the same time, this treatment is dependent on the country in which it is carried out, as this pretreatment system would be more costly in colder climate regions.
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This treatment is only effective up to a certain temperature. The maximum and minimum temperature varies with the region and the raw material to be treated. Again the temperature range depends on the residence time of this treatment i.e., whether the raw material stays for few hours more. Scientists have proven that thermal pretreatment is less effective when compared with thermo-chemical pretreatment. However the operator must deal with chemicals at the biogas plant while using the thermo-chemical pretreatment. Chemical pre-treatment The raw material has been chemically treated with a variety of chemicals, primarily acids, and alkalis of various strengths, under various conditions. But this type of treatment is mostly avoided at larger scale biogas plants to avoid handling of regular chemicals at the site. However, there are a few plants where this treatment is necessary regularly to prevent excess acids or alkalis within the digester, or where this treatment is required because the feedstock to the plant is impossible without it. Acid treatment breaks down the hemicelluloses and disrupts ether bonds between lignin and hemicelluloses. Since acid treatment is often used in conjunction with heat, it will be discussed later in this article. Swelling of the lignocelluloses and partial lignin solubilization are caused by alkali therapy. The most commonly used alkali is lime or sodium
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hydroxide. Operators adopt the alkali treatment in many plants around the world, and this has proven to be successful for biogas generation as well. Rice straw, leaves when treated with 3-6% sodium hydroxide gave the best degradation with enhanced biogas yield up to 20-25%. When the raw material is lignocellulosic, this procedure works best. When alkali pretreatment is used for prolonged periods it was found that salts buildup at the same time the pH inside the digester increased and the entire slurry becomes alkaline. The high salt concentration and the effect on the ammonia balance inhibit methanisation and hence the biogas production drops after certain levels. In general, adding alkalis is an economically unattractive treatment due to the high daily costs of alkalis, but it is a must and useful treatment for acidic and lignin-rich raw materials that would otherwise be unsuitable for biogas plants. Oxidative pretreatment with hydrogen peroxide affects lignocelluloses in a similar way to alkali treatment as it can also break down lignin. This oxidative pretreatment when applied at larger plants the gas production was increased almost www.biogas-india.com
between 20-25% but the only possible disadvantage of this pretreatment is that introducing more oxygen into the biogas plant increases the proportion of carbon dioxide in the produced biogas and the methane percentage came down by 5-10% due to this disadvantage even this treatment is also avoided at larger scale plants. Combination mechanisms: Combination mechanisms require combining a greater number of pre-treatments. It may be a blend of thermal, mechanical, and chemical influences. They are generally more efficient than processes that use a single pretreatment, but this type of combination mechanism is often more complicated than other pretreatments. By combining heating and a sudden pressure change, steam explosion makes substrates more digestible. The raw material is heated up in a closed system to a temperature of typically 150-230 Deg C, causing a rise in the pressure, this happens at the same time and further this is followed by the retention time of around 15Biogas Magazine | Edition 16 | 22
60 minutes and then the pressure is released abruptly. The rapid evaporation of intracellular water caused by the sudden drop in pressure is known as steam explosion. Again, steam explosion works for a limited number of substrates and not for all feedstocks, and as previously mentioned, every treatment system has its own set of benefits and drawbacks. This pretreatment, like thermal pretreatment, has the disadvantage of requiring a longer residence time with high-temperature requirements, and at few plants, the biogas yield has been observed to be reduced as a result of the high-temperature requirements. One of the best advantage of this system is the operator can mix straw or other feedstocks in the running plant with smaller quantities of the raw material pretreatment by this system. Extrusion is a process where the raw material is subjected to high shear, temperature, and pressure. In this system, the raw material is fed into the extruder and conveyed by screw along a tube, where it is exposed to high pressure, temperature, and shear forces. With this high shear, www.biogas-india.com
temperature, and pressure the raw material fibers break down and due to the pressure drop the raw material also break down. The pressure for this treatment goes as high as 300 bar and the temperature can also go as high as 300 deg C. This pretreatment breaks open the cell structure of the raw material which results in faster biogas production which in turn facilitates higher organic loading rates. There was an increase of 15-20% more biogas when the raw material was fed to the digesters with extrusion compared with non-extrusion fed digesters. Essentially, this rise in gas output is reliant on feedstocks. This pretreatment uses more energy, approximately 12-13 kW per ton of raw material to be fed to the digester through the extruder. When compared to the agitators within the digesters, this absorbs about the same amount of energy. Higher energy consumption is the biggest drawback of this technolgy. Beside from the power usage, there are still ongoing costs associated with the wear and tear of the extruders . Biogas Magazine | Edition 16 | 23
Thermochemical pretreatment Thermochemical pretreatment is the use of a mixture of acids and alkalis in combination. Again, a specific temperature range is needed for this thermochemical pretreatment, and it was discovered that the best temperature range was between 50 and 250 degrees Celsius. A high temperature of approximately more than 150 deg C with acids showed a drop in biogas production for certain feedstocks. Thermochemical treatment works better for few substrates and not for all and this has been found that there were hardly any large-scale biogas plants working on this treatment system. Biological pre-treatment: Silage making is sometimes referred to as a pretreatment technology but it has a limited effect on the biogas plant. Ensiling is mostly done for storage purposes rather than to increase biogas output. The key benefit of biological pretreatment over chemical or thermal pretreatment is that it can be achieved at low temperatures without the use of chemicals. It has the downside of being slower than non-biological approaches. Anaerobic microbial pretreatment, also known as pre-acidification or two-stage digestion, is a process of separating the first and second stages of anaerobic digestion. In essence, the hydrolysis process is distinguished from the methanogenesis process. The hydrolysis stage necessitates a lower pH, while the methane gen-
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eration stage necessitates a higher pH. Less pH prevents methane formation when volatile fatty acids accumulate within the digester, resulting in a decrease in biogas production and, as a result, the plant shuts down. In short, the anaerobic microbial pretreatment works, and the residence time is shortened as the degradation activity within the digester is accelerated. I have personally installed many plants based on this Bi- phasic technology or pretreatment system and the gas production was found to be increased by 15-20% in the case of food and vegetable waste plants. At the same time, the retention time also can be reduced by 25-35% compared with the regular CSTR designs. Another benefit which I found was methane percentage in the biogas was enhanced by 5-10% more compared to other digestion systems. Another benefit of two-stage digestion is that the first-stage microorganisms are less vulnerable to certain chemicals (such as phenols, ammonia, and others) than the second-stage microorganisms, and many inhibiting chemicals can be broken down in the first stage. Overall, two-stage digestion is advantageous for a wide range of substrates, and the higher investment costs for an additional reactor are generally offset by faster digestion speeds (due to optimized pH and temperature for the hydrolytic enzymes) and the added stability of feeding at a constant pH. Additionally, higher gas methane yields can result in lower gas upgrading costs. This reactor configuration is used at full scale, but it is not widely used.
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The first stage of aerobic microbial pretreatment is similar to the previous step, but it is carried out by certain aerobic microorganisms. This separation of aerobic and anaerobic processes is also a good example since the troublesome material is extracted from the first stage and not permitted to reach the second anaerobic digester, so there are no processing concerns with fibers and other materials in the second stage. The benefit of an aerobic process is that it is much quicker, but the disadvantage is that if the pretreatment period is too long, a lot of the organic matter that could be degraded to methane is now degraded to carbon dioxide. Anaerobic processes are slower, but they allow more organic matter to enter the digester. Combining the two methods, for example, with micro aeration in an anaerobic pretreatment reactor, has been shown to dramatically increase methane yields. Fungal pretreatment involves many fungi particularly white-rot fungi which are best known for their ability to remove environmental pollutants from solid and liquid wastes. These contaminants can obstruct anaerobic digestion in biogas systems and cause problems with slurry or organic manure usage. Many research studies are currently being conducted to use this treatment method for solid waste detoxification prior to anaerobic digestion, while others are being conducted to increase biogas yield using fungal treatment of the raw material. The enzymes that break down the raw material are already present in anaerobic digesters, as they are formed by the anaerobic digester’s microorganisms. To enhance this break down a mixture of enzymes can be added which when observed enhanced the overall activity. These enzymes need the right temperature and pH conditions to operate properly, and when they do, they work more efficiently. When compared to digesters without the addition of enzymes with the same raw material-dependent biogas digesters, the raw materials degrade much more rapidly. Not only better degradability but it was also observed that the biogas production was enhanced by 10-15% by the addition of these enzymes as the pretreatment system. However, the dosage of the enzymes for any particular feedstock needs to be carefully studied and applied as the addition of enzymes without proper study and excess dosage will not be economical. Conclusion: For all anaerobic digestion systems and raw materials to be treated, no single pretreatment technology is sufficient. The various pretreatment technologies outlined above might be more apwww.biogas-india.com
propriate for a specific reactor design or scale, as well as the economic situation of the region or the nature of a specific feedstock and the material’s local availability. Aside from the general benefits and drawbacks described above, the pretreatment method chosen is heavily influenced by the feedstock composition. Combining the right substrate composition with the right pretreatment technology to improve the bioavailability of the substrate is the most difficult task for the pretreatment of biogas substrates. Substrates with a high dry matter content, for example, are ideally suited to milling or extrusion if they don’t contain any stones or metal fragments. Alkali pretreatment is best suited to substrates with high lignin content, as long as chemicals are inexpensive and inhibition can be avoided, such as by diluting inhibitors with untreated substrates. The preceding article offers an overview of how various pretreatment technologies impact lignocellulose. The energy balance and costs are the most critical considerations when choosing a pretreatment technology. As compared to pretreatments with a high energy supply, pretreatments with a low energy demand have a lower effect on the rate of degradation and resulting biogas yield. A method will become uneconomical if the pretreatment is chosen incorrectly. Due to the high investment costs, a correspondingly high increase in gas yield or gas output rate is often expected to make the process financially viable. Finally, the purpose of the biogas plant must be evaluated, and it must be decided if pretreatment is necessary or not. For example, in some locations, the primary objective of the biogas plant is to minimize waste, and the end products are of little interest to the operators; however, in other locations, biogas and organic manure produce considerably more revenue, meaning that the waste is degraded.
Srinivas Kasulla Waste to Energy expert
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Biogas – making what everybody needs from what everybody has Every farm, every village, city, region and country in the world have at least two things in common. The first, organic waste, is due to the simple fact that all humans need to eat. Regardless of whether it is residue from food production like straw, pressed sugarcane, manure from cows, pigs or waste from kitchens like tea leaves and banana peels: the more of us that live in a village or city, the more organic waste is produced. The second is the need for energy. Energy to fuel stoves, cars, buses, trucks or to power lamps, heat homes or industrial processes. Biogas technology solves two problems all countries share by making the perfect nonpolluting, climate neutral energy and eco-fertilizer from the waste accessible at the location. What difference does this technology make? On a small scale like households, schools, hospitals or small farms this means that in addition to turning your own waste into compost/fertilizer, you can now turn it into compost and clean energy. Energy that can fuel stoves or produce electricity for fans, heaters and lamps. Energy at your disposal when you want, since the energy produced is storable. As a “side effect”, you don´t need to spend time fetching firewood, or monwww.biogas-india.com
ey paying for it. Nor get ill from inhaling smoke from your cooking stove a k a “indoor air pollution”. Biogas technology solves those problems too, since the gas burns with a clean, smokeless flame. (World Health Organization estimates indoor air pollution causing 4,3 million premature deaths globally each year, accounting for 6% of all deaths in low-income countries.) Applying this waste-to-value on a larger scale like big farms, paper mills or cities, the technology makes reducing green house gas emissions good business. Investments in liquid waste treatment result in less polluted water bodies as nutrients from waste become fertilizer instead of nurturing algae consuming the oxygen in lakes and seas killing fish and other marine life. Investments in efficient collection and treatment of solid waste reduces leakage of methane from landfills and composting manure. Both investments make economical sense as the waste treatment yields two valuable products: fuel and eco-fertilizer. In addition to this, the process provides the city with a sustainable energy form that outsmarts solar, wind and hydroelectric power in reliability. Biogas Magazine | Edition 16 | 28
Biogas can be produced 24/7, regardless of the sun shining, wind blowing or how much it has been raining or snowing in the mountains. And, as already pointed out: biogas is storable. Example #1. Industrial biogas Swedish branch of global beer brand Carlsberg purifies runoff water from its brewery. In the purifying process, biogas is produced. The biogas is used by the brewery to produce steam, steam that heats water in bottle washing machines and in the brewing process. Benefits of the biogas system includes: clean water, reducing energy costs, less pollution from burning of diesel, less climate emissions from production, increased operational reliability, and less dependency on external power supply/prices. Example #2. Rural biogas 450 dairy cow farm Hagelsrum (featured in 2 minute movie “Dear members of the EU Parliament…”, YouTube) treats manure in an aerobic digester. In three weeks the process converts it into biogas and eco-fertilizer. The biogas is purified into bio-methane, compressed and used in local buses, trucks and cars. Benefits of the system: revenue from increased harvests as the digestion makes nutrients in the manure more accessible to plants in the fields., reduced smell from manure, improving aquatic ecosystems by reduced leakage of nutrients into
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lakes and rivers, reduced costs for fertilizer, increased revenue from fuel sales. Furthermore, Net reduction climate emissions for this example upon combining the effects of avoiding methane leakage from untreated manure and the biomethane replacing fossil fuels in cars is ~128%. Example #3. Urban biogas Swedish capital Stockholm has three sewage treatment facilities. In the water purification process, the organic content of sewage is treated biologically which leads to biogas production. At the most centrally located facility Henriksdal, the biogas is tuned into biomethane, compressed and pipelined to a bus garage 2 km away. At the garage, 140 buses fuel 100% locally produced, no fossil, low emission biomethane. The only effort put in by Stockholmians: use your toilet. If sorted solid organic kitchen waste is added, Stockholm´s entire 2 200 bus fleet could run on locally produced biomethane. Benefits of the system: no methane leakage from waste water treatment, reduced health care costs due to cleaner city air since biomethane buses have low emission levels of NOx and particles, increased reliability of public transport since the system works independently of access to imported, liquid fuels as well as of transmission capacity/prices/sources of electricity (renewable or fossil), better municipal economy
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since the money paid for the biomethane stays in the local economy providing jobs. Making biogas popular – One pillar of our communication philosophy is this: Most people don´t make choices based on what makes most sense technically, they make choices based on sociological structure. If communicated at all, biogas is traditionally only communicated business to business. Tech suppliers selling equipment to producers and distributors. In this setting, it’s a common-belief that decisions on what things to buy, what everyday habits to change, etc. are based on technical knowledge. Example: if I can convince you that it is good for the planet to start sorting your kitchen waste/buy a car that runs on biomethane you will do so. The truth is that what will motivate most people to change habits (or car) is when their friends make those changes/start driving those cars. In reality, if our friends or people we respect do something, we will do it regardless of if it is “good” or not. Choosing between being a planetary guardian and not risking being considered a nut by your friends and family, social respect and patterns wins every time.
ments to the technical “wrapping” of the product traditionally offered in B2B settings. Do you have a hard time following this reasoning? Take a look at any advertising image of a successful product/brand and ask yourself: Does the gorgeous female actor in the ad for watches have PhD in metallurgy? Is George Clooney in commercials for coffee because he is a coffee expert? Why are there often couples or groups of smiling people in ads for a soft drink or beer? A second pillar of our communication philosophy is this: political policy makers and decision makers in business are not isolated from the psychology of “common people”. Do you see the need to be in meetings with high level persons like journalists, policy makers, business people so you can and tell them about biogas? Do you find it hard to get their attention and time? It is. First of all, few people will admit to having holes in their calenders. Secondly, most people definitely prefer avoiding information that will present ideas to them that might lead to re-evaluation of their concept of reality.
(Less for Greta Thunberg. Since she has Asperger´s syndrome her “scientific” analysis of what needs to be done is stronger than what the sociological patterns around her indicate she ought to be doing, namely relate to the climate threat like it is just another field of conversation on the level with what film was on TV last night or what apps are popular) Based of this, Biogas Academy suggests communication that makes habits and consumer choices that are favorable to biogas socially desirable. To achieve this, we have to add new elewww.biogas-india.com
Dr. Jan Rapp MD, Founder Biogas Academy Biogas Magazine | Edition 16 | 30
INPUT Engineering GmbH engineering and industrial representation for India
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The Role of Biodegradable Municipal Waste in The Battle Against Climate Change and Importance for The Biogas Sector
A
ccording to the data furnished by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); approximately 1.3 billion tons of food waste is generated annually on a global scale contributing to about 8% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions which commensurate to 4.4 Gigaton equivalent of CO2 and this value tantamount to 87% of global road transport emissions. If food wastage were a country, it would be the third largest emitting country after China and USA in the world. Almost 40% of food is wasted after it’s harvested even before it makes it to people’s homes, for example 53% of food is wasted along the supply chain in Europe, while for Canada it is 47%.
On 21 April 2021, The European Commission (ECOM) published measures aimed at fostering sustainable investment and steering finance towards the European Green Deal. Under this, as one of the key elements the European Climate Law enshrines the EU’s commitment to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 and the intermediate target of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. Euro-
“Using LCA to evaluate impacts and resource conservation potential of composting: A case study of the Asti District in Italy” based on a study conducted by the Polytechnic University of Turin estimated that the greenhouse gas emissions from composting are just 14% of the same food dumped into landfill and thus composting is one of the most environment friendly recovery solutions for producing raw biogas, biomethane, Bio-CO2, Bio-Hydrogen and animal feed or black soldier fly larvae for separately collected biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) containing food waste from households, public buildings, hotels, grocery stores and other waste sources covered under municipal waste collection system. This shows that if the biodegradable part of municipal waste; which is about 50% and is the largest component of MSW is managed separately, it will make a tremendous contribution to our fight against climate change by reducing the corresponding carbon footprints and thereby creating a financial value with the circular economy approach for sustainable development. Upon close examination of the latest legislative regulations and strategies of the European Union, the importance of waste in combating climate change and its potential opportunities for the biogas sector in the next 30 years can be understood more precisely.
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pean Directive (EU) 2018/851, commonly known as the New Waste Framework Directive (WFD), included in the ‘Circular Economy Package’, mandates the introduction of separate collection of biodegradable municipal waste as on 1 Jan 2024. Updated art. 22 of the WFD, stipulates an obligation for the EU to implement efficient bio-waste collection measures. Quality recovery is a key issue in this regard. The calculation of recovery rates to assess compliance with EU targets (65% “preparation for reuse and recycling” i.e., net recovery including biodegradable municipal waste recovery, by 2035) will have to subtract rejects, which are closely related to impurities included in separated fractions; this puts the emphasis on collection schemes that can ensure high quality of collected materials. Thus, greater impetus at global level is needed for separation, processing and recovery of biodegradable municipal waste. This generates a ‘potential bio-waste tonnage’ which currently is untapped and may become available for subsequent processing. On the other hand, when international best practices are examined, it is observed that facilities incorporating separate management of biodegradable municipal wastes are getting increased total recovery rate in urban solid waste management. In this way, the processability, quality and financial value of dry recyclable wastes which include packaging wastes are also increased because of non-contamination and non-exposure to moisture with biodegradable waste owing to segregated collection. www.biogas-india.com
One of the best city-scale examples is San Francisco, USA. In 2002, San Francisco set a goal of 75% diversion by 2010 and in 2003, it was revised to Zero Waste by 2020. The city’s comprehensive Environment Code, created in 2003, is based on the Precautionary Principle. The city’s Mandatory Recycling and Composting Ordinance, passed in 2009, requires all of San Francisco to separate recyclable materials, compostable materials and landfilled trash. San Francisco implemented an innovative “Fantastic Three”; three stream citywide residential and commercial curb side collection program that includes separate collection of commingled recyclables; compostable materials, including all food scraps and yard trimmings; and any remaining trash in three separate bins with various size and rate options. The city implemented the first and largest urban food scraps composting collection program in the U.S., covering both commercial and residential sectors. San Francisco has collected more than two million tons of food scraps, yard trimmings, and other compostable materials and diverted nearly 80% diversion in 2012 - the highest rate of any major U.S. city. Another factor to be considered in this success is Recology San Francisco Transfer Station; which is the local hub for resource recovery and disposal activities in the city and is a registered construction and demolition debris recycling facility.
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With all this effort, San Francisco became the Greenest City in North America and received a perfect score for resource recovery and recycling category in the Siemens Green City Index. In USA, Seattle also recycled 56.9% of its municipal solid waste in 2017 by managing biodegradable municipal waste separately. The city’s recycling rate has risen to 30.1% since the 1998 low of 26.8%. In this “Biogas Upgrading” example from Europe, which demonstrates that the beneficial outputs to be achieved by separate management of biodegradable waste by municipalities are not limited to composting and raw biogas production and presents a much wider scope in recycling waste into value-added outputs with a circular economy approach; the digestion plant is located on the industrial site of Montello SPA. (Montello, IT) and it handles up to 400.000 ton per year of biomass with a treatment capacity of 6250 m3 per hour of biogas. The biomass used is the separately collected BMW of the Lombardy region in the North of Italy which is divided in 11 administrative provinces and Milan metropolitan city. Owing to the separate management of food wastes in Milan, the recovery rate of urban solid wastes has increased from 34.5% to 48.3% within 3 years. The digestion plant includes a first step of biomass pre-treatment, followed by thermophilic anaerobic digestion.
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The biogas purification plant was built by Tecno Project Industrial Srl. The partially dehydrated raw biogas is then fed into five parallel lines where the purification takes place, each with a capacity of 1250 m3 per hour of biogas. Every line has six purification steps; water scrubbing, desulphurization, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) removal system, compression, coal purification, and membrane separation unit. The purification process concentrates the methane from 59 vol% in the raw biogas to 96.3 vol% in the biomethane. The main CO2/CH4 separation occurs in the membrane section. The separation takes place in a set of three different modules that provide the consecutive passage of each gas stream through two membrane modules, each with a recycle of the waste stream from the second stage. CO2 separates from the incondensable gases (N2, O2, and CH4 ), yielding high purity CO2 (99.9+%). The present case study demonstrates the feasibility to produce food-grade CO2 from raw biogas by an appropriate purification process, starting from anaerobic digestion of biodegradable municipal waste. The fundamental achievement of this work is that the CO2 produced is suitable for the food market, which has the most restrictive quality specifications, and thus suitable for any other market. The produced biomethane, with a purity
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of over 96 vol% is of sufficiently high quality to be introduced into the methane distribution grid and can be used as a biofuel for vehicles. This makes the entire process an outshining example of simultaneous production of sustainable energy in the form of biomethane, and re-use of CO2 instead of its disposal as a waste material. Similarly, in Bristol, England, the first biogas fuel derived bus was integrated into urban transport in 2014. “Bio-bus” emits approximately 85% less greenhouse gases than diesel buses. While the number of “bio-bus” was 22 in 2019, it reached 99 in 2021. The fuel need of this fleet is met from biomethane produced by the valuation of biodegradable wastes managed separately by the local government. The overall benefit is thus twofold, on one hand the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from burying biodegradable wastes are prevented, while on the other hand the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions generating from urban transportation has been achieved through regional recovery activities. Another example is from England, where Biomethane is used as fuel in food waste collection vehicles called “BioBee” in Bath and North East Somerset. 58% of urban solid wastes are recovered with separate management of biodegradable municipal wastes. Thus, the statements regarding the production of hydrogen from biomass and biogas in the report of the European Commission “Hydrogen Strategy for a Climate Neutral Europe” are extremely valuable in assessing the future importance and potential of biogas upgrading. “The priority for the EU is to develop renewable hydrogen (Green Hydrogen), which may also be produced through the reforming of biogas (instead of natural gas) or biochemical conversion of biomass, if in compliance with sustainability requirements. Sustainable biogas may also have a role in replacing natural gas in hydrogen production facilities with Carbon Capture and Storage to create negative emissions.” With regard to bio-hydrogen, Japan is also taking firm steps forward by being the first country to adopt a “Basic Hydrogen Strategy” as early as 2017. This strategy primarily aims to achieve cost parity with competing fuels such as gasoline in the transportation sector or Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in power generation and covers the entire supply chain from production to downstream market applications. Shikaoi Hydrogen Farm which is a hydrogen production facility in Hokkaido, anaerobically digest
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agricultural waste and manure from nearby livestock farms to create a supply of raw biogas. This biogas is upgraded to a purified supply of biomethane. The biomethane is then used as a feedstock to manufacture renewable hydrogen on-site, which generates heat, power and vehicle fuel. Currently in Japan, there are 3,800 hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) vehicles, 91 HFC buses, 250 HFC forklifts and 135 hydrogen refuelling stations. In order to activate this potential of biodegradable municipal waste sustainably, it is essential to manage waste collection activities with Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based smart management applications integrated with IOT solutions. Thus, the target of climate compatible cities will be reached by increasing the recovery rates and reducing the waste transportation distance and fuel consumption by the virtue of operational optimization with spatial & real-time analyzers. Carbon neutrality can be achieved in future with municipalities that manage biodegradable municipal wastes separately with smart management systems based on GIS.
Umut Aydın Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy Expert (Project and Business Manager in World Bank, UNDP, Local Development Agencies Funded Projects and Local Authorities)
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Bio-Liquefied Natural Gas (Bio-LNG) as the Next Aviation Fuel Bio-LNG is a sustainable version of LNG produced by anaerobic digestion of organic matter such as food or animal waste. EU production of bio-LNG is set to increase tenfold by 2030 and is to be used together with LNG esp. to reduce CO2 emissions. European Union’s LNG heavy-duty transport is expected to reach 280,000 units by 2030. Upon using a 40% bio-LNG mix with LNG, it can help reduce the CO2 emissions from those trucks by 55% as per the industry groups gathered last year in November in London. The same logic can be extended to the aviation fuel industry, where the ambitious target in emission reduction is one of the crucial factor to look for advanced and sustainable fuel; BioLNG could be an answer as it is a net zero carbon fuel. However, its implementation in aviation has technical challenges that need to be addressed. Several studies are already done to assess its application in civil aviation using different simulation and design framework integrated with an LNG tank sizing module and an aircraft weight estimation module. Bio-LNG holds valid in its
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composition when compared with LNG. One of the key findings by Rompokos et. al. was that using LNG as an aviation fuel reduces mission fuel mass and CO2 emissions by more than 15% (performance advantages are calculated using a Boeing 737–800 aircraft). Bio-LNG will undoubtedly have a higher figure. Depending on the biomethane-to-LNG blend ratio (cryogenic blend), the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology team from Cryogenic Liquid Methane Aircraft (CLiMA) in a competition emphasized that it could result in a 20-97% net reduction in carbon dioxide emission. A major challenge in achieving this hybrid fuel propulsion system is efficient storage of relatively low-density bio-LNG, to either restrict or promote boil-off when required. One promising configuration includes the use of in-wing box tanks and under wing fuel tank pods. Bio-LNG is a scalable model, although at present we can only talk about its availability. At scale, it can be a cost-competitive fuel, if all positive
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externalities of the bio-LNG value chain are considered. India will need to really look for integrate more feedstock such as ligno-cellulosic agricultural residues including paddy straw. Creation of a proper market for Bio-LNG by facilitating trading of volumes will need to be facilitated by MoPNG. It will be necessary to investigate the possibilities of using LNG infrastructure for Bio-LNG.. Bio-LNG in Europe has already gained traction in the bunker space e.g., with Dutch LNG supplier Titan earlier received an EU grant to develop and expand a bio-LNG supply chain by introducing three bunker barges in Zeebrugge, Rotterdam and Lubeck. Before the pandemic France’s Air
Liquide announced plans to build two biomethane plants in Italy, which will be accompanied by one filling station for the supply of bio-LNG. India, being an important country to adhere to the commitments of Paris agreement, is already looking for biogas technologies to make a significant contribution to these targets and goals. Considering Bio-LNG will further boost India’s prospect. It also has a very strong contribution to make the economy circular in real terms. Hope Bio-LNG finds a near term potential as aviation fuel!
Prof. P. K. Mishra Vice Chancellor, Jharkhand University of Technology, Ranchi www.biogas-india.com
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