Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.3390/en12071321
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Multi-indicator assessment of innovative small-scale biomethane technologies
Author Bienert, K.; Schumacher, B.; Rojas Arboleda, M.; Billig, E.; Shakya, S.; Rogstrand, G.; Zieliński, M.; Dębowski, M.
Source Titel Energies
Year 2019
Department BIOENERGIE
Volume 12
Issue 7
Page From art. 1321
Language englisch
Keywords biomethane; pre-treatment; anaerobic digestion; biogas upgrading; greenhouse gas emissions; costs for biogas upgrading
Abstract Innovative small-scale biogas plants, including upgrading solutions to affordable biomethane, are necessary to tap into the spatially distributed potentials of organic waste. This research identified and assessed novel small-scale technologies before market-entry maturity in the key process steps of the biomethane chain. We assessed technical, economic, and ecological indicators, and compared them to larger-scale references. The assessment included 7 pre-treatment, 13 digester, and 11 upgrading systems all at the small scale. We collected recently available data for Europe (2016–2018) for small-scale technologies (<200 m3; raw biogas per hour). In the literature we did not find such a comprehensive assessment of actual European small-scale innovative non-market-ready technologies for the production of biomethane. Several conclusions were drawn for each of the individual process steps in the biomethane chain, e.g., the economic indicator calculated for the upgrading technologies shows that the upgrading costs, for some of them, are already close to the larger-scale reference (about 1.5 €ct/kWh raw biogas). Furthermore, biomethane production is absolutely context-specific, which dramatically limits the traditional way to evaluate technologies. Hence, new ways of integration of the technologies plays a major role on their future R&D.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=21818
Bienert, K., Schumacher, B., Rojas Arboleda, M., Billig, E., Shakya, S., Rogstrand, G., Zieliński, M., Dębowski, M. (2019):
Multi-indicator assessment of innovative small-scale biomethane technologies
Energies 12 (7), art. 1321 10.3390/en12071321