[Graeme]

Production and use of biogas in Europe: a survey of current status and perspectives

ABSTRACT

The article presents the results of a survey carried out in the European Union (EU) regarding the production and use of biogas from different sources. The EU is a world leader in the field of biogas, with a production of 10,085.8 ktoe y-1 (in 2011) in terms of primary energy, accounting for about 60% of the world's production. Germany is the EU country that has made the greatest progress in this field with a production of as much as 5,067.6 ktoe y-1, of which a share of 4,414.2 ktoe y-1 results from anaerobic digestion (and co-digestion) processes of selected organic matrices. UK is the second largest producer with 1,764.8 ktoe y-1, determined for 84% by landfill biogas and the remainder by biogas produced in sewage treatment plants (sludge digestion). Italy (1,095.7 ktoe y-1) and France (349.6 ktoe y-1) follow in the list of the largest producers. The trend of biogas production, in accordance with the action lines of the EU, is characterized by a progressive increase from anaerobic digestion (and co-digestion) of selected organic matrices and a progressive decrease from landfills. Production in 2020 is estimated at 28.0 Mtoe y-1 in accordance with the EU Renewable Energy National Plans. The uses of biogas are mainly directed to the production of electricity and heat. There are, however, several cases of conversion of biogas into biomethane injected into the natural gas grids or used as biofuel in vehicles. In this last direction, worthy of note are a few north-central EU countries which have implemented an effective policy to promote the use of biomethane for public and private transport.

scielo

Vitruivan crowd-sourcing funding for novel biofuel from sewage treatment bio-solids

Vitruvian Energy is trying to crowd-fund its novel biofuel EEB (ethyl 3-ethoxybutyrate). EEB is produced from organic waste, including (and initially) sewage treatment bio-solids—the leftover, dirt-like organic material that remains after a community’s wastewater is treated. With 20 days left in the campaign, the company has raised $3,500 of a targeted $200,000.

EEB has higher energy content than ethanol: 26-29 MJ/L compared to 23. It can be used as a fuel additive to displace and clean up existing fossil fuels, and to lower their carbon footprint. Vitruvian has performed five years of research and development on EEB including combustion tests at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Testing showed that blending EEB with diesel significantly reduces soot emissions, similar to how ethanol reduces emissions when blended with gasoline. EEB can also be blended with gasoline or burned to produce electricity.

EEB is produced in a complex reaction mixture along with at least 2 high-value chemicals used as intermediates in several manufacturing sectors; the resulting biofuel is a mix of products from esterification of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) with ethanol. This process when combined with a related technology to produce alcohols from complex feedstock can realize an integrated biorefinery that sustainably and cost effectively converts low-value, high-volume feedstocks into a suite of bioproducts and biofuels.

The technology has received a California Energy Commission (CEC) grant to develop the process for production of EEB (also called E-xtra by Vitruvian) from WWTP (waste water treatment plant) biosolids and a National Science Foundation (NSF) SBIR Phase 1 grant to characterize EEB as a fuel additive/oxygenate for both gasoline and diesel.

Vitruvian has modeled production costs at $2.58-3.73 per gallon. The WWTP economics as a biorefinery become very favorable with an estimated potential net profit of $2.2 million per year at a 200,000 person WWTP when the crude product is further separated into purified chemicals, these are then sold and the chemical sales’ revenues are used to subsidize the cost of the biofuel.

greencarcongress

[Graeme]

EPA’s Biogenic Carbon Framework: A New Chapter For Biomass

When the Clean Power Plan, the EPA’s nationwide carbon reduction plan that sets specific emissions targets for each state, was released June 18, the EPA and the Agency’s Science Advisory Board had not yet completed their work on the carbon accounting of biogenic emissions. Important questions regarding how the EPA should model biogenic emissions and thus how biomass power could play a role in reducing overall carbon emissions were left unresolved.

As I have said in past columns in Biomass Magazine, biomass energy plays an important role in the mix of energy sources helping to reduce U.S. GHG emissions. The White House, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board, and the international scientific community have all recognized that sustainable biomass can be an important source of low-carbon energy, particularly waste biomass and residues from sustainable forestry management and forest products manufacturing.

These materials provide consistent, baseload, renewable sources of energy and should be given a clear pathway for utilization by the EPA in any rulemaking regarding biogenic emissions. Biomass energy is recognized in nearly every state that has a Renewable Portfolio Standard. Failure to adequately credit the carbon mitigation attributes of low-carbon sustainable biomass in the final rule could result in state compliance plans that exclude this clean energy technology, the potential closure of biomass facilities, and a lost opportunity for greater GHG reductions. But, due to an onslaught of litigation from groups opposed to biomass, we have been left on the edge of our seats for the better part of four years to see how the EPA would decide to count biogenic carbon emissions.

Luckily, we no longer have to wonder. Nov. 19, the Agency released the Revised Framework for Assessing Biogenic CO2 Emissions from Stationary Sources and its accompanying memorandum to states from acting assistant administrator McCabe. Together, the Framework and the EPA’s implementation of it support a clear, science-based approach that provides regulatory certainty while deferring important policy implementation to the states.

Dec. 1, BPA filed comments with the EPA on the CPP, which can be found on our website. While the big picture—that the EPA recognizes the value of biomass as a renewable energy source that should contribute to the nationwide reduction of carbon emissions—is very positive, there are still questions that we need answered.

We welcome the EPA’s determination that waste-derived materials, biogas and forest-derived industrial by-products are “likely to have minimal or no net atmospheric contributions of biogenic CO2 emissions, or even reduce such impacts, when compared with an alternate fate of disposal.” We have asked the EPA to clarify in the final plan that nonforestry cellulosic materials—like urban wood, wood-derived construction and demolition debris, and railroad ties—be specifically included in the definition of “waste-derived feedstocks” since these organic materials do not cause land use changes and do not deplete carbon stocks

biomassmagazine

[Keith_McClary]

Vitruivan crowd-sourcing? Sounds like extra-terrestrial cannibalism.

The headline was a typo, it's actually Vitruvian, which, I learn, is what this guy is called:

[Graeme]

UK Green Investment Bank funds several recent biomass projects

U.K. Green Investment Bank has made several biomass investments in recent months, including investments into a waste wood renewable energy facility, an energy-from-waste treatment plant, the installation of biomass heating on a poultry farm and a biomass boiler installation at a whiskey distillery. These recent investments join many others as GIB passes its £5 billion milestone ($7.8 million).

GIB has invested into the U.K.’s green-energy sector for the past two years, and as of Oct. 30 has funded 37 projects producing 13.1 terawatt hours (TWh) of renewable energy, equivalent to energy consumption in 3.1 million U.K. homes, and preventing 1.5 million tons of waste from going to landfill sites each year.

biomassmagazine

Heating the Midwest to Co-Locate With the International Biomass Conference & Expo in 2015

BBI International, owners and organizers of the International Biomass Conference & Expo reported this week that Heating the Midwest, an important regional conference focusing on biomass derived thermal energy will be co-located with this year's conference.

"We couldn't be more excited," said Tim Portz, BBI International's Vice President of Content. "We've been fans and attendees of Heating the Midwest since it started and are really looking forward to having it take place alongside the International Biomass Conference & Expo.

Heating the Midwest will be held on Monday, April 20th at the Minneapolis Convention Center and will bring together leaders of the woody and agricultural biomass industry interested in supporting and expanding the use of biomass for heat and combined heat and power in the Midwest.

marketwired

[Graeme]

SBP accepts biomass producers as applicants for certification

Sustainable Biomass Partnership recently announced that five certification bodies have been accepted as applicants and are now able to progress towards achieving SBP-approved status. The applicant certification bodies are: BM Trada, Bureau Veritas Latvia, Control Union, NEPCon and National Science Foundation.

The SBP Framework of standards and processes enables producers of woody biomass to demonstrate that they source their raw material responsibly and that it complies with the legal, regulatory and sustainability requirements applicable to European power generators. It also facilitates the carriage of energy and carbon data along the supply chain to the end-user. Under the SBP Framework the biomass producer, typically a pellet mill, is certified by a SBP-approved certification body and is responsible for ensuring that its feedstock meets the SBP standards.

To become SBP-approved, a certification body must first provide evidence that it meets the SBP requirements regarding its existing accreditations and it must also demonstrate that it has sufficient resources and competence to manage the certification program.

The next step for an applicant certification body is to satisfy SBP of its competence to undertake an audit of a biomass producer against the SBP standards in a real-life situation. The first assessments are expected early next year.

biomassmagazine

[Graeme]

National Geographic Explorer Culhane Shows Garbage-Energy Isn't Science Fiction

Year after year, Culhane has been one of the most riveting storytellers of the extended Explorer family that National Geographic Society brings together at its Washington, D.C. headquarters each June. You’ll become a believer if you spend time listening to T.H. extol the little-known virtues of in-sink garbage disposals, or show photos of renewable energy outposts he’s catalogued in Nepal. (See related, “On Mount Everest, Seeking Biogas Energy in a Mountain of Waste.)

Even if you spend most of your day reporting and writing on the stymied global effort to grapple with climate change, you’ll be filled with hope after Culhane spills some crumpled cans and foil scrap and tangle of wires on your desk, and demonstrates how junk like this could light a village. (See “How Aluminum Cans Can Power a Village.”)

One of Culhane’s passions has been making methane fuel from garbage and other waste through the process of anaerobic digestion. No, you don’t need fusion as Doc Brown used in the Back to the Future movies. All you need is the right set-up with well-understood technology, and the kind of ubiquitous micro-organisms that have been among the earliest living “bugs” on Earth.

Culhane’s nonprofit, Solar CITIES, has installed biogas digesters from Brazil to the Philippines, with Cairo and Baghdad in between. (See related, “Iraq’s Green Zone Gets Greener With Biogas,” and “Cairo Slums Get Energy Makeover.”)

Recently, Culhane has been working closer to home. An email reached him at a New Jersey port where he and colleagues were taking delivery of biogas digester parts from the Chinese firm, Puxin. They packed them into a “rickety cow trailer” and drove them to a family farm west of Philadelphia, where they’re launching a holiday drive to install food-waste-to-fuel tech in homes and communities. (Here’s a longish video on what they’re up to:)

theenergycollective

[Withnail]

National Geographic Explorer Culhane Shows Garbage-Energy Isn't Science Fiction

Year after year, Culhane has been one of the most riveting storytellers of the extended Explorer family that National Geographic Society brings together at its Washington, D.C. headquarters each June.

Graeme should be banned from the forum for doing nothing but spamming press releases.

[radon1]

And the rest should also be banned for doing nothing but posting posts.