IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v87y2010i11p3305-3321.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluation of energy efficiency of various biogas production and utilization pathways

Author

Listed:
  • Pöschl, Martina
  • Ward, Shane
  • Owende, Philip

Abstract

The energy efficiency of different biogas systems, including single and co-digestion of multiple feedstock, different biogas utilization pathways, and waste-stream management strategies was evaluated. The input data were derived from assessment of existing biogas systems, present knowledge on anaerobic digestion process management and technologies for biogas system operating conditions in Germany. The energy balance was evaluated as Primary Energy Input to Output (PEIO) ratio, to assess the process energy efficiency, hence, the potential sustainability. Results indicate that the PEIO correspond to 10.5-64.0% and 34.1-55.0% for single feedstock digestion and feedstock co-digestion, respectively. Energy balance was assessed to be negative for feedstock transportation distances in excess of 22Â km and 425Â km for cattle manure and for Municipal Solid Waste, respectively, which defines the operational limits for respective feedstock transportation. Energy input was highly influenced by the characteristics of feedstock used. For example, agricultural waste, in most part, did not require pre-treatment. Energy crop feedstock required the respect cultivation energy inputs, and processing of industrial waste streams included energy-demanding pre-treatment processes to meet stipulated hygiene standards. Energy balance depended on biogas yield, the utilization efficiency, and energy value of intended fossil fuel substitution. For example, obtained results suggests that, whereas the upgrading of biogas to biomethane for injection into natural gas network potentially increased the primary energy input for biogas utilization by up to 100%; the energy efficiency of the biogas system improved by up to 65% when natural gas was substituted instead of electricity. It was also found that, system energy efficiency could be further enhanced by 5.1-6.1% through recovery of residual biogas from enclosed digestate storage units. Overall, this study provides bases for more detailed assessment of environmental compatibility of energy efficiency pathways in biogas production and utilization, including management of spent digestate.

Suggested Citation

  • Pöschl, Martina & Ward, Shane & Owende, Philip, 2010. "Evaluation of energy efficiency of various biogas production and utilization pathways," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(11), pages 3305-3321, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:87:y:2010:i:11:p:3305-3321
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306-2619(10)00179-0
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Poeschl, Martina & Ward, Shane & Owende, Philip, 2010. "Prospects for expanded utilization of biogas in Germany," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(7), pages 1782-1797, September.
    2. Sawayama, Shigeki & Inoue, Seiichi & Tsukahara, Kenichiro & Yagishita, Tatsuo & Minowa, Tomoaki & Ogi, Tomoko, 1999. "Anaerobic treatment of liquidized organic wastes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 1094-1097.
    3. Mæng, H. & Lund, H. & Hvelplund, F., 1999. "Biogas plants in Denmark: technological and economic developments," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 64(1-4), pages 195-206, September.
    4. Neef, H.-J., 2009. "International overview of hydrogen and fuel cell research," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 327-333.
    5. Bruno, Joan Carles & Ortega-López, Víctor & Coronas, Alberto, 2009. "Integration of absorption cooling systems into micro gas turbine trigeneration systems using biogas: Case study of a sewage treatment plant," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(6), pages 837-847, June.
    6. Hilkiah Igoni, A. & Ayotamuno, M.J. & Eze, C.L. & Ogaji, S.O.T. & Probert, S.D., 2008. "Designs of anaerobic digesters for producing biogas from municipal solid-waste," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(6), pages 430-438, June.
    7. Demirbas, Ayhan, 2009. "Political, economic and environmental impacts of biofuels: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(Supplemen), pages 108-117, November.
    8. Heller, Martin C & Keoleian, Gregory A & Mann, Margaret K & Volk, Timothy A, 2004. "Life cycle energy and environmental benefits of generating electricity from willow biomass," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 29(7), pages 1023-1042.
    9. Cherubini, Francesco & Bargigli, Silvia & Ulgiati, Sergio, 2009. "Life cycle assessment (LCA) of waste management strategies: Landfilling, sorting plant and incineration," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(12), pages 2116-2123.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Raslavičius, Laurencas, 2012. "Renewable energy sector in Belarus: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(7), pages 5399-5413.
    2. Akbulut, Abdullah, 2012. "Techno-economic analysis of electricity and heat generation from farm-scale biogas plant: Çiçekdağı case study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 381-390.
    3. Edwards, Joel & Othman, Maazuza & Burn, Stewart, 2015. "A review of policy drivers and barriers for the use of anaerobic digestion in Europe, the United States and Australia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 815-828.
    4. Grima-Olmedo, C. & Ramírez-Gómez, Á. & Alcalde-Cartagena, R., 2014. "Energetic performance of landfill and digester biogas in a domestic cooker," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 301-308.
    5. Strzalka, Rafal & Schneider, Dietrich & Eicker, Ursula, 2017. "Current status of bioenergy technologies in Germany," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 801-820.
    6. Ayodele, T.R. & Ogunjuyigbe, A.S.O. & Alao, M.A., 2017. "Life cycle assessment of waste-to-energy (WtE) technologies for electricity generation using municipal solid waste in Nigeria," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(C), pages 200-218.
    7. Joselin Herbert, G.M. & Unni Krishnan, A., 2016. "Quantifying environmental performance of biomass energy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 292-308.
    8. Stürmer, Bernhard & Novakovits, Philipp & Luidolt, Alexander & Zweiler, Richard, 2019. "Potential of renewable methane by anaerobic digestion from existing plant stock – An economic reflection of an Austrian region," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 920-929.
    9. Chandra, R. & Vijay, V.K. & Subbarao, P.M.V. & Khura, T.K., 2011. "Performance evaluation of a constant speed IC engine on CNG, methane enriched biogas and biogas," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(11), pages 3969-3977.
    10. Munir, M.T. & Mohaddespour, Ahmad & Nasr, A.T. & Carter, Susan, 2021. "Municipal solid waste-to-energy processing for a circular economy in New Zealand," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    11. Sevigné Itoiz, E. & Gasol, C.M & Farreny, R. & Rieradevall, J. & Gabarrell, X., 2013. "CO2ZW: Carbon footprint tool for municipal solid waste management for policy options in Europe. Inventory of Mediterranean countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 623-632.
    12. Li, Wen-Chao & Li, Xia & Zhu, Jia-Qing & Qin, Lei & Li, Bing-Zhi & Yuan, Ying-Jin, 2018. "Improving xylose utilization and ethanol production from dry dilute acid pretreated corn stover by two-step and fed-batch fermentation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 877-885.
    13. Tabata, Tomohiro & Okuda, Takaaki, 2012. "Life cycle assessment of woody biomass energy utilization: Case study in Gifu Prefecture, Japan," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 944-951.
    14. Shafie, S.M. & Mahlia, T.M.I. & Masjuki, H.H., 2013. "Life cycle assessment of rice straw co-firing with coal power generation in Malaysia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 284-294.
    15. Lund, Henrik & Clark II, Woodrow W., 2008. "Sustainable energy and transportation systems introduction and overview," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 59-62, June.
    16. Fan, Mei-Qiang & Liu, Shu-sheng & Zhang, Yao & Zhang, Jian & Sun, Li-Xian & Xu, Fen, 2010. "Superior hydrogen storage properties of MgH2–10 wt.% TiC composite," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 3417-3421.
    17. Shi, Yi & Deng, Yawen & Wang, Guoan & Xu, Jiuping, 2020. "Stackelberg equilibrium-based eco-economic approach for sustainable development of kitchen waste disposal with subsidy policy: A case study from China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    18. Vélez, Fredy & Segovia, José J. & Martín, M. Carmen & Antolín, Gregorio & Chejne, Farid & Quijano, Ana, 2012. "A technical, economical and market review of organic Rankine cycles for the conversion of low-grade heat for power generation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 4175-4189.
    19. Jacopo Zotti & Andrea Bigano, 2019. "Write circular economy, read economy’s circularity. How to avoid going in circles," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 36(2), pages 629-652, July.
    20. Cudjoe, Dan & Wang, Hong & zhu, Bangzhu, 2022. "Thermochemical treatment of daily COVID-19 single-use facemask waste: Power generation potential and environmental impact analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:87:y:2010:i:11:p:3305-3321. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.