IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v17y2024i13p3264-d1428047.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Contribution of Biogas to the Electricity Supply Chain: An Italian Life Cycle Assessment Database

Author

Listed:
  • Gabriella Fiorentino

    (ENEA, Division Resource Efficiency, Department for Sustainability, 00196 Rome, Italy)

  • Amalia Zucaro

    (ENEA, Division Resource Efficiency, Department for Sustainability, 00196 Rome, Italy)

  • Antonietta Cerbone

    (ENEA, Division Resource Efficiency, Department for Sustainability, 00196 Rome, Italy)

  • Alessandro Giocoli

    (ENEA, Laboratory Analysis and Modelling of Critical Infrastructures and Essential Services, Division Tools and Services for Critical Infrastructures and Energy Communities, Department Energy Technologies and Renewable Sources, 00196 Rome, Italy)

  • Vincenzo Motola

    (ENEA, Laboratory Techniques and Processes for Biorefineries, Division Bioenergy, Biorefinery and Green Chemistry, Department Energy Technologies and Renewable Sources, 00196 Rome, Italy)

  • Caterina Rinaldi

    (ENEA, Division Resource Efficiency, Department for Sustainability, 00196 Rome, Italy)

  • Simona Scalbi

    (ENEA, Division Resource Efficiency, Department for Sustainability, 00196 Rome, Italy)

  • Giuliana Ansanelli

    (ENEA, Division Resource Efficiency, Department for Sustainability, 00196 Rome, Italy)

Abstract

The transition towards energy efficiency measures and green energy sources is strongly fostered by the European Union. Italy is among the EU countries that have heavily invested in renewable energy sources, more than doubling their share in gross final energy consumption. In particular, biogas has a pivotal role in the generation of electricity and can also be upgraded into biomethane, with a higher and more stable energy content. In this study, the sustainability of the supply chain of electricity from biogas in Italy has been thoroughly analyzed in the broader framework of the ARCADIA (Life Cycle Approach in Public Procurement and Italian LCA Database for Resource Efficiency) project. The environmental assessment, carried out by means of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), provides a two-fold perspective. Firstly, it allows us to identify the main hotspots of the investigated system, such as the cultivation of dedicated crops, and to provide useful insights for improving environmental performance. Furthermore, a focus on the modeling of the dataset related to the production of electricity from biogas within the Italian electricity mix represents a step ahead in the LCA research, filling the lack of site-specific databases for reliable LCA results.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriella Fiorentino & Amalia Zucaro & Antonietta Cerbone & Alessandro Giocoli & Vincenzo Motola & Caterina Rinaldi & Simona Scalbi & Giuliana Ansanelli, 2024. "The Contribution of Biogas to the Electricity Supply Chain: An Italian Life Cycle Assessment Database," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-24, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:13:p:3264-:d:1428047
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/13/3264/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/13/3264/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ciro Florio & Gabriella Fiorentino & Fabiana Corcelli & Sergio Ulgiati & Stefano Dumontet & Joshua Güsewell & Ludger Eltrop, 2019. "A Life Cycle Assessment of Biomethane Production from Waste Feedstock Through Different Upgrading Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-12, February.
    2. Ardolino, F. & Cardamone, G.F. & Parrillo, F. & Arena, U., 2021. "Biogas-to-biomethane upgrading: A comparative review and assessment in a life cycle perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    3. Anna Kożuch & Dominika Cywicka & Krzysztof Adamowicz & Marek Wieruszewski & Emilia Wysocka-Fijorek & Paweł Kiełbasa, 2023. "The Use of Forest Biomass for Energy Purposes in Selected European Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-21, August.
    4. Forte, Annachiara & Zucaro, Amalia & Faugno, Salvatore & Basosi, Riccardo & Fierro, Angelo, 2018. "Carbon footprint and fossil energy consumption of bio-ethanol fuel production from Arundo donax L. crops on marginal lands of Southern Italy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 222-235.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Luís Pedro Vieira Vidigal & Túlio Augusto Zucareli de Souza & Roberto Berlini Rodrigues da Costa & Luís Filipe de Almeida Roque & Gustavo Vieira Frez & Nelly Vanessa Pérez-Rangel & Gabriel Marques Pin, 2025. "Biomethane as a Fuel for Energy Transition in South America: Review, Challenges, Opportunities, and Perspectives," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-36, June.

    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. Bidart, Christian & Wichert, Martin & Kolb, Gunther & Held, Michael, 2022. "Biogas catalytic methanation for biomethane production as fuel in freight transport - A carbon footprint assessment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    2. George Mallouppas & Angelos Ktoris & Elias Ar. Yfantis & Sotiris Petrakides & Marios Drousiotis, 2025. "A Lifecycle Analysis of a Floating Power Plant Using Biomethane as a Drop-In Fuel for Cold Ironing of Vessels at Anchorage," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-20, January.
    3. Matteo Galloni & Gioele Di Marcoberardino, 2024. "Biogas Upgrading Technology: Conventional Processes and Emerging Solutions Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-29, June.
    4. Svetlana Zueva & Andrey A. Kovalev & Yury V. Litti & Nicolò M. Ippolito & Valentina Innocenzi & Ida De Michelis, 2021. "Environmental and Economic Aspects of Biomethane Production from Organic Waste in Russia," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-8, August.
    5. Johannes Full & Silja Hohmann & Sonja Ziehn & Edgar Gamero & Tobias Schließ & Hans-Peter Schmid & Robert Miehe & Alexander Sauer, 2023. "Perspectives of Biogas Plants as BECCS Facilities: A Comparative Analysis of Biomethane vs. Biohydrogen Production with Carbon Capture and Storage or Use (CCS/CCU)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-16, June.
    6. Shanling Zhang & Sheng Jiang & Hongda Li & Peiran Li & Xiuping Zhong & Chen Chen & Guigang Tu & Xiang Liu & Zhenhua Xu, 2025. "Current Status and Reflections on Ocean CO 2 Sequestration: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-28, February.
    7. Sylwia Myszograj, 2019. "Biogas and Methane Potential of Pre-Thermally Disintegrated Bio-Waste," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-12, October.
    8. Rasheed, Rizwan & Tahir, Fizza & Yasar, Abdullah & Sharif, Faiza & Tabinda, Amtul Bari & Ahmad, Sajid Rashid & Wang, Yubo & Su, Yuehong, 2022. "Environmental life cycle analysis of a modern commercial-scale fibreglass composite-based biogas scrubbing system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 1261-1271.
    9. Alberto Benato & Chiara D’Alpaos & Alarico Macor, 2022. "Possible Ways of Extending the Biogas Plants Lifespan after the Feed-In Tariff Expiration," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-23, October.
    10. Apoorva Upadhyay & Andrey A. Kovalev & Elena A. Zhuravleva & Dmitriy A. Kovalev & Yuriy V. Litti & Shyam Kumar Masakapalli & Nidhi Pareek & Vivekanand Vivekanand, 2022. "Recent Development in Physical, Chemical, Biological and Hybrid Biogas Upgradation Techniques," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-30, December.
    11. Guerin, Turlough F., 2022. "Business model scaling can be used to activate and grow the biogas-to-grid market in Australia to decarbonise hard-to-abate industries: An application of entrepreneurial management," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    12. Karin Meisterl & Sergio Sastre & Ignasi Puig-Ventosa & Rosaria Chifari & Laura Martínez Sánchez & Laurène Chochois & Gabriella Fiorentino & Amalia Zucaro, 2024. "Circular Bioeconomy in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona: Policy Recommendations to Optimize Biowaste Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-22, January.
    13. Mehta, Neha & Anderson, Aine & Johnston, Christopher R. & Rooney, David W., 2022. "Evaluating the opportunity for utilising anaerobic digestion and pyrolysis of livestock manure and grass silage to decarbonise gas infrastructure: A Northern Ireland case study," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 343-357.
    14. Tian, Hailin & Wang, Xiaonan & Lim, Ee Yang & Lee, Jonathan T.E. & Ee, Alvin W.L. & Zhang, Jingxin & Tong, Yen Wah, 2021. "Life cycle assessment of food waste to energy and resources: Centralized and decentralized anaerobic digestion with different downstream biogas utilization," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    15. Naquash, Ahmad & Agarwal, Neha & Nizami, Muhammad & Nga, Nguyen Nhu & Aziz, Muhammad & Lee, Moonyong, 2024. "Unlocking the potential of cryogenic biogas upgrading technologies integrated with bio-LNG production: A comparative assessment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 371(C).
    16. Negro, Viviana & Noussan, Michel & Chiaramonti, David, 2025. "Alternative options for biogas-to-energy: A comparison of electricity and biomethane generation based on the real operation of a production site," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 377(PD).
    17. Miloš Gejdoš & Martin Lieskovský, 2024. "Overview of Health and Safety Risks in the Process of Production and Storage of Forest Biomass for Energy Purposes—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-18, February.
    18. George Mallouppas & Elias Ar. Yfantis & Constantina Ioannou & Andreas Paradeisiotis & Angelos Ktoris, 2023. "Application of Biogas and Biomethane as Maritime Fuels: A Review of Research, Technology Development, Innovation Proposals, and Market Potentials," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-25, February.
    19. Lombardi, Lidia & Francini, Giovanni, 2020. "Techno-economic and environmental assessment of the main biogas upgrading technologies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 440-458.
    20. Wang, Changbo & Wang, Ze & Feng, Meili & Liu, Jinliang & Chang, Yuan & Wang, Qunwei, 2025. "Assessing the triple-bottom-line impacts of crop straw-based bio-natural gas production in China: An input‒output-based hybrid LCA model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 318(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:13:p:3264-:d:1428047. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.