A discussion of biogas, biomethane and biohydrogen

Professor Jerry D Murphy, IEA Bioenergy Leader Task 37 (Energy from Biogas) and Director SFI MaREI Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine, has been recently interviewed by Biogas Channel, an Italian web channel dedicated to biogas and biomethane across all applications, on the benefits that biogas, biomethane and biohydrogen can bring to our planet and to our local communities.

“Biogas is not comparable to a wind turbine. You put up a wind turbine, you get electricity. When you make biogas, you are typically treating a waste product. You are improving water quality, reducing fugitive emissions in the atmosphere and you are producing energy which can be electricity or heat or transport fuel.”

“We have to consider that biogas is part of an anaerobic digestion process that also produces fertilizer that also reduces the use of fossil fuel in making fertilizer.”

“Biogas is dispatchable and it can facilitate intermittent renewable electricity. Biogas can be a biological battery when there is too much electricity on the system. Hydrogen from that electricity can double the methane output in an anaerobic digester.”

“Biogas fits into different processes and is a facilitator of other technologies”.