Parallel Session 3 – Biogas and Biomethane

Wednesday 23 October 2024, 13.00-14.30 BRT

Moderator: Jan Liebetrau (Rytec, Germany)

Speakers:

• Dong Renije (China Agricultural University, China): Why biogas matters? – Agricultural biowastes in a great cycle
• Bernhard Drosg (BOKU University, Austria): Digestate processing – how to produce a high-quality fertilizer
• Peter Kornatz (DBFZ, Germany): Utilization of organic waste in Metropolitan areas – Example Bogotá: Challenges and Prospects of Organic Waste Utilization in a Latin American Metropolis
• Laurent Spreutels (NRC, Canada): Combined production of biogas and hydrochar from food waste
• Masayuki Fukushima (Furukawa Electric, Japan): Development of Green LPG Technology from Biogas

Moderator and speakers (L-to-R): Jan Liebetrau, Dong Renije, Bernhard Drosg, Peter Kornatz, Laurent Spreutels, Masayuki Fukushima.

Selected key messages:

• Biogas systems are circular systems in terms of nutrients, energy, water, carbon and organic matter. They have multiple roles: production of renewable energy; GHG emission mitigation (avoidance of methane emissions); production of organic fertilizer (instead of high carbon footprint synthetic fertilizers); soil improvement through the organic content in digestate; provision of renewable carbon dioxide; and biowaste treatment including sanitation.
• There are several ways to process digestate into a high value fertilizer. Most digestate processing approaches are only feasible (from a economic point of few) in large-scale biogas plants. The main reason for investing in digestate processing technology is often the lack of available agricultural area for land application. In many cases where land availability is not an issue, direct land application of digestate without treatment / processing remains the best (and economic) solution.
• Industrial bio-waste producers around metropolitan areas offer an ideal starting point for establishing biogas and composting facilities due to their nearly unmixed waste streams. By processing organic waste, these systems could provide biomethane for public transport while reducing the volume of waste sent to landfills, avoiding GHG emissions and air pollution.
• Large scale farms without access to the gas grid could convert their biogas to green LPG which is easier to store and transport. The concept is being tested in Japan.

Co-production of biogas and digestate in an anaerobic digestor (from presentation Bernhard Drosg).