Biomethane to bring on the decarbonisation of the industry and the circular economy
Sustainability is already one of the most significant factors of competitiveness in the majority of markets.
By Nuno Delgado Pinto
Member of the Executive Comittee and Head of Biomethane, REGA Energy
The pressing urgency to enact energy transition, driven by the climate emergency together with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine having a dramatic impact on the energy sector, has catapulted the decarbonisation of the economy to the top of the European and US public policy agenda, supported and encouraged by growing public opinion, particularly among the younger population.
The three pillars of sustainability — environmental, economic and social — are also essential to any corporate strategy, since sustainability is demanded by all parties involved along the value chains, and especially by the end customers, and increasingly by financiers.
Industrial sectors, and in particular those with greater energy needs owing to the high temperatures required by their processes (and which are therefore major consumers of fossil natural gas), are now having to urgently implement an effective decarbonisation policy to substitute natural gas with alternative solutions that foster an effective reduction in their CO2 emissions.
As is already the case in many European countries, biomethane will in Portugal be one of the key players in the process of decarbonising “hard-to-abate” industries. This important role arises from the fact that biomethane is 100% renewable, is a perfect substitute for natural gas, with an equivalent CH4 percentage, and can therefore be carried and distributed without limitation by the gas network, and hence can be used by industry with no need to make any process adaptations, in other words, without requiring additional investments.
Denmark’s example
Denmark is a prime example. In 2022 biomethane represented around 30% of the gas in circulation in the Danish gas network, and this figure will rise to 40% in 2023, on the path towards total decarbonisation of its network by 2030.
The foreseeable shortage over time (owing to the limitations of the raw material), compared with the potential demand, is perhaps the only reason why biomethane cannot be named as the solution for the total decarbonisation of industry and the remaining natural gas consuming sectors. Nevertheless, biomethane is right now clearly the quickest and least expensive solution to replacing natural gas, after all process electrification capacity has been exhausted.
Both the anaerobic digestion of organic matter and the purification into biomethane of the biogas generated during digestion, are definitely mature technologies, implemented at an industrial scale throughout Europe, with over 1500 units in operation and an annual growth of around 20%. It is, therefore, a “ready-to-go” solution.
The primary energy source of biomethane is biowaste, which, in tandem with the sun and wind, forms the trifecta of renewable sources capable of decarbonising the planet, although it is the only one of these which is not intermittent.
This makes it a renewable gas with a guarantee of origin and proof of sustainability, and depending on the origin of the organic matter, it could be carbon neutral or even carbon negative. All of the above shows that biomethane is the quickest and most effective way of meeting the industry’s decarbonisation goals, by mitigating or even cancelling out (in cases of total replacement) the risks associated with the expected rising costs of carbon permits.
The raw material used for biomethane is animal and vegetal biomass (food leftovers, agricultural waste and livestock effluent). This prevents methane (which, as a greenhouse gas, is 21 times more powerful than carbon dioxide) from being released into the atmosphere and produces a renewable gas and fertilizer/biostimulant for agricultural use.
Recycling organic waste
In practice, producing biomethane promotes a suitable channeling and recycling of organic waste, thereby minimising its impact on the air, soil and water, and releasing its energy potential and creating a clean digestate that is rich in nutrients and organic matter, to be returned to the soil as agricultural fertiliser.
Producing this renewable gas also brings irrefutable environmental gains: at agricultural, livestock and agro-industrial holdings, as a result of appropriate treatment of the waste and effluent generated, and of cutting the use of chemical fertilisers.
Biomethane production units thus take care of two cycles: the gas cycle, both by effectively cutting greenhouse gas emissions and producing a renewable gas; and the nutrient cycle, by recovering them and returning them to the soil.
The social gains are also hugely important, and simultaneously enhance rural areas where most of this waste is produced (and so often mishandled), and generate employment and strengthen populations in some of the most demographically disadvantaged areas, thereby contributing towards better territorial and social cohesion in Portugal. Within the framework of European Union policies, biomethane is currently regarded as a fast way of decarbonising industry and even as a means of encouraging the reindustrialization of Europe (since it is an endogenous resource) which will reinforce the continent’s energy security, by reducing imports and reliance on Russia and other potentially unstable regions.
This is an excellent example of the circular economy promoting sustainability in the region in which each project operates, and across the entire planet, by cutting global emissions.
Focusing on biomethane is an embodiment of the principle Think Globally, Act Locally.
