Assessment of feedstocks for biogas production, part II—Results for strategic decision making

Abstract

Biogas is a biofuel that can contribute to more renewable and local energy systems. From a feedstock perspective there is a great biogas potential in Sweden, but many biogas producers face challenges and are struggling with profitability. Among the many influencing factors, the choice of feedstocks (biomass) for producing biogas and biofertilizer is of strategic importance. Within the Biogas Research Center (BRC) research project has been ongoing for four years, involving researchers, biogas and biofertilizer producers, agricultural organizations and others. The main aim has been to develop a method to assess the suitability of feedstock for biogas and biofertilizer production, and to apply this method on a few selected feedstocks of different character. This project is presented in two companion articles, of which this is the second. While the first article is focused on the developed multi-criteria method, this article present assessment results for ley crops, straw, farmed blue mussels and food waste. These results clarify how the method can be applied and highlight barriers, drivers and opportunities for each feedstock. Comparisons are also made. The results indicate that biogas production from food waste and ley crops is the most straightforward, and for straw and farmed blue mussels there are more obstacles to overcome. For all of them, the dynamic and very uncertain policy landscape is a barrier. In the final section, some conclusions about the method and its application are drawn, combining the information form both articles (part I & II).