Biogas production and biomethane upgrading opportunities

Abstract

As a member state of the European Union (EU), Latvia has undertaken to introduce measures to reduce the negative consequences of climate change, as stated in the European Green Deal climate neutrality strategy. In order to tackle the challenges identified in the European Green Deal, one must reach an equilibrium between the production and the absorption of greenhouse gases (GHG) by 2030. The EU goal is to achieve a 55% reduction in GHG emissions by 2050, as compared to 1990. It is also planned to make future human activity more climate-neutral, which means saving resources, optimising energy consumption, recycling waste into new products, using agricultural products, including food, to their full extent, without losses. Significant changes in the key economic sectors of member states are to take place in accomplishing the EU climate neutrality goals. Recycling of waste is an integral component of circular economy. Biogas reactors make it possible to efficiently recycle biological waste, producing biogas. Biogas is a resource suitable for generating electric power and heat; while refining biogas, one can produce biomethane, to serve as an alternative to currently used types of fossil fuels. The goal of this study is to analyse the possibility of manufacturing biomethane from organic waste, through the use of biogas plants that receive funding via the mandatory procurement system in Latvia. The study revealed that at least half of the biogas plants, if repurposed for the manufacture of biomethane, would be able to generate EUR 70.2 million in revenue within a year, assuming a biomethane price of EUR 100 per MWh-1, thus fully compensating any income not received through mandatory procurement funding.