Development, Operation, and Future Prospects for Implementing Biogas Plants: The Case of Denmark

Abstract

This chapter elaborates the different concepts of biogas technology understood in the Danish context. It emphasizes how energy from production of biogas is distributed, either as biogas to regional combined heat and power plants (CHP) or as district heating (DH) to small-scale local networks. The chapter provides an overview of the political situation and a historical outline of the development of the Danish biogas sector; it also presents the biogas process and operational aspects (e.g., the production of biogas, use of manure, and industrial waste as gas boosters). Advantages of biogas technology are emphasized: its capacity as a renewable energy and GHG-avoiding technology, and as a waste processing and environmental technology. It is argued that biogas can provide a future platform for the use of household waste and other types of organic materials (gas boosters) to enhance gas yield, as is the case of biomass from nature conservation, straw, deep litter, etc. Further, the chapter discusses whether or not biogas technology can create new job opportunities in rural areas that lack development. Economic results from operating centralized biogas plants in Denmark now also stress the importance of developing new gas boosters to support a further development of the biogas sector. The chapter ends with a discussion of new trends in biogas production, for example, how new organizational models can be designed as well as how the use of alternative boosters—like blue biomass—can be applied. Finally, biogas is discussed in the global and European contexts and emphasis is given to the need for digesting organic waste in combination with manure to provide valuable nutrients to farmland and also for enhancing the energy services provided by the biogas technology.