Methane emissions in biogas production - The Biogas: Science, Production and Applications - page 244

11
Methane emissions in biogas production

MATHI EU DUMONT , NL Agency, The Netherlands,
LUCHI EN LUNING , Sustec, The Netherlands,
I SMAI L YI LDI Z , Ecofys, The Netherlands and
KLAAS KOOP , Royal Haskoning, The Netherlands

DOI: 10.1533/9780857097415.2.248

Abstract: Biogas is produced by anaerobic digestion of manure, energy
crops (mainly maize), wastewater treatment sludge and organic waste.
Biogas is a renewable energy source. Sustainability requirements are
increasingly important. As a greenhouse gas, methane is 25 times
stronger than carbon dioxide, so small leakages of biogas have a strong
negative effect on the total greenhouse gas performance of the energy
production pathway. This chapter covers an overview from the literature
concerning methane emissions from different steps in the biogas
production chain with reference to relevant selected articles.

Key words: greenhouse gas, methane, emissions, sustainability, literature
search, biogas, green gas.

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11.1 Introduction
A total of 16.5 billion Nm 3 biogas, equal to 8.3MTOE (million tonnes of oil
equivalent) biogas (97 TWh), was produced in Europe in 2009. 1 This biogas
is produced by anaerobic digestion (AD) of manure, energy crops (mainly
maize), wastewater treatment sludge and organic waste. Most of the biogas
is fed to co-generation sets, consisting of an engine-generator system that
converts the biogas to renewable electricity and heat. An increasing
proportion of the biogas is upgraded to natural gas quality and fed to
natural gas grids or is used as transport fuel.
Biogas is a renewable energy source. Sustainability requirements are

1 Source: http://www.eurobserv-er.org. 8.3 million tonnes oil equivalent biogas equals
16.5 billion Nm 3 biogas, based on 41.868GJ per ton oil and 21MJ/Nm 3 biogas.