Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
16.4 Specific network connection costs in cents
/kWh as a function of
€
feed-in capacity in Nm
3
/h (source: Urban, 2010).
treatment equipment increasingly offer all-in-one systems including
desulfurization, upgrading, off-gas treatment, drying, feed-in station, heat
recovery system for heating the digester, etc. Because most treatment
methods are well engineered, no dramatic cost reductions should be
expected in the foreseeable future. The trend is towards optimized coupling
of the different steps, high industrial quality, automation and increased
energy efficiency. The primary target is to reduce costs, electricity
consumption and greenhouse gas emissions (methane losses), and develop
synergies between the biogas plant, upgrading and injection. All leading
suppliers offer off-gas treatment facilities for reducing methane emission
and heat recovery systems for heating the digester.
The debate over optimization and energy efficiency potential associated
with gas network connection is substantially influenced by controversial
discussions among the suppliers of gas and gas network operators. These
include, for example, the intensive debate and assessment of the availability of
the feed-in facilities (redundancy), the minimum quality requirements
(minimummethane content vs. cost of gas conditioning) and the economically
reasonable size of a facility (limitation of investment and expansion costs).
Optimization of investment costs and plant availability (minimization of
lost profit) strongly depends on the volume of biomethane produced and the
pressure level. Substantial cost reductions (both investment and operating
costs) can be obtained by eliminating compressor redundancy. This is
particularly meaningful, where small biomethane volumes are fed into end
distribution networks. However, this would be at the expense of lower
Search WWH ::
Custom Search