D35

Deliverable D 35

Brochure on "Biogas utilization chains"

Lead participant: DBI

At many biogas facilities, the generation of electricity takes place directly on-site in a block heat and power plant. The incidental heat generated by the combined heat and power units is often not used to its full extent due to a lack of consumers for it. This is not an optimal situation because, from an efficiency point of view, there is not a full utilization of the facilities. If the biogas is generated in a place where there is a corresponding demand for heat, a demonstrable increase in the degree of efficiency can be accomplished. Because the operating materials for biogas manufacturing (liquid manure, biological waste, renewable raw materials, etc.) have small energy densities it is not reasonable, for economic reasons, to transport them over long distances to places with high heating demands. A solution to this problem is the region separation of the manufacture and utilization of biogas. The transportation of the gas between the two different locations will be undertaken by the means of a gas grid. The advantage is there will be an increase in overall energy efficiency, however, additional processing and supply technology will be required as well as a gas grid to which it can be supplied. The investment and operating costs for such an endeavour are also increased.

This manual describes the technical possibilities for biogas processing and biogas supply as well as giving a brief mention to the nature of the costs involved. Different processing routes are described and various deployable technologies will be both introduced and compared.