What is Biogas?

Biogas is generated from the anaerobic digestion of organic matter. Biogas can be produced from various sources: organic waste from refuse tips (landfill gas), communal waste water (sewage gas), industrial/commercial organic waste as well as from agricultural waste and specific energy crops.

What Does Biogas Contain?

Biogas is made up primarily of Methane and Carbon Dioxide, but can also contain small quantities of Nitrogen, Hydrogen, Hydrogen Sulphide, and even Oxygen. With processing biogas can be cleaned up to make a substitute for natural gas which can therefore be pumped to homes and businesses for cooking and heating etc.

Case Studies of Countries using Biogas

In Sweden, 25% of all energy use is derived from biomass. In Linköping, Sweden’s fifth biggest city, all the buses and garbage trucks run on biogas. They also have a biogas powered train line and some private taxis run on biogas. Last year, the Swedish government converted more than 700,000 litres of ‘confiscated alcohol’ into biofuel, which otherwise are poured down the drain by the customs officials, as a standard procedure.

Germany is the largest biogas producer. By the end of 2007, over 3,700 agricultural biogas plants were in operation, producing a total capacity of 1,270 MW of electricity.

In the UK we have been more than a bit slow to catch on to Biogas. Currently Landfill gas makes up a quarter of British renewable energy, the ESA says, giving electricity to some 900,000 households. The rest comes from wind, solar, water, geothermal and a tiny share from anaerobic digestion. This however only makes up 2% of Britain’s energy needs from renewable sources.

Biogas-fuelled vehicles can reduce carbon emissions by between 75% and 200% compared to fossil fuels, but there is virtually no refuelling infrastructure in Britain. Germany has installed 800 natural gas filling stations in the last three years.

Marks and Spencer’s intends to trial using waste food to help heat some of their 500 stores using anaerobic digestion to generate biogas, this combined with other sources is aimed at making their stores carbon neutral within 5 years.

Biogas offers another means of producing green fuel for transportation and electricity for the home and industry. Both Sweden and Germany have shown that Biogas can be a viable option for reducing carbon emissions. Combined with other renewable energy sources Biogas could help Britain reach its targeted figure of reducing 80% of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.