Biogas Technology and Biomass

Biogas Technology and Biomass
1 Introduction to bioenergy .............................................................................................................. 4

1.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 4
1.2 Sustainability aspects ....................................................................................................................... 5
2 Biogas technology .......................................................................................................................... 7

2.1 Anaerobic digestion ( AD)?............................................................................................................... 7
2.2 Composition of biogas and explosion range .................................................................................. 10
2.3 Biogas feedstock ............................................................................................................................ 12
2.4 Biogas systems ............................................................................................................................... 16
2.5 Household digesters....................................................................................................................... 17
2.6 Covered lagoon biogas systems ..................................................................................................... 20
2.7 Agricultural biogas plants............................................................................................................... 25
2.8 Industrial biogas plants .................................................................................................................. 32
2.9 Sludge treatment plant .................................................................................................................. 36
2.10 Solid waste – dry fermentation ...................................................................................................... 37
2.11 Other types of biogas plants .......................................................................................................... 39
2.12 Biogas potential of different substrates ........................................................................................ 42
3 Utilisation .................................................................................................................................... 43
3.1 Utilisation of biogas and biogas digestate ..................................................................................... 43
3.2 Biogas utilisation ............................................................................................................................ 47
3.3 Upgraded biogas ............................................................................................................................ 49
3.4 Power-to-gas .................................................................................................................................. 50
3.5 Comparison of biofuels .................................................................................................................. 51
3.6 Use of biogas digestate .................................................................................................................. 52
3.7 Site selection .................................................................................................................................. 54
4 Biogas market development ......................................................................................................... 55

4.1 Biogas production in the EU ........................................................................................................... 55
4.2 Market development in Germany.................................................................................................. 56
4.3 Biogas companies in the EU ........................................................................................................... 57
5 Project development .................................................................................................................... 58

5.1 Project schedule ............................................................................................................................. 58
5.2 Resource assessment ..................................................................................................................... 59
5.3 Permitting issues ............................................................................................................................ 60
6 Specific risk and risk mitigation .................................................................................................... 61

6.1 Sensitivity of profitability ............................................................................................................... 61
6.2 Risk evaluation and mitigation-project endogenous risk .............................................................. 62
6.3 Risk evaluation and mitigation – project endogenous and exogenous risks ................................. 70
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7 Project finance ............................................................................................................................. 78

7.1 What types of projects are eligible? .............................................................................................. 78
7.2 Structure of project finance ........................................................................................................... 79
8 Project due diligence .................................................................................................................... 81

8.1 Main parameters influencing profitability ..................................................................................... 81
9 Solid biomass - feedstock, technology, operation .......................................................................... 87

9.1 Challenges of biomass project ....................................................................................................... 87
9.2 Biomass to energy .......................................................................................................................... 88
9.3 Solid biomass.................................................................................................................................. 91
10 Introduction................................................................................................................................. 95
10.1 Biomass quality – quality types ...................................................................................................... 95
10.2 Biomass quality – quality types ...................................................................................................... 96
10.3 Biomass costs ................................................................................................................................. 97
10.4 Biomass feedstock - straw ............................................................................................................. 99
10.5 Conclusions .................................................................................................................................. 102
11 Biomass to energy technology ................................................................................................... 103

11.1 Biomass combustion systems ...................................................................................................... 103
11.2 Examples ...................................................................................................................................... 104
11.3 Technical concept – parameters to be defined ........................................................................... 106
11.4 Important contracts - fuel ........................................................................................................... 108
12 Solid biomass ............................................................................................................................. 109

12.1 Low – tech solution : efficient biomass cook stoves .................................................................... 109
12.2 Solid biomass................................................................................................................................ 110
12.3 Biomass combustion – steam turbine.......................................................................................... 111
12.4 Gasification/ Pyrolysis of biomass................................................................................................ 114
ReGRID Glossary ................................................................................................................................ 116
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1 Introduction to bioenergy
1.1 Introduction
The field of application for bioenergy is wide. The primary energy source “biomass” can be converted into
solid, liquid and gaseous energy carriers. The combustion of these energy carriers can produce heat, cold,
electricity, mechanical power or a combination of these. For example, a combined heat and power plant
(CHP) generates electricity with a combustion engine and a generator while the waste heat is used in other
ways. The CHP unit can be operated with a gaseous biomass energy carrier (biogas) or with a liquid biomass
energy carrier (plant oil, biodiesel). Thus, the conversion process from biomass to energy can be very
complex. In contrast to other renewable energy sources (wind, PV), a large or very large chain of processes
must be applied to gain the expected energy yield from the biomass resource. These processes include
physical and chemical or biochemical steps that might be very elaborate and expensive, at the same time
very sensitive. The conversion of biomass to usable energy demands the application of several
technologies, from which a wide spectrum of risks emerges.
In comparison to other renewable energies, one of the biggest advantages of bioenergy is the capability of
storage. The energy can be easily stored with a high energy density for a much longer time than wind or
solar energy, for example. The production of energy does not directly depend on solar radiation or wind
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conditions. This can be utilised to balance the differences between energy supply and demand. The
capability of storage with high energy density is also an important feature for biofuels in the sense of their
mobility.
Examples of conversion technologies from biomass to energy are: CHP units with liquid, gaseous and solid
biomass (biogas, plant oil, wood, syn-gas, etc.), Biofuels for transport (biodiesel, bioethanol), biogas, syn-
gas, and pyrolysis.
1.2 Sustainability aspects
Because of its complexity, the environmental balance of bioenergy is not comparable to those from other
sources of renewable energies. The production of biomass captures the same amount of the carbon
dioxide that is released during combustion. Regarding only these facts, bioenergy could be considered as
CO2 neutral. However, for the estimation of a complete carbon footprint, there are many more aspects
which have to be included within the boundaries of the system analysis. Depending on the process,
different production steps can cause greenhouse gas emissions. For instance, crops for biofuels might have
to be cultivated, harvested, pre-treated, converted and transported.
Changes in land use (drying of wetlands, deforestation, etc.) to gain culture land is one of the main issues
affecting the sustainability of bioenergy. Thus the affects of land use changes on the environmental balance
of bioenergy are difficult to estimate. The use of fertilisers for the cultivation of energy crops is a diffuse
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source of other greenhouse gases (GHG) like N2, affecting the environmental balance of biomass energy
carriers.However, if all steps of production and conversion are taken into account and executed with
consideration sustainability aspects, bioenergy can help to reduce GHG emissions. Besides the impact on
climate change, there are other aspects that have to be considered for sustainable production of
bioenergy. Biodiversity is one important aspect to consider when bioenergy production is based on energy
crops. Nutrient losses in the soil might be reduced by crop rotation, for instance. The cultivation of energy
crops may be done on agricultural marginal land which has not been used for crop production before – this
is the case in Germany and other countries. Turning marginal land into agricultural productive land (e.g.
from grassland into fields) decreases the biodiversity and increases the need for fertilisers on that land.
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2 Biogas technology
2.1 Anaerobic digestion ( AD)?
Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a complex microbiological process in the absence of oxygen used to convert the
organic matter of a substrate into biogas.As a microbiological process, anaerobic digestion is a natural
process caused by certain bacterial populations that are present in the natural environment. This process
occurs frequently in several types of ecosystems and has been technologised over several years of
technological development to become an industrial process, first for the treatment of organic wastes
(waste water treatment plants) and further for the conversion of biomass to energy. Typical examples of
natural AD are the decomposition of organic matter in the lower layers of warm lakes or lagoons,
decomposition of buried organic matter and digestion of cud in cattle. The process of AD includes several
steps involving the participation of different types of bacteria, which requires different environmental
conditions to live and develop. As a result of this, the microbiological process of AD is very sensitive to
changes in environmental conditions, like temperature, acidity, level of nutrients, etc. As a result of the AD
process a gas is produced, which is partially combustible, since one of its main components is methane. The
methane is the produced energy carrier that can be used and converted to other forms of energy
(electricity, heat, etc.). The other main component of the produced gas (biogas) is CO2.
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The most important environmental condition for AD is the absence of oxygen, since the population of
bacteria able to produce methane cannot survive in presence of oxygen.
Another important factor is the environmental temperature. The microbiological process needs specific
temperatures for an optimum chemical reaction. There are three groups of microorganisms with different
temperature optima. The psychrophilic organisms with a temperature range for survival of 10 to 25°C have
a low degradation performance and gas production. Another group of microorganisms are the mesophilic
bacteria. They live and develop in a temperature range from about 35 to 38°C. An even higher temperature
of 55 to 58°C requires the process to take place with thermophilic bacteria. Although biogas production is
possible in all three of the temperature ranges, the time needed to produce the same amount of biogas
varies widely with different temperatures. This “hydraulic retention time” (HRT) is reached between 50 and
60 days for psychrophilic bacteria, the mesophilic organisms need between 25 and 35 days and the
thermophilic between 12 and 25 days. A further important factor is the acidity of the environment shown
by the pH value. The bacteria need a pH value environment in a neutral range between 6.6 to 8 otherwise
they die. Normally, the pH value adjusts itself naturally, if the environmental conditions are constant.
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Economic operation of a biogas plant is not possible in the psychrophilic temperature range. A better cost-
efficiency is given with the operation of a biogas plant in a mesophilic range with relatively high biogas
yields per unit of time. This process is the most common one. The thermophilic process is also used in
commercial biogas plants. Through this some patogenous microorganisms can be eliminated from the
substrate, but it also requires a larger amount of thermal energy.
Anaerobic digestion, or the biogas production process, is separated into four main steps. In the first step,
hydrolysis, the organic polymers of the feedstock (fats, proteins, carbon hydrates) are split into monomers
(fatty acids, sugar, amino acids). In the second step, acidogenesis, lower fatty acids like acetic acid,
propionic acid and butanoic acid emerge from the monomers. In addition, small amounts of lactic acids and
alcohol are produced. During this step, the acidity of the substrate (pH value) increases. Within the
following step, acidogenesis, these acid products are transformed into acetic acids, hydrogen and carbon
dioxide. In the last step of the process, methanogenesis, bacterial synthesis using carbon dioxide and
hydrogen produce methane. Unlike in sewage gas plants, the major part of the methane comes from the
hydrogen pathway with syntrophic acetate oxidation. The minor part emerges from splitting acetic acids.
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The two first steps of the process can take place at pH values between 4.5 and 7.5 (with an optimum
between 4.5 and 6.3). The second two steps are more restrictive, with a pH value between 6.8 and 7.5.
As may be seen, the acidity of the substrate mixture increases and decreases during the process. In a biogas
plant, it is very important to reduce the production of acids, which can be done by reducing to a minimum
the daily amount of biomass fed into the plant. Regarding the process steps, there are two types of biogas
plants: in the single-stage biogas plant, all process steps take place in the same reactor. In two-stage plants,
the first two steps take place in small reactors and then the hydrolysed material is fed into the main
digester. The advantage of this separating is that each step can take place in optimal conditions, which
leads to a better yield. A disadvantage can include the higher investment and operation costs.
2.2 Composition of biogas and explosion range
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Biogas produced by anaerobic digestion is a mixture of several gases. The most important part of the biogas
is methane. It is the energy carrier of the biogas and has a caloric value of around 10 kWh/Nm³. The
percentage of volume of methane in biogas varies between 50 to 72% depending on the type of substrate
and its digestible substances such as carbohydrates, fats and proteins; fibres are not digestible. The second
main component of biogas is carbon dioxide. Its composition in biogas reaches between 25 and 50% of
volume. Other gases present in biogas are hydrogen sulphide, nitrogen, hydrogen and steam. Methane
concentration can be measured by infrared or thermal conductivity sensors. This parameter is also an
indicator of the performance of the biological process of anaerobic digestion. Normally, if the process
begins to disrupt, the concentration of methane will start to decrease, since the population of bacteria also
decrease rapidly. For the operation of CHP units with biogas, a minimum concentration of methane of 40 to
45% is needed.
The concentration of methane and CO2 are correlated. An increase of CO2 concentration might indicate an
imbalance of the mass flow rates in the digestion process.
It is very important to reduce the concentration of hydrogen sulphide in the biogas. This gas is very
corrosive and in the presence of water might react to sulphuric acid. This can be reached through
biological or chemical desulfurization.
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A high percentage of nitrogen is able to inhibit the formation of methane. Providing that the time period is
up to one year, microorganisms can adapt to high nitrogen concentrations. Thus, sudden changes in
nitrogen concentration will cause destruction of methanogen bacterial population. The suitability of the
hydrogen concentration in providing information on interferences in the biogas process is controversial.
Though measuring is possible with electrochemical sensors. The last relevant component of biogas is
steam.
The measurement of the components is also important for explosion prevention. Methane concentration
has to be very low at 4.4 to 16.5%. In addition, there has to be a minimum of 12% oxygen. The percentage
of inert gas, like carbon dioxide and nitrogen, has to be lower than 86%.
The closed gas room of a reactor (the space between the substrate and its gas storage roof) has normally a
much higher methane concentration and no oxygen. Therefore, there is no danger of explosion within the
reactors. The most typical explosion hazard can be found through biogas leaks along the storage roofs, as
well as other parts of equipment that might have construction or maintenance deficiencies.
2.3 Biogas feedstock
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The field of application for anaerobic digestion is very wide. Many different types of feedstock can be used
for biogas production and these can be roughly divided into two groups relating to their origin: residual
and waste materials and energy crops.
Among the residual substrates one can find more liquid types of wastes, like cattle manure, sewage sludge,
several types of industrial waste (starch, oil mills, alcohol, etc.), as well as other solid biomass wastes, like
the organic fraction of municipal solid wastes, agricultural wastes, animal wastes, etc.
Energy crops are defined agricultural products that are cultivated exclusively for their use and conversion
into energy. The most typical energy crops are maize for biogas or bioethanol, canola for plant oil or
biodiesel, sugar cane for bioethanol, etc.
In Germany, the substrates used for almost half of the total production of 24 billion cbm biogas per year
are energy crops. Because of the high energy yields per hectare and good suitability for fermentation,
maize is the most used substrate in Germany. Other relevant crops are grain, grass and sugar beet.
Renewable raw materials, but not energy crops, include landscaping products with a share of 1.6%. The
other half of biogas production in Germany is based on residual and waste materials. Used agricultural
residues or sub products are catch crops and not commercial parts of crops. They make up 15.4% of the
yearly biogas production. Residues of livestock farming are manure and slurry, mostly from cows, pigs and
fowl.
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Concerning climate protection, the use of manure and slurry is especially important. Since the storage of
manures produces large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, the capture and combustion of the
produced methane reduces the greenhouse gases and odour emissions on a relevant scale. Additionally,
sewage sludge of waste water treatment plants can also be used to produce biogas. The share of sewage
gas in Germany is 3.8 %.
Other types of feedstock used in Germany are several types of solid waste materials. Organic waste coming
from households or industry and retail are also being used in biogas plants for energy purposes. These kind
of substrates require a very intensive and costly pre-treatment for separation and conditioning of the
wastes. This is the main reason for the relatively low utilisation rate of wastes in the production of biogas.
Another source of biogas from solid wastes comes from landfill. The methane produced during
decomposition of the organic fraction of landfilled wastes is captured and transported through a pipeline
system to a combustion system, usually a CHP unit, producing electricity and partially heat. lignin parts like
wood, sawdust, dried leaves, prunings, rice husks, etc. are not suitable for anaerobic digestion.
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The technology used and their operation plays an important role in biogas productivity. That said, the most
important limiting factor is the composition of the substrate.
The most important factor for the energetic use of biogas is the methane concentration. This depends
strongly on the composition of the substrate. All organic matters, in general long-chained carbohydrate –
fats, proteins and carbohydrates, can be digested and turned into biogas. While the anaerobic digestion of
pure carbohydrates produces biogas with a methane concentration between 50% and 55%, the digestion of
proteins produce methane content between 70 to 75%. The methane concentration in biogas from
anaerobic digestion of pure fats can reach values between 68 to 73%.
A quick method to estimate the biogas productivity of a substrate consists in the use of these values and
the rough composition of the substrate, using known values of the percentage (%) of fats, proteins and
carbohydrates. This method is known in Germany as the WEENDER analysis or Feeding stuff analysis.
According to this method, the amount and composition of biogas is given roughly by the following figures:
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Type of material Biogas productivity Methane concentration

( l/kg of organic dry matter) (Vol.%)
Proteins 600 - 700 70 - 75
Fats 1000 - 1250 68 - 73
Carbohydrates (digestible) 700 – 800 50 - 55
2.4 Biogas systems
There are different types and sizes of biogas systems. The smallest that have been used for a very long time
in human history are household biogas digesters. These are characterized by low construction costs and
simple operation. These kinds of systems have been used for centuries in isolated areas of countries like
China, India, Sri Lanka, Kenya and other countries of the global south, using substrates from small
agricultural activity, as well as human wastes (manure and sanitary wastes).
Another type of low-cost solution is the covered lagoon system. Although this type of biogas system
operates at a large-scale, its specific costs are relatively low compared to other more industrialized types of
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biogas plants. In these cases, the systems are designed to treat more dissolved organic matters, such as
some types of industrial or agro-industrial waste water. A variation of these systems is the technologised
covered lagoon in which stirring mechanisms are included. A third type of biogas system is an industrial
biogas plant. In this case, the biogas is produced in industrial-like installations including large reactors and
auxiliary systems, like piping, stirring, circulation, gas cleaning and handling, as well as monitoring and
control systems. A typical example of this kind of biogas plant is an agricultural biogas plant (for agricultural
residues and energy crops), waste to energy plants (for digestible organic solid wastes) and a biogas system
for the treatment of sewage sludge in waste water treatment plants. The biogas is produced from various
biomass substrates and the gas itself is usually used in a CHP engine to generate electricity and heat.
Commonly the electricity is fed into the electricity grid, whereas the heat is used wherever there are
sufficient heat sinks. The sales of the electricity and the heat produce the major income of a biogas plant.
2.5 Household digesters
Household biogas systems are very common in several countries of the global south. It represents a low-
cost alternative for the energetic use of certain waste streams. This kind of biogas system is suitable for the
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treatment of substrates with a lower content of solids, such as animal and human wastes (manure,
excrement, etc.) and it is not suitable for the organic fraction of solid wastes (household wastes).
The functional principle, as well as their construction, is very simple. A buried tank is used as a reactor. The
substrate (mainly human and animal organic wastes) is loaded through a lateral feeding pipe, which is
connected to a small feeding pit on top. Through the difference of static pressure, the substrate is
“injected” into the reactor. Through the anaerobic digestion of the wastes, biogas is produced and
conducted through pipes into the house. Simultaneously, the biogas produced presses part of the digested
or partially digested material into a second tank and into an intermediate phreatic level, in which the
digestate is kept for later use as a fertiliser. The produced biogas is used by the families for cooking and
lighting purposes. The manure of one cow is sufficient for the operation of a 2 m³ biogas reactor.
After a certain time, the tank will be filled with non-digestible materials (e.g. sand) and it will either be
opened and cleaned, or it will be shut down and replaced by a new reactor.
Typical construction materials are clay for the reactor and certain types of plastic for the pipelines. One of
the main advantages of their use lies in the improvement of the hygiene in isolated areas, as well as the use
of a less contaminant fuel, since smoke from wood combustion within habitation rooms is one of the main
sources of contamination and environmental diseases in developing and under developed areas.
Another advantage of this type of biogas system is the cost-effectiveness of using renewable energy
sources. Approximately, the construction costs of this kind of systems could reach around US$260. The
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major part of the required materials is available on-site. Furthermore, there is generally plenty of local
experience with this kind of system.
Due to its simple construction, there is no need for further equipment, such as stirring devices, pumps, etc.
Because of this reason, the operation life of such systems could reach 25 years. Further, because of its
underground construction and the absence of ducts or conducts in the gas room of the reactor (e.g. for
agitators), these kinds of systems demonstrate a high level of safety. Due to their small scale, possible
accidents have mostly minor consequences.
The most important disadvantage of this kind of biogas system is the necessity of maintenance. Since the
waste is being fed into the reactor by hand (mostly with help of tools or minor equipment) and since the
substrate in the reactor tends to build up a hard layer on the surface, the maintenance and operation of
the reactor and the continuous feeding require a relatively high amount of work. The constant flow of the
gas depends on the quality and continuity of the operational efforts. Such types of biogas reactors need to
be operated well otherwise the biogas production will stop.
Nevertheless, after a period of five years, the reactor must be opened and cleaned from hard materials and
minerals. Due to corrosion processes produced by higher concentrations of hydrogen sulphide in the
biogas, the operation life of these reactors could decrease dramatically.
Household biogas systems can be found in several regions of the world. The experience in China might be
interesting to consider.
According to estimations, in China there are over 7.5 million household anaerobic digestion systems, most
of them using cattle and human wastes, such as manure and excrement. By comparison, there are around
750 large- and medium-scale industrial biogas plants operating in the country. The Chinese authorities
operate a network of rural biogas service centres, providing infrastructure necessary to support
dissemination, financing and maintenances of biogas systems. India is another example country where
there are support mechanisms for this type of biogas system, with about three million of household biogas
plants installed around the country. Other examples include Nepal, Sri Lanka, Kenya and some countries in
South America.
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2.6 Covered lagoon biogas systems
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Another type of biogas system with lower investment costs is the covered lagoon. This type of technology
will be mostly used for the treatment through anaerobic digestion of liquid wastes with higher organic
solved loads. The total solid content is limited to 5 to 7%. The most typical substrates suitable for this kind
of technology are liquid manure, palm oil effluents, effluents from starch or from production plants.
The origins of this technology can be found in the use of lagoons for the disposal of liquid wastes in the
agricultural industry in developing countries. In areas where space is not a limiting factor, the use of this
technology is widespread. The lagoon is constructed on site, in many cases without any isolation layer at
the bottom. In that way, the lagoon will be filled with large quantities of effluent, which will be treated in a
combination of aerobic and anaerobic processes.
Within the upper layers of the lagoon, dissolved oxygen and microorganisms help to partially decompose
the dissolved organic matter. Thus, through precipitation and decantation of solids, a bottom layer of
organic matter will be built. Through the aerobic decomposition of the organic matter and the consequent
consumption of the dissolved oxygen, as well as the building of a bottom layer (active settled solids), an
anaerobic environment will be created in which the decomposition of the organic matter will take place. As
a consequence, large quantities of methane will be produced and released to the atmosphere, contributing
strongly to global warming.
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In recent times, the technology of the covered lagoon in single agricultural industries, motivated by the
trading mechanisms of the Kyoto protocol on climate change, started to be adapted so as to cover the
disposal lagoons with layers of hermetic sheets to capture methane and trade the generated CO2 credits
(methane has a 23 times higher greenhouse gas effect than CO2 and is therefore much more contaminant
than CO2). As a result, the technology for the anaerobic digestion in covered lagoons experienced a quick
development in to the so-called technologised covered lagoon. In this case, some technical components in
order to improve the anaerobic digestion within the lagoon were developed (stirring installation through
circulating pipes and pumps, sludge removal through suction pipeline grids, etc.). Storing effluents with
organic loads in open lagoons has been a practice for a long time already. However, only due to the
possibility of generating carbon credits by capturing the CH4 and selling them on the carbon credit market
has it become economically more attractive to cover open lagoons.
The captured and recovered biogas is then available for use as fuel for energy purposes. In the first stage of
development, the biogas was burned in a torch for methane abatement, since methane has much higher
greenhouse gas effects than CO2. In some other or later stages, the biogas was used for electricity
generation and even for heat production in CHP units.
The operation principle of the covered lagoon is very simple. The effluent is injected into the closed and
covered lagoon through a hermetic piping system (under pressure and under the phreatic level of the
lagoon). Its bottom is isolated through the use of impermeable geo-membranes and it is covered with an
gas-hermetic membrane. In the bottom of the lagoon, some suction pipes are built to collect the settled
sludge.
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An important aspect of this technology is the fact that no moving parts of equipment are needed. In case of
technologised lagoons, stirring processes are made through circulation of the substrate within the lagoon.
At different vertical levels, suction and injection pipes are constructed in order to circulate the effluent
within the lagoon and to ensure a proper mixture of new effluent with the old and already methane-
bacteria inoculated substrate.
At the end of the lagoon, extraction pipes suck the digested effluent away and distribute it to an open
smaller lagoon, where the treated water is used as fertiliser in the field.
The captured biogas and methane is conducted through pipelines to a cleaning device (desulphurization
and drying) after which the biogas is conducted to a CHP unit or a combustion torch.
The use of covered lagoon technology is possible in several climate regions. Since the digestion process is
an exothermic process (which means, thermal energy will be produced during the process) the construction
of an intern heating system in warm regions is normally not necessary. In cooler regions, it might be
necessary to build a heating system at the bottom of the lagoon for winter times. This system consists of a
pipe heater, in which warm water circulates, heating the substrate from the bottom of the lagoon. Stainless
steel can be used as material for the heating pipes. Other pipes can be built from HDPE.
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The Ecopalsa biogas project started operations in September 2006. It was built under the regime of the
clean development mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto protocol. The first stage of planning only targeted
methane capturing and burning. After further planning, the project also included energy generation using
the biogas produced.
It was the first CD -Project in the field of palm oil, which was awarded with the Gold Standard certification.
Ecopalsa is located in the town El Castaño, area of Guayamitas, 90 km away of the city San Pedro Sula in
Honduras. The project consists of two large technologised lagoons, producing biogas to operate a CHP unit
with 1.266 kW of electrical capacity (ECOPALSA Biogas I) and a second CHP unit with 925 kW of electrical
capacity (Ecopalsa II). Since February 2009, Ecopalsa started to generate 3.4 MW of electrical capacity using
biomass combustion.
The main substrate used is the effluent from the palm oil mill. The biogas plant produces around 1.5 Mm³
of Methane (Ecopalsa I) and 1.2 Mm³ of methane for Ecopalsa II. The biogas is used to produce electricity
to be consumed on-site.
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2.7 Agricultural biogas plants
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Originally, most agricultural biogas plants were erected by cattle farmers that needed to utilise or dispose
of the liquid manure from their cows. Therefore, agricultural biogas plants frequently use a mix of crops
and liquid manure which requires wet fermentation as an applicable process. In Germany, agricultural
biogas plants – compared to purely waste based energy generation – rely strongly on crops. The main crop
utilised for the purpose in Germany is maize because of its high biomass building ratio and the high biogas
and methane yield. The utilisation of actual crops to be converted into energy is based on the current
regulations for feed-in tariffs for renewable energy in Germany.
There are more than 7,000 biogas plants of this kind (2013) in Germany (Source: Fachverband Biogas e.V. –
German biogas association). Thus, this technology can be considered as state of the art and bankable. An
important issue regarding the sustainability of agricultural plants is the possible competition between
energy and nutrition for crops. The addition and use of fertilisers to cultivate energy crops is also a factor to
consider in the environmental performance of this kind of biogas systems. As shown in the sketch the
manure and the co-substrate (energy crop, agricultural waste, etc.) are used. As a first step, and in case of
need, the co-substrate might be pre-treated in order to sterilize it (considering European hygiene
regulations valid for animal wastes except manure) and to enable the digestate process. Sterilization will
normally be executed at 70°C and a resting time of one hour to make sure the hygienic requirements can
be matched. It is common practice to sterilize only the co-substrate. The process of pre-treatment of the
substrate allows the taping of a large potential for optimization of the digestate process.
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Pre-treatment in this application refers also to the sorting of the substrate to reduce the amount of
contamination, as well as other kinds of processes to increase the biogas yield of the substrate (chipping,
mixing, ultra sonic, etc.). Most plants are continuously fed. Regularly, the substrate will be fed one or a few
times per day into a smaller feeding unit with storage capacities of one day. This allows a constant
fermentation process with regulated input amounts to ensure a stable process. To maintain the
fermentation process, a part of the heat generated is used as heating to provide a comfortable
temperature for the mesophilic or thermophilic bacteria. Agricultural biogas plants can be found both as
single- or two-stage processes. The design of biogas plants in two-stages considers the fact that different
steps of the microbacterial fermentation process have differing optimal environmental conditions and
reaction velocities. Besides the presence of oxygen, the hydrolysis process prefers a slightly acidic
environment and takes place within a few hours/days, whereas the methanogenesis works best under
complete the absence of oxygen and in neutral conditions, requiring times measured in weeks.
In single-stage biogas plants, all four biochemical processes occur in one digester whereas two stage biogas
plants allow the separation of hydrolysis and acidogenesis in one digester and the acidogenesis and
methanogenesis in the main reactor. In some cases, a second reactor for the digestion of the remaining
organic matter is needed. At the end of the process, a storage unit with a capacity of six months will keep
the digestate until its use as fertiliser. The typical gas storage system of agricultural plants is the hermetic
roof over the reactors. The generated gas is cleaned and either directly fed to a gas engine to produce
electricity and heat, or upgraded to pure methane and fed into the public gas grid. Some plants, depending
on the substrate used require an additional step before the engine. The gas needs to be desulphurized to
protect the engine and adjacent piping from corrosion from hydrogen sulphide or sulphur acid. The
generated electricity is sold to the grid and the heat is utilised on-site to heat the digesters to the optimum
temperature for the occurring bacteria and also for sterilisation. A surplus of heat is cooled by the
emergency cooler or utilised as a district heating source.
27
Net investment costs, meaning the costs without financing and taxes, can be grouped into the costs for
machinery, buildings and construction, electrics and measuring equipment. The costs for the buildings and
construction of a biogas plant include in general all costs related to the erection of the engine house as well
as the substrate storage and additional housing for secondary equipment. The figures presented here are
related to construction prices in Germany and Europe. In other countries, these figures could vary, even
widely. The costs of the machinery comprise all machinery related costs including the feeding and storage
system. These costs can be broken down into the costs for the machinery needed for storing, hauling and
feeding the substrate into the digester, the mixing device within the digester, and others. Also the costs of
the gas engine with generator (gen-set) to utilise the produced gas, the system for the air handling and
exhaust gas treatment, as well as all auxiliary systems like a re-cooling system (backup cooling tower) or
condensate system. The ventilation system is considered separate, as it will be normally planned and
ordered as a unit. Furthermore, machinery costs also include costs for special substrate pumps. Building
costs include the cost for the reactors itself, as well as machinery, piping, fixings and insulation of the
reactors. Other costs, such as passageways, fences etc., should be considered here.
The costs for electrics refer basically to the electrical connections of the machinery. Furthermore, it
includes the costs for a higher level controller. The costs for the electrics are highly dependent on the
overall plant size and can be estimated in a first guess with around 10 to 20% of the overall plant costs.
Costs for the individual measuring devices on the components are usually delivered from the supplier of
the components and included within their price.
28
Since it is similar to the grouping of costs for the 100 kWel plant, the costs structure of a 500 kWel plant can
be derived from them. Costs that are not included in this estimation of investment costs for an average
biogas plant are costs for extraordinary and very difficult building conditions. The costs for the land as well
as for site development are not included either. As can be seen from both cases, the specific costs of the
biogas plant decreases from €5,000/kWel installed to €3,400/kWel installed. The major effect of these
economies of scale can be seen in the prices or costs for the generator set. While the difference between
the specific investment costs of a smaller and a larger generator set reaches more than 46%, the difference
between the other specific cost items reaches only 25%. An important and basic principle for the design of
biogas plants and corresponding cost estimations is to design the output of the generator sets to exactly
match the available amount of substrate and its expected biogas yield, in quality as well as quantity. This
makes it possible to achieve an optimum number of operating hours of around 8,000 hours per year.
Though this is very hard to achieve in real life situations.
29
Besides the operating costs for substrates (in case of energy crops or other substrate costs such as
transport of manure) other operating costs for biogas plants have to be considered. Generally speaking,
O&M costs of a biogas plants can be grouped into operation costs, maintenance cost of the plant,
maintenance costs of the gen-set and other administrative costs.
Power and energy, as well as personal and other means of production will be grouped in the operational
costs of the plant. The maintenance costs of a biogas plant, excluding the gen-set, can be estimated at 2 to
4% of the investment costs per year. The maintenance costs of the gen-set are normally set by a contract
with the equipment supplier and can reach values around 1.5 Cents/kWh of electricity produced. In some
cases, technology suppliers set the costs for maintenance as a function of the operating hours. They also
could give warranties of operation (in operation hours per year, e.g. 8,000 h/a) by signing the contract of
maintenance. Insurance and management costs are made up of the yearly expenses for the insurance of
the machinery and legal liability. The costs for the technical and economical management of a biogas plant
are mainly related to the amount of personnel needed for commercial management of the biogas plant.
The costs for operation and maintenance include all the costs related to maintenance repair and services
excluding the costs for staff on-site. Obviously, these costs vary over time because of the development of
prices for materials and equipment. The costs for personal should vary in different countries depending on
salary level.
30
After an economical analysis, the accumulated cash flow was estimated as shown in the graph. The
example biogas plant behind this accumulated cash flow chart was optimized to achieve 8000 operating
hours per year. Revenues that can be generated from biogas plants include the sale of electricity and heat
or gas, or fees for the disposal of waste (or the savings for not, and selling the digestate). The prices for
electricity and heat depend a lot on the country and regional conditions. In the case of Germany, the prices
for electricity are given by the German Law of Renewable Energies, which set a feed-in tariff for renewable
electricity for 20 years. The price of heat depends on the costs of the replaced fuel (coal, natural gas, oil or
firing wood) if the conditions of the project allow the use of the exhaust heat of the engine. The experience
shows that heat sales (or fuel replacement) are very important for the economic performance of a biogas
project in Germany. Thus, in other countries and under other conditions, the use of heat might not be
relevant for the operation of an agricultural biogas plant. The fees for waste disposal can be estimated
through the costs that the industry has to pay for the disposal of own wastes.
Furthermore, the biogas plant could treat wastes from other industries, charging a reduced fee for their
disposal and generating a new source of income. The selling of the digestate as fertiliser must adhere to the
local regulations regarding hygiene, waste disposal, etc. In some cases, it is not possible to sell the
digestate, which also has to be disposed as waste water. In these cases, the costs must be included in the
operation costs of the plant. As can be derived from the graph, the project has an overall return of
investment time of approximately 8 years, i.e. to earn back its investment.
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2.8 Industrial biogas plants
32
Industrial biogas plants are biogas plants with a higher quality standard in the process, as well as in the
materials used, the equipment and technologies. Generally speaking, industrial biogas plants have more
sophisticated control and measurement systems and equipment, and they are built with materials with
much higher quality requirements.
Industrial biogas plants are normally more capital intensive than other kinds of plants. Furthermore, these
kinds of systems are normally designed to treat certain waste streams as a substrate for anaerobic
digestion. In this sense, the main objective of the system is the treatment of the waste, thus, extracting the
energy potential storage in it.
In industrial biogas plants the same process principles as in agricultural biogas plants are applied. They can
be single- or multi-stage steps with pre-treatment, or without, depending on the substrate used. Similarly
diverse are the options to make use of the generated energy or biogas.
As shown on the slide, with a common biogas plant multi-stage set-up with pre-treatment (thermal, and
mechanical), hydrolysis, fermenting and storage tanks, the desulphured gas is fed into a co-generation
plant that feeds the electricity into the grid and the heat into a district heating network with various
consumers, in particular a huge football stadium.
33
Usually they are coupled directly to the waste stream from the specific industry, for example,
slaughterhouses or paper factories, etc. In these cases biogas plants do not only turn low value by-products
into energy but also dispose of the possibly environment endangering waste.
The latter aspect also generates income as the biogas plant operator can profit from the disposal fees that
need to be paid by the waste producer. Industrial biogas plants based on waste streams of agricultural by-
products can be used for breweries, alcohol manufacturing, and production of biofuels, the manufacturing
of starch from potatoes or wheat or the production of sugar, among other things.
At the present time, the major part of these waste streams is used in the forage industry for livestock. But
with a huge demand for process heat and electricity and a parallel existing waste stream, the utilisation of
these wastes for on-site energy generation becomes increasingly interesting. In breweries, for example,
each hectolitre of beer produces about 20 kg of by-product (draff or spent grain), which consists of the
residue of malt and grain. These residues could be treated in anaerobic reactors to reduce disposal and
produce energy in the form of biogas. Because of its high quality standards and its much higher costs, this
kind of biogas system are normally profitable at relatively large scales. The most important part of the
plants, the waste pre-treatment, is one of the most expensive parts and economically feasible at scales of
around 1 MW of electrical installed capacity (around 4.2 Mm³ of biogas per year). Single plants could be
smaller, depending on the revenues from the disposal of wastes and other economic conditions.
34
As a case study, the biogas plant Barth in Germany displays the set-up of a biogas plant for waste to energy
projects. The main substrate for the plant is manure produced by several cattle farms in an area around the
plant. The manure and organic waste are fermented to run a generator of 866 kW of electrical power.
Because of the European hygiene regulations, organic waste treated in the plant has to be pasteurized.
Only this organic part of the substrate will be heated at 70°C for one hour to ensure the destruction of
pathogen microorganisms. Once pasteurized, the risk of spreading diseases is reduced to a minimum and
can be done with a clear conscience. The manure or any other substrate originating from agriculture does
not have to be pre-treated before entering the reactors. The plant produces an amount of round 10,000 m³
of biogas per day (3.65 Mm³/a). The generated power is fed into the grid and generates revenue within the
framework of the renewable energy feed-in tariff system. The produced heat is partially used to keep the
reactor temperature at its production level, as well as to pasteurize the wastes before entering the reactor.
The remaining heat can be used for other purposes. Other revenues are the waste disposal fees that the
biogas plant can charge for the disposal of the organic wastes. This plant has been retrofitted over the
years and works properly.
35
2.9 Sludge treatment plant
Sludge treatment is a widely used technology in Germany to handle contaminated waste water. Sewage
treatment consists of a mix of different processes, mechanical, biological and chemical to produce a
harmless fluid and a harmless solid safe for reuse from household sewage and run-offs. For reuse the
sludge needs to be stabilized and only a reduction in volume makes it possible to handle the streams
occurring on a day to day basis. The stabilization process takes place in anaerobic reactors and produces a
sewage gas with a high methane content. Conventionally, this biogas was flared of. Later, the use of the
biogas on-site was considered to partially cover own consumption of the plant and to increase the overall
sustainability of sewage treatment plants. Through the use of the produced biogas (also better known as
sewage gas) in CHP units, waste water treatment plants cover a relatively large fraction of their own
electricity and heat consumption. After processes to reduce the water content, the viscose sludge is fed
into large hermetic reactors. These digesters are heated to a temperature of around 38°C, to allow the
bacteria a constant growth and to enable a constant treatment of the residues of sewage treatment. The
sludge is digested in the reactors and the generated biogas is used as fuel in a CHP unit to produce
electricity and heat. The heat is utilised mainly on-site to heat the digesters or otherwise simply cooled off.
The produced electricity is used to cover the consumption of the waste water treatment facility or fed into
the grid. Sewage gas requires a cleaning treatment because of the presence of hydrogen sulphide and
water, but also because of the Siloxanes, a very abrasive siliceous chemical substance that is a product of
the degradation of soaps and other cosmetic products mixed in the waste waters. Hydrogen sulphides turn
36
into sulphuric acid with the presence of water and become very corrosive; their presence needs to be
avoided.
2.10 Solid waste – dry fermentation
The difference between dry and wet fermentation is not sharp. A characteristic of dry fermentation is the
use of substrates with a water content below 30% that cannot be pumped but only stacked on heaps (i.e.
biomass with a lower content of water or even a mix of digestible biomass with other types of waste, e.g. a
mix of household waste that may even include plastics). In this situation, the bacterial population needs
water to grow and develop. As such, strict dry fermentation is not possible. As a definition, dry
fermentation is the anaerobic digestion process of substrates with total solid concentrations above 15%
without the addition of process water. This category of substrate includes several types of solid wastes, as
well as energy crops (e.g. maize).
There are different processes, some in batch some continuously, which may be operated in single- or
double-stage, as well as in either mesophilic and thermophilic temperature ranges. Operation in batch
results is a very stable and simple process because there is no need for sophisticated feeding systems. The
degradation and maintenance is limited because of the reduced need for machinery to enable stable
fermentation conditions. Furthermore, the process is able to withstand contaminations or lignin containing
37
substrates. Also, the batch operation mode avoids short circuit streams (substrate streams that enter the
reactor and, through mixing, leave the reactor after short residence time) and guarantees a constant
residence time in the reactor. So far the substrate is homogenous concerning its bioactivity and the
structure of the substrate (particle size, etc.) enabling storage within the reactor and the infiltration with
percolate, and so a high digestion rate of the substrate is possible. To activate the anaerobic process it is
necessary to add process fluid or digestate to the substrate and to re-circulate the percolate from the
bottom of the digester to the upper surface through special sprinklers.
The batch mode is usually applied only for smaller units with a digester size of up to 150 m 3 but it is
possible to build larger plants using several modules. Dry fermentation for agricultural biogas plants could
be especially interesting for farmers with energy crops and without livestock because the liquid manure
used as substrate in the wet fermentation process is missing. For continuous dry fermentation processes, a
system for charging and extraction, as well as equipment to allow mechanical or hydraulic mixing within
the digester, is needed. To guarantee a stable resting time of the substrate in the reactor, a complete
mixing of the tank is avoided. Continuous dry fermentation plants are usually used for large quantities of
wastes and digester sizes of up to 2,000 m3.
38
2.11 Other types of biogas plants
Up flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket digester (UASB) technology is applied in the treatment of waste water
with dissolved high organic contents. The function principle of UASB technology is based on the
autonomous mixing of the substrate through the production of biogas and the agitation of the sludge
blanket. The influent is injected slowly from the bottom of the reactor. The bottom of this high reactor
builds the sludge blanket. Bacterial population grows around very small particles of solid and turn into
bacterial granulates. Through anaerobic digestion, the bacterial population produces biogas with a high
content of methane. The biogas bubbles rise within the reactor and trail granulates up to produce the
agitation of the sludge blanket. Then, granulates sink again to the bed while bacteria population continues
digesting the solved organic matter of the waste water. Through the building of granulates, these reactors
enable a very large surface of contact between the waste water and bacterial population, increasing the
productivity of the biogas. Because of this functional principle, UASB reactors are very sensitive to changes
in the process, mainly regarding parameters such as the concentration of organic matter, the temperature,
the flow velocity, etc. UASB reactors normally have relative high investment costs but lower operation
costs and very low needs of space. UASB technology is suitable for the treatment of waste waters from
industries, particularly distilleries, pulp and paper mills, and tanneries. For sewage treatment from
households with lower organic contents than industrial effluents, it is expected that the technology enables
a higher output of electricity due to reduced consumption by the plant itself for operation (e.g. for
aeration) compared to conventional sludge processes. This result has not been confirmed until now.
39
Another application for waste to energy processes is the biogas derived from landfills, which is also called
land fill gas. At landfill sites (also called “waste dumps” any sort of waste is placed and stored. It is the
oldest form of “waste treatment”). The process of anaerobic digestion occurs naturally in landfill and is
caused by the bacteria population in the wastes and in the soil. In general, solid wastes are being
discharged in the landfill in layers of several centimetres. After that, the waste layers are compacted
through heavy machinery to reduce space and enable structural stability. After several layers of wastes, a
layer of soil is laid and also compacted to increase the stability of the landfill. Through this successive
compacting, a large fraction of air (and therefore of oxygen) is extracted from the wastes. Once the waste
starts to decompose, aerobic bacteria consume the rest of oxygen present in the waste layers and degrade
the organic matter present in the wastes. Then, the methanogenic process can occur. The decomposition of
the organic matter produces enough heat to keep temperatures at a reasonable level to enable anaerobic
digestion of the biomass. An important technical requirement for landfill is an air and watertight sealing of
the refuse. This sealing is considered as state of the art for landfills and it also acts to protect the
groundwater aquifers from pollutants washed out from the waste by penetrating rain water. The run-off
needs to be collected and drained off for treatment. This percolate can be re-injected to increase the
production of biogas, thus, the investment for this additional equipment is very high and, therefore, is not
extended.
40
The collection of the landfill gas represents a very important environmental protection measure. Since
methane has a 21 times stronger greenhouse effect than CO2, capture and combustion of the landfill gas
represents a very effective measure to protect the climate. Through a system of extraction wells, the
landfill gas created from bacterial processes within the landfill is recovered. The wells lead down into the
inner of the landfill and are sealed to the surroundings by the landfill cover plus an additional membrane to
guarantee air tightness. Landfill gas collection systems include a network of wells collecting biogas from
different areas of the landfill and also at different depths.
Within the first few metres of the perforation, the penetrating pipe for the extraction of the gas is sealed to
the surrounding refuse with soil. A few metres down the solid casting of the well stops with a bentonite
plug and becomes a perforated PV casing surrounded by gravel enabling the gas to reach the extraction
pipe.
After landfill gas is collected, it is conveyed through a piping system to the cleaning equipment. Depending
on the use of the landfill gas (flaring, CHP unit), several compounds have to be removed from the biogas,
including vapour and hydrogen sulphide, but also siloxanes.
At the end of the system, combustion units (flair or energy conversion device) will combust the contained
methane.
There are several methods of energy production form landfill gas, most of them using CHP units such as
landfill gas engines. This technology has been developed over the years and can also be considered as state
of the art.
41
2.12 Biogas potential of different substrates
This slide gives an indication of the potential of different substrates for biogas and its derived electricity
production. For the electricity production, an electrical efficiency of 35% was assumed, though fuel-to-
electricity efficiencies of CHP units can reach values of 40 to 42%. To give a calculation example: out of 1
ton of pig manure, 20 m3 of biogas can be produced. Using this biogas in a co-generation engine with an
electrical efficiency of 35%, 42 kilowatt hours of electricity can be generated from 1 ton of pig manure.
Chosen substrates are characterized by their individual properties regarding dry matter content, biogas
yield per ton of fresh matter, as well as the methane content of the derived gas and its potential for
conversion in electrical energy. The biogas output in methane varies strongly among the substrates shown.
Independent of the used technology or type of plant, the most important factor for the productivity of a
substrate is its composition. The different concentration of proteins, fats and carbohydrates causes the
different productivities of biogas and also the methane concentration in the biogas. The case of pig and
cow manure illustrates this fact very well. Although pig manure has a 40% lower concentration of organic
dry matter than cow manure, the methane yield of pig manure is only 27% lower than the methane yield of
cow manure. These differences occur just because of its differing composition. While cow manure contains
mainly carbohydrates, pig manure has a much higher concentration of proteins, which are responsible for
the slightly higher methane production. As seen before, another important factor explaining the
differences in biogas and methane yields among different substrates is the concentration of organic dry
42
matter. Often, the manure is diluted with water from cleaning processes resulting in actually reachable
biogas yields that differ to expectations.
3 Utilisation
3.1 Utilisation of biogas and biogas digestate
Biogas is a primary energy carrier like natural gas, coal, or oil. But unlike those, it is not of fossil but of
renewable origin. Besides these sustainability considerations, biogas can be used in several ways as an
energy carrier to serve for various purposes. Biogas has similar advantages as natural gas in terms of simple
transport, storage and conversion to second forms of energy like heat and electricity, and its combustion is
also less contaminant in comparison to coal and oil fossil fuels, and also renewable energy sources like
wood chips. Another advantage of biogas as a renewable primary energy carrier is the fact that
conventional, long-developed and well proven technology for the use of natural gas can be applied almost
directly with this new kind of energy carrier. Also, the infrastructure of natural gas for transportation in
pipelines and networks can to a certain extent be used. Plus, even these two types of gases with the same
properties but different origins can be mixed and fed into the same systems. The digestate remaining after
the process of anaerobic digestion is a stable, odour free solid that offers the possibility for reintegration
into the value chain, depending on the originally used substrate.
43
In the case of energy crops, manure and other kinds of pasteurized wastes, the digestate may be used as
fertiliser for the cultivation of crops (energy crops or others) or feeding stuff for cattle. In the case that the
digestate does not meet quality standards (e.g. because of the concentration of heavy metals or an
eventual low concentration of nutrients) the digestate must be disposed as a waste. As fertiliser, the
digestate can be separated in a liquid and a sold fraction, the last one having a solids concentration of at
least 35%.
The utilisation of biogas as a fuel for heating is quite simple and is not much different than the use of
conventional natural gas. A boiler needs to be equipped with standard multi fuel burners and needs to be
adapted to the use of biogas. Boiler or heat exchangers containing aluminium alloys are not recommended.
The hydrogen sulphide contained in the biogas will cause corrosion of these materials. There are two basic
types of burners available. The atmospheric burners draw oxygen from the surrounding air and require a
pressure of the biogas of a minimum 8 mbar. The usual storage pressure of biogas in storage roofs reaches
around 4 mbar. Thus, a slight compression has to take place for use in biogas boilers. Forced-air burners in
contrast require a minimum gas pressure of 15 mbar, which also makes additional compressing of the gas
necessary. Using multi fuel burners allows the use of biogas as a fuel saver. In many sewage plants the
burner operates with oil and the locally produced sewage gas. In cases of high gas production, the required
heat to keep the digesters at the required temperature range and gas production is produced from the
generated biogas itself, and so reduces the amount of oil consumed.
44
45
Another use of biogas is the simultaneous generation of power and usable heat, called combined heat and
power (CHP). CHP is the more efficient way to generate electricity, since heat losses are reduced, using the
largest part of the energy contained in the fuel. A CHP unit can reach fuel efficiency of around 85 to 89%, a
fact that makes CHP an important technology to increase sustainability in energy supply. In the process of
power generation through thermal machines (gen-sets, steam or gas turbines, etc.) waste heat will always
be produced as a by-product. In CHP units, the waste heat will be recovered through heat exchangers and
conveyed through pipelines (hot water or even steam) to a heat demand.
There are several types of technologies for CHP capable of using biogas, but the most applied type is the
gen-set with heat recovery, i.e. the CHP unit. CHP units can be sized from several kW of electrical power up
to several MW. Smaller CHP units have higher thermal efficiency and lower electrical efficiency (around
55% and 35% respectively), while larger units can reach similar values for electrical and thermal efficiency
(42 to 43%). The main sources of the recovered heat are the cooling water circuit of the engine and the
exhausted gases from it. From the cooling circuit of the engine, water temperatures of up to 90°C can be
reached, while the exhausted gases could provide suitable temperatures for saturated steam. The basic
flow pattern of energy within the process of co-generation is shown in the figure. 100% of energy in the
form of biogas (methane) is fed to the CHP unit. A standard gas engine is able to produce electricity with an
efficiency of around 35%. The remaining 65% of the energy originally contained within the biogas is
transferred to heat, recovered usually at a temperature of around 90°C from the cooling circuit of the plant
and from the exhaust gases system.
The amount of self-consumption of electricity of a biogas plant is small and consists mainly of auxiliary
equipment, like pumps for the cooling circuit of the engine and the feeding and stirring system of the
reactor. The available generated power can be fed into the grid or used by a neighbour industry or the
agricultural industry itself. A part of the heat is used on-site to heat the reactors in order to keep the
required temperature. Whereas surplus heat of the plant can be used on-site for drying of the digestate,
for example, or heating purposes (domiciliary or industrial), or it can be exported via a district heating
network to connected consumers.
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3.2 Biogas utilisation
In several cases, biogas plants are located in the surroundings of a village or city or in agricultural ground,
i.e. lying distant to larger potential heat demanders, such as hospitals or industries. To obtain all benefits of
combined heat and power, it is thus necessary to connect the CHP unit of the biogas plant to the heat
demand via a district heating network. District heating networks consist of a grid of pipelines which
transport hot water to the consumers and the cooled water back to the CHP unit. This is basically the
extension of the concept of district heating to integrate biogas as a renewable energy source and to ensure
the full utilisation of the energy harvested from biomass. The piping of a district heating network is
constructed with pre-isolated pipes which are assembled in the ground. Through heat exchangers at the
CHP unit and at the heat demanders, the heat contained in the hot water can be delivered from the CHP
unit to the network and from the network to the consumer. The temperatures of operation are normally up
to 90°C in the hot water pipe (delivery pipe) and around 70°C in the pipe of return. The 70°C water is
heated by the CHP unit again to 90°C for the cycle to start again. The difference between the delivery and
the return temperature represents the amount of energy that is being delivered by the CHP unit to the heat
consumers.
47
Another way to use the biogas is to transport it directly via a biogas pipeline. This concept is especially used
in cases where the distance between a biogas plant and heat demander is very large, so the transport of
heat with a heat pipeline is not economically or technically feasible.
In these cases, a biogas pipeline is constructed to connect the biogas production plant (reactors) with a CHP
unit located nearby the heat demander and a possible connection point to the electricity grid. The biogas
must be treated on-site before entering the pipeline to avoid condensation in the pipes and the production
of sulphuric acid, as well as corrosion in the engine of the CHP unit. The treatment of the biogas consists
mainly in the drying through cooling and condensation, the desulfurization (normally through active
carbon) and the compression to several hundreds of millibars (depending on the length of the pipeline and
on the requirements of the CHP unit).
The CHP unit will be constructed at the site of the heat demander. From there, the heat recovery systems
of the CHP units will be connected to the heating system of the demander (e.g. a hospital or an industry).
Again, the heat will be delivered through heat exchangers. The generated power can also be used on-site or
fed into the public grid.
Since the CHP unit is no longer at the site of the biogas production plant, the required heat for the
anaerobic digestion process must be supplied by another source. In Germany, because of the renewable
energy regulations, this source of heat must also be renewable. For this case, the operation of wood chip
boilers has shown good technical and economical results.
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3.3 Upgraded biogas
Feeding biogas into the existing natural gas grid is another option for the future use of biogas. The set-up of
a biogas plant designed to feed the gas into the grid would be quite similar to the ones designed for co-
generation. The main difference is the co-generation unit itself, which in this case would not be
constructed. Instead of the CHP unit, the needed equipment to upgrade the biogas to pure methane must
be designed and installed. Because of the economic parameters in Germany (costs of investments,
electricity tariffs, gas prices, etc.), this is a feasible option for biogas plants producing more than 300 Nm³/h
of biogas.
To upgrade the biogas at a level required to be able to be fed into the grid, the biogas needs to be pre-
treated. This pre-treatment consists of the drying and removal of hydrogen sulphide. In the second step,
carbon dioxide must be removed from the biogas to reach a methane purity of over 95%. There are several
technologies to capture CO2 from the biogas, the most used being: pressured water wash, chemical
washing (with amines or other CO2 solvents), pressured swing adsorption (PSA), and membrane capture.
After methane enrichment, the odour must be extracted from upgraded biogas and pressurized to the level
of the grid. A constant online measurement of the characteristics of the injected gas must be executed to
ensure the quality of the gas and enable it to be fed into the public grid. Similar to the case of biogas pipes,
the heat and power supply of the plant must be covered by means other than the CHP unit itself. The
simplest option can be a standard heating boiler and the use of the power grid.
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3.4 Power-to-gas
The motivation behind the development of various power-to-gas technologies lies in the need to use the
temporary surplus of renewable energy (mostly wind or solar) generated on a stormy day, for example. In
cases where the produced power from renewable sources exceeds actual demand, the stability of the grid
could be endangered. In these cases, the surplus on power must be exported from the grid or several
sources of power. In most cases, the same wind turbines or solar plants must be shut down from the grid.
Since the rejection of wind power that could be harvested is not attractive from an economical or from an
energy efficiency point of view, the proposed solution of power-to-gas aims to provide the possibility of
storing the momentary surplus of electricity from the grid and to transform the electrical energy into
storage chemical energy. The principle of power-to-gas is based on the electrolysis of water. Using the
surplus of power, pure water can be dissociated into oxygen and hydrogen. The produced hydrogen can be
used for combustion (e.g. injected in small amounts to the public grid) or converted through a chemical
process into CH4 (methane). The produced methane can be injected and stored in the public natural gas
grid to be used by households, or even for power generation through gas or combined cycle turbines.
The power-to-gas technologies are currently in the prototype stage and their economic performance is the
most important limiting factor at the moment.
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3.5 Comparison of biofuels
The comparison of land use for biofuels is an important indicator for evaluating the sustainability of
different types of biofuels. In the graph a key figure has been developed to help judge the energy output
per hectare of grown energy crop. The figure shows the distance that a car is able to cover with the energy
harvested from one hectare of different types of biomass or bioenergy carriers (cultivated or not
cultivated). Related to one hectare of arable land, a car might drive 67,600 km with biomethane from a
biogas plant. The same car fueled by bioethanol (BtL) drives just 22,400 km using the same growing area for
the raw materials. If residues are considered, the range will increase by 14,400 km. These aspects are very
important in the discussion of the comparison between food and energy. Biomethane and BtL (biomass to
liquid) have nearly the same land use efficiency. Canola oil, biodiesel and bioethanol nearly reach the same
range, but are explicitly smaller than biomethane and BtL. BtL comprises those biofuels generated from
solid biomass with chemical conversion processes, e.g. the Choren process. Among those chemical
conversion processes used to generate synthetic fuel (or biocrude), pyrolysis and carbonization need to be
mentioned. So far there are no commercial production facilities online. Biodiesel and vegetable oils like
canola oil achieve similar results and are also chemically similar. Biodiesel is made from vegetable oils.
Biodiesel can be mixed with standard diesel up to 50% and still be used in standard engines, whereas the
use of vegetable oil requires the adaption of the engine and represents a small niche market. Bioethanol on
the basis of sugar beets, sugar cane or from starch of cassava or corn is a proven technology and widely
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applied. Especially in the US and in Brasil, the fleet of vehicles with flexible fuel (FFV) that can be fuelled
with any mixture from ethanol with gasoline, is very large.
3.6 Use of biogas digestate
A biogas plant operated with energy crops works in a similar way as an animal stomach. The anaerobic
fermentation process is very similar and so the residues are similar. After the anaerobic digestion of the
substrate, a mixture of not digestable organic matter with water and other non-organic substances will
remain as a sub product. Depending on the local hygiene regulations and on the composition of the
substrate, this digestate can be further used or must be disposed of as waste. If local regulation allows it,
the biogas digestate can easily be used as natural fertiliser on arable land. As long as no organic wastes are
used in the plant the digestate can be distributed on the arable land similar to the distribution of
conventional slurry from animals. In the case of organic waste, a special processing is required. A popular
example is the pasteurization of the organic wastes at 70°C to destroy any germs of possible harm for
humans or animals. After this step, the biomass within the reactor is free of pathogens microorganisms and
the produced digestate can be handled as normal slurry or manure. The digestate has the same nutrient
substances as the input materials in the biogas process. The fermentation process produces changes mainly
in the organic fraction of the substrate. Through the chemical process that takes place in the reactor, even
the solubility of the nutrients increases, so also the bio-availability for the plants.
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Another advantage of the use of digestate as fertiliser is the lower odour level compared with slurry. The
fermentation stabilizes the substrate, dismantling the organic compounds which are responsible for the
bad odour.
Additionally the digestate from biogas plants has a lower acidity compared to slurry, which reduces the risk
for chemical burns on the leaves after distribution. Also, the digestate has increased flow characteristics
reducing the soiling and stains on leaves after being sprayed, and requiring less effort for mixing to achieve
homogenization.
The concentration of pollutants (minerals and heavy metals) within the digestate depends on the substrate
used. When compared to the price increases experienced for mineral fertiliers, the economical break even
for the transport and use of digestate as fertiliser has already been reached. Furthermore, digestate is to be
preferred over mineral fertilisers with regard to their energy efficiency in overall energy balances.
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3.7 Site selection
There are different aspects to be considered in the search for a potential site. It is common for a biogas
plant to be installed in close proximity to the source of biomass. Since the energy density of bioenergy
carriers (crops, wastes) is low to very low, the transport distance for the substrate could play an important
role in the final price or cost of the biomass. The traffic infrastructure must meet the requirements for the
transport of the biomass in heavy load vehicles and/or agricultural machines. If the digestate is used in the
fields, the distance to these is also an important parameter to consider. In the case that the biomass is
being provided by third parties (e.g. manure from neighbouring farmers) the provider might also have an
interest in taking the digestate from the plant to field. Depending on the use of biogas, an access to the
grid for electricity feed-in should be considered. The grid access point should be near to the biogas plant to
minimize the electrical losses in cables and the investment costs. The purchasers of the waste heat from
the CHP have to be as near as possible to the biogas plant because of the losses in the heating grid and the
investment costs. In cases of larger distances, a biogas pipeline can be considered. Depending on the
amount of heat delivered and on the economical parameters (heat prices, etc.), the limit on the distance
could be between 0.5 and 2.5 km. In the case of upgraded biogas into the natural gas grid, an access point
needs to be close by as well. The optimal point should be selected regarding the pressure level of the public
grid. In this case, the biogas will be taken off the grid in a place where access to the power grid and heat
delivery is secured.
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4 Biogas market development

4.1 Biogas production in the EU
The German biogas market is the largest in the EU. With 51.2 tons of oil equivalent per 1000 inhabitants,
the energy production from biogas is 90% higher than the second largest market, the UK. The average
production in the EU is 16.7 toe/inhabitant and one-third of the German production. This deployment is
caused by the German renewable energies act, the EEG. This special law for renewable energies promotes
the development of technologies using renewable energy sources, securing a feed-in tariff for different
renewable energy sources for 20 years. Biogas is one of these supported forms of renewable energy. At the
present time there are near to 8000 biogas plants installed in Germany with a total electrical capacity of
more than 3.500 MW, contributing significantly to the renewable power supply of the country. Since 2004,
the feed-in tariff system of the EEG in Germany has set a large incentive for farmers to change from
providing crops for the food industry to being an independent energy provider, generating biogas and
subsequent electricity and heat from locally grown substrates. Thus, the highest numbering biogas plants
erected and in operation in Germany are agricultural biogas plants.
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4.2 Market development in Germany
The German biogas market shows an enormous increase during the last 10 years. Since 2008 the number of
plants has doubled. In the same period of time, the installed capacity increased by 270%. The highest
increases occurred between the years 2008 and 2009 and between 2010 and 2011 due to changes in the
German renewable energy act, the “EEG”. In 2008, the technology of biogas became well known and
experienced an explosive increase, mostly due to the announcement of the modification of the EEG. After
the amendment of the EEG, the market experienced a new boom between the mentioned years 2010 and
2011. The biggest change from the German EEG 2004 to the EEG 2009 was the larger support for the use of
energy crops providing the biogas plant operator with additional financial support. The most frequently
built biogas plants in those periods were agricultural biogas plants with electrical capacities of over 300 kW,
which explains the over proportional increase in the installed capacity of biogas in Germany. Since the last
amendment of the EEG in 2012, the German biogas market has experienced a deceleration in growth,
mostly due to new restrictions in the input materials (maximum of 60% of corn silage) and the obligation to
use the exhaust heat produced, as well as other aspects concerning electricity tariffs and investment costs.
For 2014, a new amendment is being discussed, which might cause a stagnation of the market according to
the experts.
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4.3 Biogas companies in the EU
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5 Project development
5.1 Project schedule
The chain of development of a biogas project begins with the first steps of evaluation. Having the first data
on the project, including estimations of costs and revenues, a proper pre-feasibility analysis needs to be
conducted to decide on whether to enter into the project. After it, a thorough feasibility study must be
conducted to guarantee satisfying project results. In this phase, the technical and economic feasibility of
the project must be evaluated. For the execution of the study, experienced professional experts should be
contacted to give proper advice on the large field of questions that must be answered related to technical,
economical, environmental and commercial aspects. Depending on its complexity, this phase could take
around 6 months to 1 year. Once the decision to implement the project is taken, the phase of planning
engineering and construction will start. In Germany, the engineering and construction will be executed by a
technology supplier that will deliver a turn-key biogas plant. However, it is recommended for the investor
to have an experienced professional advisor that controls the planning and construction, plans and
executes the permitting procedures and keeps control of the standards and economy of the project. This
phase, depending on the permitting procedures, can take over 6 months to up to 1.5 years or even more in
regions where permitting procedures are not clearly defined. The time of construction of a biogas plant
reaches, depending on its complexity, about 6-12 months. The inoculation and filling of the reactors could
take between 3 to 6 months. The construction of a biogas plant needs a considerable amount of initial
financial investment and fixes the course of an agricultural company for the foreseeable time.
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5.2 Resource assessment
One of the first things that must be proven before a biogas project is constructed is the availability of the
biomass. Since the substrate is the real fuel of each biogas project, it is of the utmost importance to have
information on the quantity and quality of the available biomass. This assessment will commonly be
executed in the feasibility study, once the framework conditions of the project were roughly proven and
found positive. Of course, depending on the framework conditions (economical incentives, waste and
hygiene regulations, etc.) different types of biomass could be interesting for a biogas project. In a resources
assessment study, executed by experienced advisors, several questions should be addressed. The biomass
availability in the region and whether it is at an affordable transport distance is the first of them. This
includes also the selection of the type of biomass that is going to be used for the project. The current use of
the selected biomass, considering types of use and quantities, as well as the development of these uses
should be analysed in order to prevent possible impacts in the future. In this sense, the evaluation of
possible competing projects must be included. Another important aspect is the analysis of the prices and
related costs (e.g. transport) for the biomass in the past, in order to make a reasonable forecast of these
costs for the future. A last aspect to be considered is the acquisition of information on possible biomass
suppliers in the region. If possible, the agreement on a Memorandum of Understanding is recommended to
give the project a binding character at this stage.
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5.3 Permitting issues
An important factor for the evaluation and planning of a biogas project is the environmental impact that it
could have and the local regulations on these environmental impacts. In general, the most important
environmental impacts that should be taken into account for a biogas plant are those listed in the slide.
Regarding emissions, it is very important to know the permitted emission levels for air contaminants (like
NOx, SO2, CO, dust and total carbon), but also other types of pollutants, like noise, used oils, etc. should
also be considered. The selected equipment for the plant (specially the CHP or combustion unit) must
adhere to these standards.
It is also very important to prove that the impact on air, soil, water (including ground water) and animal,
vegetal and human life are light to not existent. Therefore, in the phase of feasibility, all the possible
impacts should be analysed and mitigation measures (e.g. catalyser for exhaust gases) should be included
in the planning and economical analysis. Other kinds of emissions that have to be taken into consideration,
and with a strict dependency on local regulations, are the emission of odours (important nearby habitable
areas), hygienic aspects (while treating any kind of wastes and for use or disposal of the digestate) and an
increase of traffic in the surrounding areas of the plant as a consequence of biomass delivery or digestate
off-take. An analysis of the needed environmental permits and the required standards for them gives a
good overview for evaluating the feasibility of the project and possible additional costs.
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6 Specific risk and risk mitigation

6.1 Sensitivity of profitability
There are many factors that can influence the profitability of projects in general, and of a biogas project in
particular, either internal factors (depending on the project and its development) as well as external
(depending on the framework conditions in which the project will be developed). Among the internal
factors belongs every condition that within a certain range is capable of being changed by the project
developer. Here could be named several technical parameters of the project, as well as some economic or
commercial conditions. Technical factors include the efficiency of the equipment, the equity fraction of
investment, maintenance expenses, operation costs, etc. External factors can include conditions that
cannot be modified by the project developer, such as economic policy, environmental legislation or
standards, taxes and subsidies policy, etc. In an economic analysis of the project, the influence of some
parameters should be investigated. For this sensitivity analysis, one parameter of the evaluation should be
selected as a variable factor. Setting all other parameters as fixed, the economic analysis should then be
executed including a range of variations of this variable factor, in order to assess the behaviour of the
profitability of the project by changes in this specific variable factor. Once the most influencing parameters
are detected, efforts can be focused to minimize the possibility of any variations of this factor throughout
the project lifetime. If external factors are detected as very important, activities should tend to minimize
dependency or to have the possibility of hedging the risks of changes.
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6.2 Risk evaluation and mitigation-project endogenous risk
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Following the same classification of factors, the risks affecting a project can also be divided between
endogenous, which means that they are internal risks related to internal conditions affecting profitability,
and exogenous risk, which are related to external conditions affecting the performance of any project.
One of the typical internal risks related to technical factors is the risk of completion of the project. It is
related not only to finishing construction and operation of the plant, but also with the completion on time,
at the estimated costs and with the required quality of all construction works and equipment delivery.
It is very common in the development of any kind of energy project to execute the planning and
construction phase through several different companies. While a general planning company will take the
lead on the planning and the construction supervision, different companies will deliver different types of
equipment or will build different parts of the energy plant. In the case of other renewable energy sources
(wind, solar) being present, though it involves the handling of very complex types of equipment, the
coordination between companies is rather simple. In the case of biomass, and specifically biogas plants, the
coordination between the delivering and construction companies reaches high levels of complexity.
The most common way to minimize the risks of completion is to close a contract with technology suppliers
for a turn-key delivery of the plant. Additionally, the engagement of an owner’s engineer, an experienced
professional who can advise and supervise the technology supplier while representing the owner and
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further operation of the plant, could be another important measure to minimize risks to the completion of
a biogas project or any type of project in general.
One of the first and most important risks is related to the delivery of the plant at a later date than planned.
The consequences of this could be of economic nature (late beginning of revenues), contractual (late
delivery of energy or treatment capacity for wastes) or even of a legal nature (it might transgress certain
conditions of the operation permits).
A very effective way to mitigate effects of this kind of risk is the inclusion of a timeline in a turn-key delivery
contract that considers all steps in the construction of the plant and sets the responsibility of
accomplishment on the technology supplier. In the case of non-accomplishment, penalties (or even
incentives for earlier accomplishment) must be included in the agreement. In order to assure the legal
validity of such contract provisions, the timeline should be agreed and recorded (actually signed) by all
parts. The normal conditions and tasks that the owner of the plant has to execute to enable the supplier to
deliver to the timeline must also be included in the agreement.
A second important risk is the completion of the plant at higher costs as planned. This could have several
causes and its effects could range from achieving lower profitability than expected to the total shut down
of of the complete project and loses of capital. The agreement of turn-key contract with a fixed price for
the complete plant and all its components helps to minimize this type of risk. Thus, in this case, a thorough
description of the plant bought (including types and labels of equipment, used materials, quality standards,
etc.) must be a binding part of the contract. An owner’s engineer can help to set these conditions in a
contract.
A third typical risk is the possible underperforming of the biogas plant. It is possible to find problems after
operation begins, especially in biogas plants. Since the biogas production is a biological process, the design
and construction of the plant must guarantee that the biological conditions and requirements are met.
Therefore, it is recommendable to include in a turn-key delivery contract with clear and minimal conditions
of operation, as well as some target levels for different operation and production parameters, such as the
biogas yield per ton of organic dry matter, or the full loads of operation of a CHP unit, etc.
Additionally, the contract should include the conditions needed to achieve these targets (including the
works to be executed by the operator or owner of the plant) and penalties or warranties for missing targets
under normal conditions. Again, the advice of an owner’s engineer could be useful to set the necessary
provisions in the contract.
A last possible situation that may severely endanger the success of a project is non-completion or non-
delivery. There might be several causes for an interruption of the construction of a biogas plant. One of the
most common is the bankruptcy of the contracted construction company or technology supplier. To avoid
this kind of severe risk, the economical stat of the supplier must be proven during contract negotiations
and must be documented with reliable and robust information and records. An additional insurance for
that case could be helpful, but such policies are not always available.
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The operation of a project, in particular a biogas project, is affected by several risks that could affect its
economic success. Besides the described completion risks, there are several causes of failure of a project
during the operation itself. Taking into consideration that biogas projects have a high level of complexity in
their technical configuration, and taking into account that a very important stage of the process is executed
by a biological component, such as bacterial population, the sources for risks during the operation became
very important to handle. Under operation and management, risks could be grouped as every kind of event
or condition that could lead to malfunction, underperformance, interruption or a standstill of the
production process during operation. Technical and commercial issues fall under this category. A typical
example of technical malfunctioning is the overloading of the reactor. This can be detected through sudden
changes in the composition of the biogas (a strong decrease of methane concentration or an increase of
hydrogen sulphide). The consequences of a reactor overloading are commonly devastating. Normally, the
methane production will cease, since the biological process will break down and will not be able to start
again until after a complete cleaning and new inoculation of the reactor. The process of re-inoculation of
one reactor could take from three to six months until full recovery of operations. The economic damage to
the operational results of a biogas plant is very significant and should be avoided completely. In general,
this can be avoided by competent and good operation. Several causes can lead to an overloading of the
reactors. One of them is the wrong feeding of the reactor with a much higher load ratio than the reactors
were designed for.
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Another common failure is the use of not suitable or not planned biomass in the reactor. Sudden changes
in the substrate characteristics will not allow enough time for the methanogenic bacterial population to
adapt to the new conditions, leading to its decrease and so to an increase of other bacterial populations.
This might cause the acidification of the reactor and the consequent destruction of
methanogenic bacteria. A suitable way to mitigate these biological risks is to request that the technology
supplier provides explicit indications on the type of biomass that can be used, the feeding ration and how
to proceed in case of changes in the operation manual. During operation, an operation diary book with
data on feeding materials and quantities must be kept accurately updated. In some countries where there
is wide experience in biogas, there are independent workers that give advice on the state of a reactor by
receiving samples from them periodically. This type of biological support could help to detect and interrupt
processes of acidification and biological break down. An extended maintenance contract with the supplier,
which includes biological support, could also be a possible way of mitigation. Since a biogas plant is a
complex system designed for a certain type of substrate, the use of other types of biomass not considered
in the planning process could lead, through the presence of impurities (sand, stones, iron pieces, etc.) to
the malfunction of certain important components of the plant, such as conveying systems, pumps,
pipelines, valves, etc. Therefore, any changes to the substrate should be discussed with the supplier to
ensure liabilities and to secure the performance of the plant. In other cases, wrong or neglectful
maintenance leads also to malfunctioning of pieces of equipment or the complete plant. The most
important of these is, in case of use, the CHP unit. This is the centre of the biogas plant, it is a very
sophisticated technology and all other parts of the plant depend on it, plus, it is normally the part of the
plant which is responsible for producin revenues. As such it is of vital importance to keep this part of
equipment in operation for as much time as possible and without unexpected interruptions. In this same
sense, the use of very new technologies, which claim to be innovative but have not yet been proven with
several hours of operation, could lead to the malfunctioning of the biogas plant or to the interruption of
revenue gains. A good way to cover this kind of risk is the agreement of a maintenance contract with the
technology supplier.
In this agreement, a strict maintenance plan should be set, in which the maintenance activities to be
executed by the operator and by the supplier are clearly defined and listed, as well as the time intervals in
which these works have to be executed. These maintenance contracts are normally more expensive than
other alternatives, but they secure the operation of the plant by the inclusion of penalties or warranties for
a certain level of performance. In the case of CHP units, it is normal that the CHP unit provider carries out
maintenance and ensures an availability of over 92% per the contract. It is important to clarify that in the
case of innovative and non-proven technologies, a maintenance contract or a performance guarantee could
only partially mitigate the risks of malfunction. In the worst case, the technology supplier will not be able to
meet the guaranteed requirements in several supplied plants and could go bankrupt.
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6.3 Risk evaluation and mitigation – project endogenous and exogenous risks
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One of the major risks that influences bioenergy projects is the primary energy resource itself, the biomass.
As with all energy projects, the energy yield and, thus, economic success, depends strongly on the resource,
i.e. on the fuel. Depending on the type of resource, fuels can be categorized into three groups: 1. primary
energy resources with a homogeneous, standardized quality and a continuous supply stream (such as,
natural gas that is being supplied via pipelines, for example); 2. primary energy resources with variations in
quality (such as biomass power plants or biogas plants); 3. energy resources with variations in quality and
intermittent supply (such as wind or solar energy plants). Biomass can be provided continuously to
generate useable forms of energy (heat, electricity, etc.) and thus, bioenergy plants have an advantage over
solar or wind energy plants, which can only operate whenever the resource is available – i.e. the sun shines
or the wind blows. However, biomass qualities vary and the energy yield depends strongly on how well the
bioenergy plant has been designed in order to be able to operate on a bandwidth in quality as well as how
well the biomass supply contracts have been structured in order to receive the biomass quality that is
needed. In general one can say, the cheaper the biomass, the worse its quality or the larger the bandwidth
in quality of the biomass. Thus, the biomass quality and the price respectively influence the economic
success of the bioenergy project. In order to reduce risks with regards to biomass quality many aspects can
and need to be controlled. The most important characteristics of the biomass that need to be controlled
are the energy content, in particular, the water and the ash content as well as the size of the biomass.
Thus, biomass supply contracts commonly have minimum and maximum values for these parameters, plus
price adaptations in case of exceeding these limits. In order to ensure the security of biomass supply over
the lifetime of the bioenergy plant, it is also important to make sure that the counterpart – the biomass
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supplier – has good references, a solid market reputation and the respective economic power to perform
delivery. Ideally the biomass supplier participates financially in the project.
This helps to ensure the economic success of the project. Before closing a biomass supply contract, one has
to perform a sensitivity analysis of the influence of possible changes of the price and the biomass quality on
the project economics. In addition, an analysis of the regional availability of biomass and the market
players, including their logistical capabilities, should be checked. Ideally, a number of at least two to three
biomass suppliers should be chosen to provide the biomass, which is in order to ensure the availability at
high demand times, like winter. However, a good understanding of the biomass market and its players is
needed to find the right supply partners. There are as many different kinds of market players as there are
biomass suppliers available; some have direct access to their own biomass supplies (forest, etc.) and others
are traders and logistical enterprises that buy from forestry, etc., and resell the biomass to others. The
latter parties sometimes access the same amounts of biomass from forestry parties, so that they are
competing against each other, which means the prices rise.
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The added value of bioenergy projects is created by selling the products of the respective bioenergy plant.
For example, a biomass heating plant sells heat, a biomass heat and power plant can sell heat and power,
and a biogas plant can sell heat, power and fertilisers. In addition to these mentioned products, heat can
also be transformed into cold and sold as a product, if the demand allows it. Electricity is sold to local
consumers or simply to the grid operator if the legal framework is set to accept this. Commonly, a project
developer of a power generating plant only develops such a project if the sale of the electricity is secured.
Heat and cold are products that strongly depend on the local demand, as it is usually not economically
attractive to transport it over long distances. Usually transport distances do not exceed a few kilometres. If
an energy generating plant cannot sell all the energy it is producing the economic success of the project
decreases, so that it is important to dimension a plant according to the demand and evaluate this
thoroughly. Co-generation plants especially cannot vary total amounts, and this also is the same for the
single amounts of the produced energy. Thus, before putting a lot of effort into the development of a
bioenergy project the most important first step is to secure the biomass input material and the sales of the
products generated. Via sales contracts it needs to be made sure that ideally all the electricity, heat and
cold is sold on the basis of a long-term agreement and at fixed prices or indexed prices that represent the
market development of the biomass prices. Often biomass prices are indexed versus fossil fuel prices, as
these prices represent competitive energy forms. The buyers of the products should also be solvent market
parties.
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Exogenous project risks are much harder to control and to mitigate in general. Especially when it comes to
the political framework – in this case for bioenergy projects – a project developer or investor has hardly any
influence on this. However, during the project development process these risks also have to be assessed
and evaluated. On the one hand, the influence of the risks on the project need to be calculated and, on the
other, the options how to mitigate such risks need to be examined. In politically stable countries, changes
in the regulatory framework only influence new projects so that retroactive effects on existing projects do
not take place. This means that one has to develop a project under a current regulation and make sure the
economics are positive. However, also in countries like Spain, changes in the law have affected renewable
energy projects retroactively. In difficult economic situation affecting entire states such changes can occur,
but at times like this the entire situation is difficult. Therefore, it is always important when evaluating the
political framework for a specific technology to check the history of the politics, and to judge the general
political and economic situation of a country before deciding to invest in such a country. If governments
want to stir investors to invest in specific areas, a long-term and stable political framework is required.
There are several excellent examples where governments have created such investment environments and
where therefore many investors went to spend their money. Among them are countries like Germany,
Austria, Japan, Italy, Sweden or Finland. That said, the support mechanisms could differ strongly and need
to be evaluated well. There are several important political framework conditions that influence a bioenergy
project and that fall under the category of exogenous risks. These can be divided into two major groups: 1.
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those that have influence directly on the economics of the project, and 2. those that influence the
permitting, realisation and operation of the bioenergy plant. In general, regulatory measures that influence
the economics have been implemented to support renewable energy to enter the market. Such measures
can be fixed feed-in tariffs, investment subsidies, tax advantages or loans with low-interest rates, etc., for
example. The second category of regulatory measures includes mainly technical rules that need to be
followed to obtain permits to construct and operate a bioenergy plant. The reason for these rules is to limit
the risks for technical failures (e.g. to avoid explosions), to protect the environment (e.g. sound or smell
emission control, water protection, etc.) or for health and safety. Other exogenous risks can be related to
the general economic situation of a country. Possible effects of changes in the economic situation can be a
devaluation of the currency, a rise in interest rates that impact the debt financing part of a project, or
inflation beyond expectations. The only possibility to hedge against these risks are the use of financial
instruments, such as financial derivatives. In addition, an investor should always try to avoid to invest in
unstable countries or, if so, to diversify the investment portfolio to cover possible losses in one project with
other gains. Of course, investments with higher risk profiles usually come with a higher potential for profit,
too. For the same reason, it is important to diversify.
There are several exogenous risks that cannot be controlled at all and are not foreseeable, not even with
the best political connections. These are natural catastrophes, such as earthquakes, storms, fires or floods.
Insurances are the only possibility to avoid losses herein. The fees for such insurances are usually
reasonably priced so that one should not hesitate to close respective insurance contracts. Another
exogenous risk that can influence bioenergy projects is war. There is no insurance against war and one
should only hope that there will not be any wars at all, or specifically avoid investments in unstable
countries.
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7 Project finance
7.1 What types of projects are eligible?
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7.2 Structure of project finance
In general, the term “project financing” refers to projects that have a certain size and that require a
significant investment. The principal characteristic of project financing is that the investment is not
financed by the equity money of the investor alone, but the investment is co-financed via loans or credits
(debt capital) by financing institutions, such as banks.
There is no universal size of investment when projects can be financed via debt capital. It rather depends
on the experience of financing institutions to finance, in this case, bioenergy projects and whether there
exist instruments for projects of different sizes.
Usually, the type of projects that are eligible for project financing have the following characteristics: they
are large in size, they have a finite and long life, they are not part of a company but are stand-alone
projects that are decoupled from other operations of a company. Commonly, large renewable energy
projects, such as wind parks, biomass heat and power plants, biogas plants, etc., can be financed in this
way. To give an example of project financing out of daily life: the investment to buy or build private homes
is commonly financed by banks in the same way as renewable energy projects are financed: part of the
investment is equity (own money) and the remainder comes as a loan from the bank.
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The reason for organising new projects as stand-alone project entities, also called “Special Purpose Vehicle”
or in short SPV, mainly lies in the possibility for more easily overseeing the operations of the project and,
respectively, the economic risks of a project.
When technologies are rather new to a market and banks have no – or hardly any – experience with them,
project financing instruments are often not offered, even though there may be lots of experience in the
technology in other countries.
The special purpose vehicle (SPV) – the stand-alone project company – has various roles and, thus, interacts
with various parties within each of these roles. A project reaches the state of being ready to be realized
when 1. all contracts that are necessary have been closed to fix all economic boundary conditions and to
ensure that the project can be realized and 2. all permits are granted to build and operate the project.
Commonly, a SPV is the holder of all of these contracts and the permits. Once the ready-to-realize status is
close to being reached, the SPV starts to seek for the project financing.
The major contracts that need to be closed are the following:
- lease or buying contracts for the land where the project should be realized (for the land where the
plant is to be realized and for the land where the district heating lines or the electricity lines will be built)
- sales contracts with the off-takers of the products that are produced/generated within the project
(e.g. power purchase and grid connection agreements to sell the electricity, sales contracts for the heat or
the cold)
- disposal off-take contracts for the ash or digestate
- supply contracts for the biomass
- O&M contracts
- EPC contracts
- Credit/loan contracts to finance the project with financing institutions
In addition, it is necessary to have the permits to construct and operate the plant.
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8 Project due diligence

8.1 Main parameters influencing profitability
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In general, due diligence serves to evaluate a company, a product or a project for its technical, economic
and legal feasibility. When developing a project from the first idea to the status of ready to build and, even
further, during operation, due diligence is a continuous process of evaluating the feasibility and thus the
economic profitability of a project. However, often due diligence is seen as a singular activity during the
process of a potential takeover or buying/selling process of a project (or a company). In this case, it is
common that consulting companies are assigned to perform the due diligence and to investigate on a
neutral basis all aspects of the project that influence the economic success of a project. It is important
during the due diligence to know which are the most important parameters that influence the profitability
of a project and, which are the risks that are most important to be controlled or known. The main income
for bioenergy projects comes from selling the products generated – the electricity, the heat, the cold and
sometimes the by-products, such as ash or digestate, which can be sold as fertilisers. In addition, income
can come from taking waste and receiving disposal fees. This may be the case when incinerating
contaminated waste wood or digesting organic waste streams such as remainders from slaughterhouses,
for example. In all of these cases it is most important to fix the sale prices of the products, either fixed over
the project lifetime or indexed with the respective inflation parameters. Also it is necessary to organise the
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physical possibility of transporting the products to the off-taker; e.g. ensuring grid-connection and grid
access, or building the respective heat piping. For electricity from renewable energy systems, some
countries offer preferred grid access, meaning that the grid operator is required to connect the plant
operator and to give access to the grid. The distance from the plant to the grid-connection point is crucial,
as each metre of electricity line adds to the overall investment costs.
A few years ago there was also the option to generate income from selling carbon emission certificates
because of the emission savings generated through renewable energy projects, but the prices for the
certificates for emission reduction (CER) has decreased so drastically that merely the process of registering
a project for the CER system is more costly than the income that can be generated. Still, there are voluntary
emission certificates (VERs) that are still traded and have a value that can add to the project’s economics.
However, it is only a minor part of the entire income. In short, the sales contracts are very important and
are one of the main parameters that influence the profitability of a bioenergy project. The second equally
important part is the biomass supply contracts, in which the biomass prices are fixed. In addition, such
contracts also regulate the changes in price if the biomass energy influencing parameters deviate from
certain quality parameter standards. The water and the ash content are the main parameters in this case. A
thorough assessment of the biomass market and the available biomass streams with their respective
characteristics is required before closing the supply contracts, in order to ensure the profitability of the
bioenergy project.
Further to this, the following cost influencing elements are important to a project’s profitability:
 The investment costs to build and realize the project with the needed technical quality and the
reliability of the technology in order to reach high operation hours; this is one of the keys to
economic success of a project
 The availability of qualified staff to operate and maintain the plant (as biomass is a fuel that comes
with different qualities every day it is important to have personnel that know how to deal with such
fuels)
 The financing conditions for the project; here, the level of the interest rates for the loans and the
expected rate of return on the equity as well as the credit period, plus the interest-only years, are
important
 And lastly, the tax payment rates also influence the profitability of a project
As the above mentioned parameters are most important to the economic success of a bioenergy project, it
is required to fix these parameters as best as possible in order to lower the economic risks of the bioenergy
project. It can also help to receive good financing conditions from financing institutions if all of these
parameters are fixed at favorable conditions.
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What are the reasons for the degree of market penetration of renewable energy systems (RES)? Why does
electricity generated from renewable energy sources play a significant role in the electricity market of some
countries, for example in Germany or in Spain, and in other countries they don’t? The two main reasons are
of an economic and regulatory nature.
The character of the worldwide electricity markets can range from state-controlled energy markets to fully
liberalized open energy markets, the latter in which any form of electricity exists purely for economic
reasons and which are usually ruled by the merit-order effect. This means that depending on the electricity
demand, a certain amount of electricity is needed and the cheapest offers from power producers come to
sell their electricity generated. Which type of electricity – from fossil or renewable energy sources –
depends strongly on the generation portfolio in the respective country. For example, the central European
electricity market is coupled, and major amounts of electricity come from hydro power, coal and nuclear
power, and the prices are relatively low. In contrast, in other markets, such as the more remoter markets in
some African countries, the electricity prices are rather high due to the necessity to import all resources.
With today’s prices for renewable energy systems such as photovoltaic or wind turbines, such systems are
already being competitively implemented in these countries. For other countries, like most of the European
countries,
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there still needs to be some supporting measure in order for renewable energy systems to compete with
fossil fuels. Such support mechanisms can be investment subsidies, tax credits, etc.
In addition to the economic barriers, there are often regulatory barriers that hinder the market penetration
of RES. The most common is the necessary access to the electricity grid in order to be able to feed the
generated electricity into the grid. Also, it may not be common that new independent power producers
(IPP) enter or are allowed to enter the market – there are new rules needed to overcome these barriers.
Specifically related to bioenergy projects, some additional rules are needed because waste streams are
often used, or since the disposal of the remainders (ash, digestate) also need to be regulated.
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9 Solid biomass - feedstock, technology, operation

9.1 Challenges of biomass project
What is project development? What is a project in the area of energy? A project is a technical solution that
provides an economic option to supply energy. Energy can be electricity, heat, cold or other more specific
forms of energy, such as pressurized air or lighting. Developing such a project means to identify the
demand – i.e. the specific need for energy, to work out the conceptual technical idea, to further detail the
planning, to evaluate the project economically, to assess the risks of the realization and the operation and,
in the end, to build the system, start it up and bring it into operation.
One very important aspect of successful project development is the continuous assessment and update of
the project parameters in order to evaluate the economic parameters continuously and to judge the
success of realization as parameters change. After having gone through the stage of technical and
economic pre-evaluation, the next most important step is to negotiate the most relevant contracts to fix
the most important parameters. Such contracts are the following: for fuel supply and the respective prices,
to fix the prices for off-taking the energy form generated heat, electricity, etc.; the contracts to secure the
land where the system
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will be erected and the land which is needed to deliver the energy to the off-taker. Once these contracts
have been closed, project development can continue with planning in more detail what will eventually lead
to the realization of the project after the financing of the project has been secured.
A distinctive feature of bioenergy projects is that the fuel is biomass. Biomass comes with a large diversity
of parameters. No biomass is the same. As such, it is essential to know the characteristics of the specific
biomass available.
9.2 Biomass to energy
In general, there are two main forms of converting the energy content of biomass into a useable form of
energy: 1) by a biochemical process, and 2) by thermo-chemical processes. When talking about a
biochemical process, the more common term is to talk about anaerobic digestion that will lead to the
generation of biogas, one of the possible bioenergy carriers that can be used as a primary source of energy.
The thermo-chemical conversion processes can be divided into different sub-groups depending on how
much oxygen is added to the conversion process. The most well known process is combustion, for which
excess oxygen is provided to the process so that all organic biomass matter can be oxidized, and thus all
available energy can be freed. Gasification, liquefaction and pyrolysis are other processes to convert
biomass thermo-chemically
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into bioenergy carriers, but as these are still at the pilot stage they are not considered as commercially
available technologies. As biomass comes from very different origins and has very different energy
relevant properties there are different ways to generate useable forms of energy from the biomass. The
major characteristic that determines whether a biomass is suitable for biochemical or thermo-chemical
conversion is the water content. The wetter the biomass, meaning the higher the water content, the more
difficult it is to combust the biomass, so it is instead anaerobically digested. Drier forms of biomass are
more suitable for combustion.
Heat, transported as a hot flue gas stream, is always set free when combusting “dry” biomass. The
combustion commonly takes place in a combustion chamber which is part of a boiler. In the combustion
process the energy content of the biomass (100%) is converted into a usable form of energy (heat). As with
every technical process, the combustion process also comes with technical conversion efficiency. Up to
90% of the energy content of the biomass can be converted into heat transported as flue gas; the
remaining 10% are heat losses that are emitted into the ambient environment. Further heat losses occur
when exchanging the heat from the primary cycle (flue gas) to the secondary cycle (water or steam) to
transport the heat to the off-take location. In the end 82 to 88% of the energy content of the biomass can
be converted into a usable form of heat. Next to the organic matter that is combusted biomass also
contains non-combustible matter, mainly mineral. This mineral matter remains as ash after the combustion
process and needs to be removed. Depending on the type of biomass used, the content of ash varies largely
– from 1 up to 20% of the mass.
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Solid biomass, typically wood or straw-like matters, produce heat at temperatures in the range of 700 to
1,100°C when combusted. This heat can be converted into usable heat only, but it can also be used to
produce electricity as is commonly done in power plants using other types of fuels such as coal or natural
gas. The heat transported by the fuel gas is exchanged in the evaporator to produce steam that can then
drive a steam turbine to run a generator producing electricity. Once the steam has been expanded in the
turbine, the remaining heat can be used and provided to potential heat off-takers. This heat is commonly
transported via a heating network in the form of steam or hot water. A typical efficiency from biomass to
electricity of such steam turbine processes is between 15 and 25%. 55 to 60% of the biomass energy
content can be used in the form of heat and the remaining heat fraction 20 to 25% is then lost to the
environment. Similar to the heat-only process, ash remains as the residue. The amounts remaining depend
on the quality of the biomass fuel. The less bark or the less contamination, like paint, the less ash remains.
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9.3 Solid biomass
The term solid biomass refers to any type of organic matter that has a high content of lignin, the long-chain
carbohydrates that can be combusted and have a rather low water content. Most of the different types of
solid biomasses originate from agriculture or forestry and come in different sizes and qualities. Some solid
biomass has gone through a first usage for other purposes already (e.g. as a window frame or a piece of
furniture) before being used as an energy carrier. Such solid biomass streams are called waste wood and
depending on their origin, it can also be contaminated with paint, etc. The combustion of such types of
biomass requires more sophisticated flue gas cleaning systems in order to comply with emissions
standards. Solid biomass in the form of branches or similar is the oldest energy carrier that has been used
to, for example, simply light a fire.
Today the technical ways of using solid biomass in a more efficient way have also brought some
development to improving the quality of solid biomass. Current typical forms of solid biomass used for
energy purposes are wood chips or pellets. Pellets are the most uniform solid biomass in the sense that
they are standardized into norms in which the size, the ash content, the water content, etc. are defined.
Any type of agricultural cultivation of grains also produces a large variety of straw-type biomasses that can
be used for combustion.
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The energy content (lower heating value (LHV)) of solid biomass (e.g. wood or straw) in its absolute dry
state (no water content) equals to approximately 18 MJ/kg = 5 kWh/kg. Compared to other fossil energy
carriers it is about 30-35% lower than hard coal (depending on the quality of the coal), about 60% less than
fuel oil and about half compared to natural gas. Looking at other bioenergy carriers in liquid and gaseous
state, the lower heating value of vegetable oils equals to 35 MJ/kg which is about 10% less than diesel or
fuel oil. The LHV of biogas with 20-22 MJ/m3 is about 35-45% less than natural gas with 36 MJ/m3.
Due to the lower LHV of bioenergy carriers, the energy density is always lower compared to fossil fuels, so
that the fuel volume needed to generate the same amount of heat or electricity from bioenergy carriers is
always larger. This also means that the combustion chambers are in general a bit larger than the ones for
fossil fuels. The densest form of solid biomass is the pellet. It also has the best combustion properties due
to the low water and ash content. However, as costs are involved in producing pellets, they are not the
most economic form of solid biomass to generate a usable form of energy.
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Solid biomass in its natural state is never absolutely dry. Depending on the origin of the biomass the water
content of biomass ranges from almost 0 weight-% up to 50 weight-%. Very dry solid biomass types are, for
example, waste wood from deconstruction of houses as it has been drying already for tens of years so has
almost 0-5% water content, or pellets as they have been dried thermally in order to comply with the pellet
quality norms (<10% water content), or some exotic solid biomass types such as palm kernel shells with a
water content of almost 0% containing even parts of palm kernel oil. Why is the water content so
important? Water cannot be combusted as it is already completely oxidized, so that during the combustion
process the water is evaporated and this requires energy, which is then lost to use. Thus, the drier the
biomass the higher the net calorific value or lower heating value and the higher the energy density and the
better the combustion characteristics.
The relation between the net calorific value and the water content is linear. The more water contained in
the biomass the lower the net calorific value. Most of the biomass-to-energy systems combust biomass
with a water content of 10 to 45%.
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As solid biomass originates from different sources, the calorific values differ depending on the origin and
the type of the plant where the biomass comes from. The slide shows a table with different net calorific
values of different types of biomasses. For example, woody biomass can come from different types of
trees, such as birch, pine, oak, and each type of wood has its slight differences in terms of combustion
properties. One main difference lies in the parameter “energy density”, thus, how much energy is
contained in one volume unit of the biomass. For example, with 600 kg (w.m. = wet matter) per cubic
meter the bulk density of pellets is very high compared to wood chips or straw bales, so that the energy
density of pellets is the highest with more than 2,750 kWh/m3 of wet matter. Wood chips of hard wood
have a higher energy density than wood chips of soft wood, with 785-1,094 kWh/m3, but still less than half
the energy density of pellets. When it comes to straw-type biomass the bulk density and, thus, the energy
density goes as low as even below 500 kWh/m3 (w.m.). One aspect to be remarked on is that the net
calorific value of the considered solid biomass types is very similar, ranging from 5.1 to 5.5 kWh/kg
(absolute dry matter = d.m.).
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10 Introduction
10.1 Biomass quality – quality types
Each biomass is different in its quality parameters, of which the most important are the water content, the
size, the ash content, the homogeneity, the fine particle content and the amount of pollutants. The
efficient use of biomass as an energy carrier and fuel that is combusted in combustion chambers depends
heavily on the homogeneity of the fuel and the combustion technology applied to fire the biomass and to
transfer the generated heat to the respective medium in the most efficient way. The best combustion
technology is a technology that allows the use of a large variety of biomass with very different parameters.
With such a kind of technology it is possible to have large flexibility in purchasing different kinds of
biomass, thus, not being dependent on a very specific type of biomass and, hence, needing to pay higher
prices. However, using such technology depends very much on the size of the biomass project. For
example, generally the smaller biomass boilers used in heat only plants need a higher quality of biomass as
it entails fewer costs for operation and maintenance personnel, plus the need for maintenance is less when
better quality material is used. The slide shows the parameters for biomass with high quality parameters
but which is also rather costly compared to other types of biomass. This type of wood chip is very
homogeneous in size and the fine particle content is very low. It has no contamination and originates from
freshly chipped crown and stem material of trees. The ash content is also very low; ash has no energy value
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and its mineral content contributes to the corrosion of the boiler material. The water content is normal for
fresh wood.
10.2 Biomass quality – quality types
Commonly, biomass combustion plants with larger boilers, for example, those with more than 10 MW firing
capacity, are designed so that they can combust a larger variety of biomass qualities in order to utilise
cheaper biomass which, thus, improves the economic profit of the operation. The entire biomass logistics
chain, from the first point of acceptance of the biomass until the boiler’s grate, needs to be technically
designed so that biomass with differences in size, in water content, in ash content can be dealt with. The
size of biomass strongly influences the design of the conveying systems. It needs to be ensured that
blockages of the conveying path are avoided. The differences in water content influence the size of the
grate and the combustion process in the boiler, thus, how well the biomass is completely combusted. This
slide shows biomass with much worse quality compared to the clean wood chips shown in the slide before.
It also originates from natural trees but contains much more bark and some contaminants, thus, the ash
content is higher. The size is much larger and the water content can be higher, up to 60%. In general, the
calorific value is significantly lower due to the higher ash and water content. By using such types of
biomass, the conveyor system and the boiler is also worn more and needs to be maintained well and
replaced more often. However, the material is much cheaper compared to the cleaner high quality wood
chips and, thus, improves the overall economics of the operation.
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10.3 Biomass costs
In principle, the costs of biomass are influenced by their origin, by the required preparation procedures and
by the quality of the material. Furthermore the prices of biomass are influenced by the distances from their
origin to place of use, hence the transportation costs, and the demand on the specific biomass in the
market area or in the region. The biggest difference in the origin of biomass is whether it is a material that
originates as a waste or that is harvested for the purpose of generating a fuel. Waste wood can originate
from various sources such as deconstruction of buildings (as contaminated waste wood) or the care of
public gardens (as tree and bush cuttings) or as so called weak wood (as crown material or smaller
branches), a by-product while harvesting wood. Such waste wood fractions can be obtained at lower prices
in general. However, this also depends on market demand. For example, due to the construction of many
larger biomass power plants in Germany, the demand for waste wood – contaminated or non-
contaminated – grew significantly, so that the price increased as well. With regards to the origin, the most
expensive material is short-rotation coppice, a biomass that is specifically cultivated for the purpose of
generating a biomass fuel. Depending on how the material is collected or how it is harvested and how
many times it needs to be processed the costs of biomass are influenced. For example, biomass that
originates from public green care measures is usually chipped directly on-site and then transported in
smaller quantities to the user and, thus, a bit cheaper than the remainders from forest harvesting activities
– here the weaker wood fractions are usually left where the trees are being cut down and more activities
are needed to prepare the weak wood fractions as a fuel.
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The above graphic compares the price developments of different fuels used for heating purposes in Euro
per Megawatt hour calorific value. The price developments show significant differences over the last years
– from 2011 to 2014. The fuel oil prices have risen continuously from 2009 until 2012 whereas the prices
for natural gas have shown only a slight rise over these years. In recent years, (2013/2014) the prices for
fuel have dropped back to the level of 2011. Even though unclear political situations in Russia could have
had a stronger influence on the gas prices in Europe, there have been no drastic price changes. One of the
reasons may be an oversupply of natural gas from other European sources, but also new supplies being
provided as Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) to the European market, which comes as a by-product from fuel
oil/petrol extraction, e.g. from Near and Middle East oil fields. In contrast, the prices for two different
biomass fuels – wood chips and pellets – show a rather stable price development, a fact that implies lower
price risks for biomass fuels compared to fossil fuels. The graph also shows that the absolute level of prices
comparing biomass fuels with fossil fuels is much lower. Wood chips are the cheapest type of fuel costing
less than half of the price of natural gas and much less than fuel oil. However, the fuel price is only one
factor that influences the overall economic success of an energy project. The other very important factor is
the investment cost needed to buy and build the heating system. And these costs are much higher for
biomass heating plants than for natural gas or fuel oil boilers so that, in the end, the overall costs of a
generated Megawatt hour of heat needs to be compared with a full cost calculation. Nonetheless, biomass
heating can compete with fuel oil heating at the above prices today. Gas fired heating is more economic.
Another aspect to be mentioned is that biomass is a regional fuel that is not transported to very long
distances. Therefore, the prices for biomass fuels can vary from region to region and also in quality much
more than the prices for fossil fuels, as they are set according to German market prices.
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10.4 Biomass feedstock - straw
Another biomass feedstock to be mentioned is straw. Straw is an agricultural by-product from the
production of wheat, corn or even rice. Being a by-product means there is no need to convert additional
arable land to grow this biomass. Following wood, straw offers the second biggest potential of all biomass
to be converted into renewable energy. In Germany, every year there are up to 30 million tons of straw
available whereof 8 to about 13 million tons have already been used in another way. In general, straw has a
huge potential as a resource for bioenergy. However, for sustainability reasons, and in order to keep the
soil fertile, it is important to keep certain quantities of straw on the fields, as it is the most important
substrate for enabling the regeneration of the topsoil. If the straw is completely collected and burned for
energetic purposes, the soil will not regenerate and higher amounts of fertiliser are needed, increasing the
costs accordingly. There are several big differences between wood and straw; one of them is the harvesting
process, which is described on the above slide. The harvester-thrasher is the main machinery used for
harvesting grains. The harvester separates the grains from the straw. The separation of the straw from the
grains is beneficial for transport because the grains have a much higher specific weight of around 500 to
800 kg per m3 compared to the straw. Also, rodent infestations are much more common if the plant is
stored in its entirety. The grains are transported to be stored and marketed whereas the straw stays as
swaths on the field and needs to be collected and pressed to bales with a swath reaper and press. Today,
most harvesters collect grains and straw in one go, so that there is no additional second handling of the
straw needed. Instead of pressing the swaths to bales they can also be chopped to chaff. The chaff then will
be reaped and stored for further utilisation.
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At harvest, grain is separated from straw. In order to improve the combustion properties of straw, it is
helpful to leave the straw on the fields instead of bringing it straight into storage. Rain will penetrate the
bales, thus reducing the chlorine content. Chlorine increases the corrosiveness of the straw as a fuel and, as
a mineral, it also enhances the slugging on evaporator tubes. Therefore, it is advisable to let the straw be
washed by the rain. In addition to the high content of chlorine in the straw, which produces highly
corrosive hydrochloric acid, the flue gas emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulphur are higher compared to
the combustion of wood. Another big difference of straw to wood relates to the form in which straw comes
as a fuel. For their volumetric size and their type of delivery, bales require a completely different handling,
passage and conveying technology. Also the boilers and the combustion process are different. At the site of
the bioenergy plant, the bales need to be shredded and the metal fixation parts need to be separated from
the straw. Today, the technology is as developed as for woody biomass, so that from the moment of
acceptance of the bales, they are shredded and conveyed to the combustion chamber automatically.
Depending on the size of the plant, there are also boilers on the market which can burn entire bales, saving
the step of shredding on site. These are so-called cigar burners as the bales are moved and pressed into the
combustion chamber directly. Worldwide, Denmark and Austria have the most experience in straw
combustion – straw is used in small-, medium- and large-scale heating and heat and power plants. It is used
even as a co-fuel in coal fired power plants, showing that the technology is proven and reliable. Other
countries like Thailand or India make use of rice straw in power plants.
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Once the straw has been harvested the bales are picked up on the field with a front-end loader tractor and
transported by smaller trucks to its intermediate storage location from where it is taken to be delivered by
larger trucks to the final destination of use. Three to four bales can be stocked easily on top of each other.
For fertility and aeration reasons it is advisable to leave about 30% of the straw to stay on the fields. The
remaining 70% are usually sold. One of the main buyers of straw are horse breeding farms and riding
stables, or it is bought as fodder for animals, but significant amounts also go to producers of insulating
material. As the baled straw contains only little water, it is an equally good fuel, like wood. However, the
energy density is almost ten times less compared to wood chips. This requires a greater amount of
transportation for the same amount of energy, as well as larger storage facilities. The low energy content of
the stalks and the desire for homogenous fuels has pushed development in the direction of new harvesting
technologies. One approach was to integrate all necessary treatment steps into one self-propelled
compacting machine to press the stalks to pellets right on the field. At the heating or power plant gate, the
straw needs to be quality controlled just as woody biomass fuel. Commonly, the following parameters are
checked: water content, composition of the straw and the existence of mould, as these parameters
influence the combustion and determine the price of the straw. The prices for straw vary hugely over time
and from region to region because of varying demands and the variation of the available amount.
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10.5 Conclusions
To harvest the full potential of bioenergy it is very important to keep in mind that there is not an overall
solution or technology available. Instead, the diversity of the available biomasses makes a specific approach
for each feedstock necessary. The available biomass needs to be examined thoroughly and the result of this
feedstock assessment will give important clues for the following project development steps. Important
quality parameters that need to be evaluated within the feedstock assessment comprise of its specific
water content, ash content, form and size, chemical composition as well as the ash melting temperature.
This assessment is not only important at the project start but should be continuously monitored during
operation because only the specified input will ensure the expected output.
The water content per ton of fresh matter will not only give an indication about the Lower Heating Value
and the energy content, but it will also indicate from how far the biomass can be sourced with economical
transport costs. Another difference of straw compared to woody biomass is the lower melting temperature
of the ash (around 900°C compared to 1300°C with wood). Such lower ash melting temperatures require
air-cooled grates in the combustion chambers of the boiler to avoid clogging of the grates with slag.
Also the prices may be highly volatile. For example, the costs for straw are lower after harvest than after
the winter and in some areas straw is used for different applications, increasing the price to a level that
makes it uneconomical for use as fuel for energy generation.
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11 Biomass to energy technology

11.1 Biomass combustion systems
The most common types of biomass boilers are log wood boilers, pellet ovens, wood chip boilers and large
biomass boilers. The type of boiler is different depending on the type of biomass used and its
specifications. The range of biomass comprises all forms of existing wood: from the biomass in the form of
a log, to the chopped log in form of chips and the sawdust glued together forming pellets. As each type of
biomass is different in size, form and energy content, the technology varies specifically in the way the
biomass is fed into the boiler, as well as in the size of the combustion chamber. Furthermore, for larger
boilers there exist different combustion chamber technologies, such as grate firing, fluidized bed, or
circulating fluidized bed technology (CFB). Whereas the first three in the list can still be found as household
applications, large biomass boilers are mainly found in centralized plants or for commercial and industrial
applications. Except for the log wood burner, for household applications the feeding of the biomass into
the combustion chamber is done automatically. Wood chips or pellets are moved mechanically with some
kind of conveyor system, such as conveyor screws, pistons or moving grates and are fed mechanically into
the biomass boilers. The log wood burner needs to be fed by hand. A special type of combustion system is
the log wood gasifier. Actually, gasification is not exactly a combustion process as the amount of air
(oxygen) is controlled so that less than the required amount of oxygen needed to oxidize all carbon atoms
is added to the thermal process, in order that a wood based gas is generated and burnt in the same
chamber. Such systems are used mainly in households.
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11.2 Examples
The above slide shows a typical example of an application for a wood chip fired biomass boiler. The boiler
provides heat to three schools in a medium-sized country town in the West of Germany via a district
heating network. It is situated in one of the schools and replaces natural gas as a fuel, hence providing
sustainable heat to the schools. The district heating grid forms part of a strategy of the regional council to
improve on the sustainability of the supply of heat to public buildings. In the same region there are two
more wood chip boilers of a similar size also with district heating networks.
The capacity of this boiler is 700 kilowatt thermal. It provides the major part of the entire heat demand of
the schools. Only in wintertime does additional heat need to be generated by the peak load boiler fuelled
by natural gas. In addition to the boiler there is also a heat store that enables the system to satisfy a bit
more of the heat demand of the schools in the transition periods to wintertime, spring and autumn.
The system was planned and built in 2010 and 2011 and has run smoothly since then. It is operated by the
school caretaker and maintained professionally by the boiler manufacturer. The wood chips are sourced
locally from the regional forestry management service. Daily tasks are mainly limited to the control of the
operational parameters, taking care of the ash disposal and ordering new biomass when needed.
104
Annually, the co-generation plant in Hamburg-Lohbrügge provides about 60 GWh of heat to the local
district heating network and about 15 GWh of electrical power to the electricity grid operator. It runs on
natural wood fractions originating from four main biomass suppliers from the region. The wood is
delivered up to ten times a day and the load of each truck is assessed at random to ensure the expected
feedstock characteristics. The crane takes the wood into the main bunker. The control system of the crane
remembers the composition of each load and the spot in the main bunker where it has been dumped. This
set-up allows the crane to design a perfect fuel mix for the boiler automatically, so that different loads
with different specifications can be mixed to a homogenous fuel. This fuel mix is then put on a moving crate
system to convey it towards the combustion chamber to be burnt. For electricity production, an organic
rankine cycle (ORC) process is applied enabling the plant to run at high electrical efficiencies. ORC applies
synthetic oil instead of water/steam in the turbine cycle and then a thermal oil is used to facilitate heat
transfer. The thermal oil and its flammability have been the cause of some accidents in ORC plants,
however, the economics of ORC plants are favourable over steam power plants and, with careful operation
and control, the risks can be minimized. Such ORC processes can be operated remotely for 72 hours in a
row so that fewer personnel is needed to run the plant compared to normal steam power plants. The staff
consists of only four men who continually run the plant and who are also able to monitor and control the
plant remotely.
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11.3 Technical concept – parameters to be defined
The first step in the development of a bioenergy project is to determine the most important parameters.
The following questions need to be answered in order to come to the first judgment on the feasibility of
the project:
1. What is the energy demand? How much heat and/or electricity are required?
2. How much biomass would be needed to satisfy the demand? How much is available? At what
quality? And at what prices?
3. What type of technology would be needed for the specific application and the available biomass? Is
it available?
4. Is there enough land to build the plant on?
5. What are the permitting requirements? Can they be met with the selected technology?
The answers to all of these questions influence each other; meaning it is an iterative process to determine
the parameters. As is true with any other bioenergy project, high regard needs to be given to the provision
of the biomass itself. Long-term contracts with several suppliers are needed to ensure the fuel is available
at a projected cost over the lifespan of the project. Secondly, but not less important, is the appropriate
sizing of the plant with the help of energy balances and duration graphs. Determining the appropriate size
for a given demand is an important step to ensure high operating hours. Local availability and related cost
will define which feedstock of biomass is to be used. With this defined, the development of the technical
106
concept can continue to the next step where the appropriate technology for the chosen biomass is
sourced. For the site decision, some biomass specific characteristics need to be taken into account: the site
needs to be easily accessible to big trucks and, in most cases, the available land will determine the the
biomass storage capacity.
In contrast to the biomass power plant Hamburg-Lohbrügge, the biomass heat and power plant Neustrelitz
in the East of Germany, about 100 km north of Berlin, applies a conventional steam cycle to generate heat
and power. The local energy company Stadtwerke Neustrelitz developed this project and has operated the
power plant since 2006. Annually, it generates about 45 GWh/a of electricity running approximately 6000
full load hours per year and about 63 GWh/a of heat which is fed into the local district heating network.
The capacity of the power plant is 7.5 MWel and 17 MWth. As a fuel it uses remainders from forestry
harvesting and tree and bush cuttings, both in the form of wood chip. The total investment costs for the
plant was €17.6 Mio., which was partially co-funded by regional development funds from the European
Union as well as from the federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. By replacing fossil fuels by biomass,
which is carbon emission neutral, the operation of this power plant saves approximately 14,600 t/a of CO 2.
The main drivers for developing this project and operating the power plant have been the rising oil and gas
prices. The target of the Stadtwerke Neustrelitz is to provide the citizens of Neustrelitz with sustainable
heat at stable energy prices. In contrast to the power plant Hamburg-Lohbrügge, one can see in the above
slide that large amounts of the wood chips are stored outside, and only the biomass amount for a few days
is stored inside. In this manner the operator has a greater possibility of buying biomass when prices are
107
lower, plus the in-time delivery is not as important as in Hamburg where there is an in-house store with
only a four day capacity.
11.4 Important contracts - fuel
As biomass is the fuel for bioenergy projects and in general the major cost component of operational costs,
fuel contracts are very important. Ideally, biomass supply contracts are closed to cover a period of ten
years and longer in order to fix the biomass prices for the period. This helps to reduce the supply risks and
to be able to evaluate the economics of a bioenergy project. Banks often require this fixing of the prices
when a project applies for credits. The major parameters that are regulated in biomass supply contracts
are the quantities of biomass and their respective quality parameters (size, water and ash content, energy
value, origin, etc.), plus the price and its deviation in case of non-matching quality parameters. This also
requires that the biomass quality control measures (when and how) are defined in the contract. In addition,
the delivery conditions should be agreed upon (how many trucks per day, what type of trucks, etc.). In
addition to the prices and the price-quality-deviation, price development parameters are defined. For
example, the price can be coupled to the price index of wood or of the fossil fuel that has been replaced, or
some more general inflation based indices. Often the biomass supply is combined with the removal of the
waste, i.e. the ash, meaning that the biomass supplier also disposes the ash. With regards to this, the
waste disposal regulations must be complied with by the disposer.
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12 Solid biomass
12.1 Low – tech solution : efficient biomass cook stoves
In many developing countries of the world the energy demand for household applications like cooking is
still fuelled with wood. This influences deforestation strongly in a negative way, and is also responsible for
the loss of biodiversity in many areas. Furthermore, the workload to collect the wood (mainly carried out
by women) and the heavy load on their health from cooking on open smoky fires are issues that need to be
addressed as they have a negative social effect in these countries. To increase the standard of living for
those living in rural areas far from most infrastructure an efficient biomass stove was designed to burn less
wood in a more efficient way, and with fewer indoor emissions, which reduces the risk of respiratory
diseases. This stove design, initially called the rocket stove, is an easily applicable low-tech solution to
improve sustainability and standard of living at the grass root level. This stove consists of a combustion
chamber, a chimney and – very importantly – a secondary air supply that allows the wood to burn almost
completely at high temperatures. The rocket stove was originally invented by Dr Larry Winiarski from
Aprovecho, a non-profit organisation working on the development of permaculture and renewable
energies and was awarded prizes for its adaption for institutional cooking in Africa. If the stove is equipped
with a heat exchanger, it can also be used for room and water heating, thus providing for most energy
demands within a rural household.
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12.2 Solid biomass
The share of the traditional use of biomass for cooking is huge in developing countries, as can be derived
from the graph. This affects human health as well as puts pressure on the already strained environment in
these countries. The collection of wood has led to the depletion of many forests and now threatens even
the remaining untouched areas. Usually the depletion of the forests leads to a process of deforestation and
soil degradation lowering the standard of living of those within the affected areas, as well as deteriorating
the productivity of the agriculture. Only in India more than 80% of the 800 million people use wood in the
traditional way for cooking. The Sahel zone is another example of an area where the depletion of forests
and scrubs for utilisation as firewood has led to, among other factors, a growing desert. With the forest
gone, the protection of the soil from winds and heavy rains is lost.
With no cover, the strong sun bakes the soil to an almost cement like texture, disabling the water to trickle
in. This effect also increases the danger of flash flooding and erosion of arable lands. To ensure protection
of those forests that are important for the global climate, as well as for local soil fertility, and in fighting
increasing erosion it is necessary to meet energy demand with sustainable technology. In the case of poor
people living in remote areas, only a low-cost approach like the rocket stove is applicable.
110
12.3 Biomass combustion – steam turbine
Similar to any other fuel, like coal or lignite, biomass can be burnt in a boiler to produce steam to drive a
steam turbine, which is often seen in conventional power plants. The biomass is fed into the combustion
chamber where the radiation and the hot gases from combustion transfer the produced heat to a cycling
fluid – which in conventional plants is water, which generates steam. The high pressure steam is then
expanded over the blades of a steam turbine and moves into a condenser. The expansion makes the
turbine rotate and drives the generator to produce electricity. The condenser creates a low pressure by
rejecting the latent heat of the phase change of the steam back to liquid. The fluid is pressurized by a pump
and enters the combustion chamber again to be heated, and so on. As was shown earlier in the case
studies, for example, at the wood fired power plant in Neustrelitz, the use of biomass with a conventional
steam turbine cycle is proven technology. The major differences to conventional power plants that are
fuelled with fossil fuels such as coal relate to the size of the plants and the fuel properties. Smaller power
plants usually generate steam at a lower pressure. The lower combustion temperatures are caused by the
different fuel characteristics that biomass has. Biomass plants fuelled with wood cannot achieve conditions
beyond 600°C as applied in modern coal fired power plants. But even with lower overall efficiencies, the
burning of a renewable source with its climate neutral characteristics is not only environmentally friendlier
but also very interesting from a purely economic point of view.
111
112
Since 2009, the German regional energy company Stadtwerke Leipzig, has operated one of the largest
biomass power plants in Piesteritz/Wittenberg, Germany. The power plant has an electric capacity of 19.3
MW generating 157 GWh of electricity per year and 115,000 tons of steam annually. The steam is supplied
to the chemical industry in the vicinity of the power plant. The energy generated equals to the energy
demand of 60,000 households. The investment costs for the power plant totalled €56.9 Mio. The electricity
is fed into the 110 kV transmission grid of the grid operator Mitnetz Strom. Stadtwerke Leipzig is one of the
more experienced operators of biomass heat and power plants in Germany. The biomass fuel is sourced
from harvesting residues from forestry as well as entire round wood from forest in the area. About 140,000
solid cubic meters of wood are needed to generate the mentioned amount of electricity and steam.
Technically, the power plant is operated at base load and with 8,000 hours per year it has an availability of
over 90%. The co-generation process is efficiency optimized, including a multiple stage preheating of the
combustion air. The steam cycle includes two turbines, one low pressure extraction turbine and one high
back pressure turbine. The boiler is of a circulating fluidized bed technology and has a firing capacity of 55.6
MJ/s and produces 60 t/h of high pressure steam at 130 bar at 535°C. The condenser operates at 0.09 bar
at 20°C ambient temperature.
113
In electricity only (condensing) mode the process can generate 20 MWel with a fuel-to-electricity efficiency
of 36.2% and, in extraction mode, the above mentioned 19.3 MWel is generated with a fuel-to-electricity
efficiency of 32.3%.
15 tons of steam per hour at a pressure of 3.5 bar and a temperature of 180°C are extracted from the
steam process and are delivered to the steam clients. Including the extraction of the steam, the power
cycles reach an overall fuel-to-utilisable-energy efficiency of 50%. The power plant was permitted according
to the strict German emission act (BImschG) and its 13th BImschV decree. The exhaust gases are cleaned by
a four-chamber fabric filter. The power plant is operated by a staff of 22 employees. This particular
cogeneration power plant is an excellent best-practice showcase since it has a high efficiency and uses a
large amount of its co-generation potential. This also enables the plant to operate cost efficiently in
contrast to many other biomass power plants in Germany, which are running as electricity-only plants,
missing out on the potential income from heat sales.
12.4 Gasification/ Pyrolysis of biomass
114
Pyrolysis and gasification are thermochemical processes in which organic materials are decomposed at
elevated temperatures with limited oxygen availability. The limited availability of oxygen is also the main
difference to combustion. Also in contrast to standard combustion, pyrolysis is an endothermic process
that requires an energy input. This energy input can be provided with the partial burning of the substrate
with air injection, for example, resulting in bad quality products. Another way of providing the energy is
directly with the circling of hot gas or solids, or in an indirect way through a heat exchanger. The main
distinctive characteristic of the pyrolysis process is that the exact amount of oxygen needed to oxidize all
carbon atoms of the fuel is available. However, since this is a theoretical value, combustion is not fully
taking place, but pyrolysis oil is also produced which can be used as a liquid fuel. The gasification process is
characterized by an even lower amount of oxygen that is injected into the gasification chamber, which
leads to the decomposing of the fuel and production of a fuel gas. This fuel gas can also be burnt to
generate heat or electricity. However, it is often contaminated with tars and similar chemical components
that complicate the use of the fuel gas.
Most organic materials, including industrial waste can be used as a fuel for pyrolysis or gasification.
Pyrolysis is also frequently applied as a form of thermal treatment, reducing the volume of the waste while
still utilising its energetic content.
115
ReGRID Glossary
Batch operation in contrast to continuous operation. In batch operation, a process takes place
in time-sequential steps. For example, a biogas reactor operated in batch
mode is loaded with biomass, closed, then biogas is produced and once most
of the organic matter is turned into biogas, the reactor is opened again and
reloaded with fresh material. Batch operation of biogas plants takes place
when the water content of the organic substrate is lower, hence the
substrate is drier and cannot be pumped anymore, making continuous
operation not possible.
Bulk density a property of bulk goods, such as pellets, wood chips or powders or any other
"divided" solids. The term “bulk” is used especially in reference to mineral
components (soil, gravel) or chemical substances. The bulk density is defined
as the mass of the particles of the material that is present in a specific
volume of the material it occupies. The volume includes the volume of the
particles as well as the volume of the space between the particles. The bulk
density can change as such materials can sometimes also be compressed.
Carbon footprint a measure of the total amount of greenhose gas (GHG) emissions of a
population/country, company or any other defined activity/area, considering
all relevant sources, sinks and storage within the defined activity or area. The
major part of emissions contributing to the greenhouse gas effect are carbon
dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). The carbon
footprint is calculated as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq).
CDM short for “Clean Development Mechanism“, one of three mechanisms

created within the Kyoto protocol with the goal to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions (GHG) on a global level with local actions. The objective of CDM is
to assist countries in activities to reduce GHG emissions financed through the
generation of carbon credits that are created in an activity. This instrument
was created for countries in the developing world.
Economies of scale a term that is used when the specific costs (e.g. for an investment or the
operation of a plant) of an activity or an investment are lower with size,
output, or scale of operation. So that the overall costs are specifically lower
as the costs per unit of output generally decrease with increasing scale, as
fixed costs are spread out over more units of output. For example, the larger
a digestor tank, the lower the specific investment costs expressed in US$/m3
tank volume.
Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT); the average length of time that a specific amount of biogas substrate
stays in the biogas tank during which the biogas bacteria can turn the organic
matter into biogas. A typical hydraulic retention time of substrate in a
bioreactor is between 45 and 70 days.
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The HRT is calculated by dividing the tank’s volume by the flow rate of the
substrate. The longer the HRT, the more biogas can be produced in the tank.
LNG Liquid natural gas: natural gas is a mainly by-product of petroleum extraction
and can be transported to the user either by pipelines or in liquefied form. To
get to liquefied form, the gas is compressed. The volume of LNG – compared
to natural gas – is about 1/600th of that of natural gas. Transport pressure is
usually at 25 bar.
Lower Heating Value (LHV); also known as net calorific value (NCV). This is the value for the net
energy content of any material, specifically of fuels like natural gas or coal,
etc. In contrast to the higher heating value or the gross calorific value, the
LHV does not take into account the energy released when water vaporizes.
Phreatic level a term used within the area of biogas systems referring to the hydrostatic
level in the second tank in a row, which is automatically produced by the
pressure of the biogas generated in the first tank.
117
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Biogas Technology and Biomass

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Biogas Technology and Biomass

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Biogas Technology and Biomass

Biogas Technology and Biomass

1 Introduction to bioenergy .............................................................................................................. 4

2 Biogas technology .......................................................................................................................... 7

4 Biogas market development ......................................................................................................... 55

5 Project development .................................................................................................................... 58

6 Specific risk and risk mitigation .................................................................................................... 61

7 Project finance ............................................................................................................................. 78

8 Project due diligence .................................................................................................................... 81

9 Solid biomass - feedstock, technology, operation .......................................................................... 87

11 Biomass to energy technology ................................................................................................... 103

12 Solid biomass ............................................................................................................................. 109

ReGRID Glossary ................................................................................................................................ 116

1.2 Sustainability aspects

2.2 Composition of biogas and explosion range

2.3 Biogas feedstock

Type of material Biogas productivity Methane concentration

Proteins 600 - 700 70 - 75

Fats 1000 - 1250 68 - 73

Carbohydrates (digestible) 700 – 800 50 - 55

2.4 Biogas systems

2.5 Household digesters

2.6 Covered lagoon biogas systems

2.7 Agricultural biogas plants

2.8 Industrial biogas plants

2.9 Sludge treatment plant

2.10 Solid waste – dry fermentation

2.11 Other types of biogas plants

2.12 Biogas potential of different substrates

3.2 Biogas utilisation

3.3 Upgraded biogas

3.5 Comparison of biofuels

3.6 Use of biogas digestate

3.7 Site selection

4 Biogas market development

4.2 Market development in Germany

4.3 Biogas companies in the EU

5.2 Resource assessment

5.3 Permitting issues

6 Specific risk and risk mitigation

6.2 Risk evaluation and mitigation-project endogenous risk

7.2 Structure of project finance

The major contracts that need to be closed are the following:

- disposal off-take contracts for the ash or digestate

- supply contracts for the biomass

- Credit/loan contracts to finance the project with financing institutions

8 Project due diligence

9 Solid biomass - feedstock, technology, operation

9.2 Biomass to energy

9.3 Solid biomass

10.2 Biomass quality – quality types

10.3 Biomass costs

10.4 Biomass feedstock - straw

11 Biomass to energy technology

11.3 Technical concept – parameters to be defined

11.4 Important contracts - fuel

12.2 Solid biomass

12.3 Biomass combustion – steam turbine

12.4 Gasification/ Pyrolysis of biomass

CDM short for “Clean Development Mechanism“, one of three mechanisms

Renewables Academy (RENAC) AG

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