With the growing global demand for clean and renewable energy, biogas has a significant role to play in the global energy transition. Biogas is competitive, viable, and generally a sustainable energy resource due to an abundant supply of cheap feedstocks and availability of a wide range of biogas applications in heating, power generation, fuel, and raw materials for further processing and production of sustainable chemicals, including hydrogen, carbon dioxide and biofuels. Biogas is produced naturally from organic materials through the anaerobic digestion process. With huge biomass to biogas conversion potential and many feasible biogas to electricity conversion technologies, biogas plays an extremely important role in the energy transition as a renewable energy fuel resource and feedstock for industrial production of chemical fuels and renewable products. The capacity of biogas-based power has been growing rapidly for the past decade, with global biogas-based electricity generation capacity increasing from 65 GW in 2010 to 120 GW in 2019, representing a 90% growth. The main challenge to the use of biogas is unsteady production and quality variations, which can lead to interference in generation or biogas applications, hence lower reliability. This study presents the pathways for the use of biogas in the energy transition by application in power generation and the production of fuels. It is based on a comprehensive review of peer-reviewed literature and official reports covering biogas sources, production processes, and applications. The literature used in this study was published between 1932 and 2022 to give a clear view of the past and status of biogas technology and applications. Diesel engines, petrol or gasoline engines, turbines, microturbines, and Stirling engines offer feasible options for biogas to electricity production as prime movers. Biogas fuel can be used in both spark ignition (petrol) and compression ignition engines (diesel) with varying degrees of modifications on conventional internal combustion engines. In internal combustion engines, the dual-fuel mode can be used with little or no modification compared to full engine conversion to gas engines, which may require major modifications. Biogas can also be used in fuel cells for direct conversion to electricity, raw material for hydrogen and transport fuel production, which is a significant pathway to sustainable energy development. Enriched biogas or biomethane can be containerised or injected into gas supply mains for use as renewable natural gas. Biogas can be used directly for cooking and lighting as well as for power generation and for the production of Fischer-Tropsch (FT) fuels. Upgraded biogas/biomethane, which can also be used to process methanol fuel. Compressed biogas (CBG) and liquid biogas (LBG) can be reversibly made from biomethane for various direct and indirect applications as fuels for transport and power generation. Biogas can be used in processes like combined heat and power generation from biogas (CHP), trigeneration, and compression to Bio-CNG and bio-LPG for cleaned biogas/biomethane. Fuels are manufactured from biogas by cleaning and purification before reforming to syngas, and partial oxidation to produce methanol, which can be used to make gasoline. Syngas is used in the production of alcohols, jet fuels, diesel, and gasoline through the Fischer-Tropsch process. Development and adoption of efficient conversion technologies and equipment are a key strategy for wider adoption and use of biogas in the future energy transition to green and low-carbon sources. The study finally concluded that biogas to electricity and biofuel conversion provide sustainable pathways in the global energy transition and realisation of the Paris climate and emission targets.
Author(s) Details
Moses Jeremiah Barasa
Kabeyi
Department of Industrial Engineering, Institute of Systems Science, Durban
University of Technology, South Africa.
Oludolapo Akanni
Olanrewaju
Institute of Systems Science, Durban University of Technology, South
Africa.
Please see the book here :- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/nhstc/v7/5666
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