BrewDog, one of the largest Scottish craft breweries, is officially the first carbon negative beer brewery in the world. This, thanks to an investment plan including the start-up of a biogas plant at the brewery's Ellon plant, fuelled with waste from beer processing, which will not only convert production wastewater into clean water, but will also produce biomethane, organic fertilizer and CO2 for food use.

Pomace is a by-product that can be used for the production of biogas, particularly in countries like Italy.

There are several stages between the production of biogas in an anaerobic digester and the injection of biomethane into the national gas grid. Learn more about this process by watching this video from our friends at Biogas Channel who visited a membrane upgrading plant in Northern Italy, which processes 1200 Nm3/h of agricultural biogas!

Shell New Energy is the Shell brand providing innovative and clean energy solutions. Shell New Energy invests two billion dollars annually to support the dissemination of alternative fuels, including LNG and Bio-LNG. To this end, the company is working on several biomethane projects, including three prominent initiatives in Brazil, India and the Netherlands, as explained by Christian Cuenot, Business Developer and Manager at Shell New Energies.

Installed in 2007, the plant was the first in the area to produce biomethane and inject it into the existing natural gas network. Every year, approximately 46,000,000 kWh of biomethane produced covers one third of the area's heating needs, equal to the consumption of about 2,200 families! Here's a closer look at the plant.

Under the Greek sun, in the heart of Macedonia, stands a 1MW biogas plant, generating 8,500 MWh of electricity and 6,500 MWh of thermal energy. The plant, which has been operating since 2016 and is owned by LAGADA S.A., is powered 70% by animal waste, 1.5% by energy crops and the rest by waste from the agricultural food industry. The plant offers numerous benefits, including a reduction in CO2 emissions of around 600 tons a year.

A 600kWe plant has opened in the Belgian town of Thuin

The UK demand for biomethane is rising significantly. Proof of this can be seen at the filling station in Leyland, United Kingdom, which has recorded an increase in demand for gas in 2018 from large companies such as Waitrose, Asda, DHL and Argos as Cadent, the largest UK gas network, explains.

IVECO has been investing in the biomethane sector for many years and is well-aware of the benefits that the fuel can offer. Although many large companies like Ikea, Carrefour, Coca Cola and Nestlé have set an example by using biomethane-powered goods vehicles, there are still many barriers to be overcome in this sector including the availability of suitable filling stations. You can find more details in this interview given by IVECO at this year’s EBA Conference from the Biogas Channel.

The French VOL-V Group recently unveiled a biogas plant in the Montauban-de-Bretagne area, département of Ille-et-Vilaine. The plant has the capacity to reclaim 36,000 tonnes of organic by-products per year.

With the increase in the costs of electricity there is increasing talk in Germany of self-consumption. Electrical self-consumption would result in considerable reductions in costs also for biogas plants. In fact, in this way it is possible to avoid the network cost, save the tax on the electricity and save the additional EEG tax. However, an essential requirement in order to obtain the saving is that the producer and the consumer are one and the same.

If you're interested in learning more about biogas in Germany why not attend the upcoming Biogas Congress in Berlin - http://bioenergy-news.com/conference/biogas/biogas_index.php

Producing biomethane can be a challenging process. Here's an interesting video explaining what it's all about. 

Renewable gas not only took centre stage at the EBA Conference held in Antwerp in January, but also promises to remain central to the challenges of the next decade. Jan Stambasky, president of the association, underlines the need for an adequate legislative framework and looks with optimism to the new European policies due to be adopted in 2018, including the “Renewable Energy Directive” (RED II), which will impact the development of renewable energy for a whole decade between 2020 and 2030.

To learn more about the German biogas market and that of Europe sign up for our 2018 Biogas conference in Berlin - http://bioenergy-news.com/conference/biogas/biogas_index.php

According to 2016 data, France has 780 operational biogas plants producing over 6TWh of biogas, and 26 biomethane plants. Feedstocks, feed-in tariffs, drivers and barriers to development: we discuss all this with Bruno Deremince of the EBA. Overall, investments by companies and a commitment to research paints a rosy future for the industry.

What are the financial and environmental tradeoffs associated with the production of biomethane? Nottingam University has for some time carried out studies on the options for using biomethane in order to maximise its use in the United Kingdom. Alexander Lamond from the Faculty of Engineering discusses the findings, explaining the objectives and results of an interesting study on the topic.

DVGW, the German technical and scientific commission for gas and water, has produced a roadmap to present to the government its research programme on the benefits of using biogas in the German heating and transport sectors.

To learn more about the German biogas market and that of Europe sign up for our 2018 Biogas conference in Berlin - http://bioenergy-news.com/conference/biogas/biogas_index.php