Proceedings of the REGATEC 2014 Conference on Renewable Energy Gas Technology

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The proceedings include 22 presentations and 24 posters covering a wide range of topics covering innovation in biogas production and use.

In recent years it has become evident that renewable methane will play a significant part inthe transfer to a sustainable energy system. It’s a huge advantage that renewable methanecan be distributed in an efficient and environmentally friendly way through the existingnatural gas grid. The high conversion efficiency, the versatility of the fuel and the low combustion emissions are other factors that favour renewable methane.

The biogas community has seen a rapid progress and the possibility to produce a high quality fuel for grid injection or as transport fuel by conversion of different types of waste and by-productsis an attractive path. Upgrading and grid injection facilities have seen an exponential growth and a multitude of technologies are today commercially available on a global scale.

The thermo-chemical biomethane path related to gasification and methanation of lingo-cellulose feedstock is not as developed as the biogas sector but there has been good progress in the last decade. The development of indirect gasification has opened up the possibility to produce a synthesis gas suitable for methanation in small scale plants (<100MWth). This development is mainly driven by small and innovative companies. There are several synergies between these two sectors that haven’t been exploited yet. The most obvious one is to apply carbon dioxide removal technology from the biogas sector to the thermo-chemical conversion path. Other synergies are related to innovative heat integration, better utilization of the feedstock, increased security of biomethane supply, andcost sharing for the upgrading, distribution and utilization of renewable methane.

A third sector under development is related to the Power-to-gas concept where intermittentor stranded electricity is used to produce hydrogen, which in turn is reacted with carbondioxide and/or carbon monoxide to form methane.