Operation and challenges of biogas technology: A fundamental overview
Agnieszka Pilarska
a:1:{s:5:"en_US";s:88:"Poznań Uniwersity of Life Sciences, Faculty of Environmental and Mechanical Engineering";}Krzysztof Pilarski
Abstract
The modern world is facing a huge energy crisis related to the depletion of conventional energy sources. Therefore, obtaining energy from alternative sources is sparking increasing interest, expressed by both scientists and entrepreneurs. One such source is biogas, which has great potential to become, along with wind and solar energy, an important renewable energy source (RES). The development of biogas production should proceed in a sustainable manner, meaning it should be economically stable and minimize negative environmental impacts. Its goal is to create efficient and eco-friendly energy solutions – largely based on the use of organic waste – that support a circular economy and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Achieving these conditions, however, requires addressing technical challenges, which often include the need to optimize biomass processing and invest in new technologies, issues with substrate heterogeneity, gas management and purification, digestate management, as well as infrastructure and scalability concerns. Sustainable biogas development thus requires solutions to these technical and infrastructure challenges, as well as support from policy and local communities.
This paper presents the technical and practical aspects of biogas production (mainly agricultural) and extensively discusses the anaerobic digestion (AD) process. The global development of biogas plants and the operation of the most important types of biogas plants are also discussed. In the conclusion section, the benefits of biogas technology development are provided and explained, as well as the challenges and barriers hindering the intensification of biogas plant construction despite the potential and access to adequate resources and waste materials.
Keywords:
anaerobic digestion, organic waste, biogas composition, digestate properties, biogas plant operation, achievements and challengesReferences
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