IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v228y2018icp1046-1056.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can power to methane systems be sustainable and can they improve the carbon intensity of renewable methane when used to upgrade biogas produced from grass and slurry?

Author

Listed:
  • Vo, Truc T.Q.
  • Rajendran, Karthik
  • Murphy, Jerry D.

Abstract

The recast of the renewable energy directive (RED recast) considers power to gas (P2G) an advanced transport biofuel if a 70% greenhouse gas savings as opposed to the fossil fuel displaced is achieved. Power to methane systems can store electricity as gas and the system can be optimised in sourcing CO2 from biogas to upgrade biogas to biomethane. The crucial question in this work is whether P2G systems can be sustainable and if they can improve the sustainability of biomethane systems using traditional upgrading systems. This work evaluates a comparative lifecycle assessment of grass and slurry (50:50 wet weight equivalent to 80:20 volatile solid weight) biomethane using P2G and/or amine scrubbing as an upgrading method. The sustainability of P2G upgrading systems is heavily dependent on the carbon intensity of the source of electricity. Using a 41% decarbonised electricity mix the sustainability was reduced using P2G and would not be deemed sustainable under criterion set by the RED recast. Maintaining a maximum of 2% fugitive CH4 emissions, using 74% slurry (wet weight) in a grass slurry feedstock, allowing for 0.6 t carbon sequestration per hectare per annum in grasslands and using an electricity mix with 85% renewable electricity the whole system including P2G upgrading could satisfy the GHG savings of 70%. However, the traditional system employing amine scrubbing had higher levels of sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Vo, Truc T.Q. & Rajendran, Karthik & Murphy, Jerry D., 2018. "Can power to methane systems be sustainable and can they improve the carbon intensity of renewable methane when used to upgrade biogas produced from grass and slurry?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 1046-1056.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:228:y:2018:i:c:p:1046-1056
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.06.139
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261918310079
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.06.139?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marshall, A. & Børresen, B. & Hagen, G. & Tsypkin, M. & Tunold, R., 2007. "Hydrogen production by advanced proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysers—Reduced energy consumption by improved electrocatalysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 431-436.
    2. Buratti, C. & Barbanera, M. & Fantozzi, F., 2013. "Assessment of GHG emissions of biomethane from energy cereal crops in Umbria, Italy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 128-136.
    3. ., 2018. "Has decentralization worked?," Chapters, in: Fiscal Decentralization and Local Finance in Developing Countries, chapter 2, pages 36-70, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Jakob Haan & Christina Bodea & Raymond Hicks & Sylvester C. W. Eijffinger, 2018. "Central Bank Independence Before and After the Crisis," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 60(2), pages 183-202, June.
    5. Olav H. Hohmeyer & Sönke Bohm, 2015. "Trends toward 100% renewable electricity supply in Germany and Europe: a paradigm shift in energy policies," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(1), pages 74-97, January.
    6. ., 2018. "Decentralizing and financing infrastructure," Chapters, in: Fiscal Decentralization and Local Finance in Developing Countries, chapter 4, pages 121-164, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. ., 2018. "Giving decentralization a chance," Chapters, in: Fiscal Decentralization and Local Finance in Developing Countries, chapter 9, pages 394-421, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Alessandro Agostini & Ferdinando Battini & Jacopo Giuntoli & Vincenzo Tabaglio & Monica Padella & David Baxter & Luisa Marelli & Stefano Amaducci, 2015. "Environmentally Sustainable Biogas? The Key Role of Manure Co-Digestion with Energy Crops," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-32, June.
    9. Smyth, Beatrice M. & Murphy, Jerry D. & O'Brien, Catherine M., 2009. "What is the energy balance of grass biomethane in Ireland and other temperate northern European climates?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(9), pages 2349-2360, December.
    10. Götz, Manuel & Lefebvre, Jonathan & Mörs, Friedemann & McDaniel Koch, Amy & Graf, Frank & Bajohr, Siegfried & Reimert, Rainer & Kolb, Thomas, 2016. "Renewable Power-to-Gas: A technological and economic review," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 1371-1390.
    11. Denholm, Paul & Hand, Maureen, 2011. "Grid flexibility and storage required to achieve very high penetration of variable renewable electricity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1817-1830, March.
    12. Parra, David & Zhang, Xiaojin & Bauer, Christian & Patel, Martin K., 2017. "An integrated techno-economic and life cycle environmental assessment of power-to-gas systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 440-454.
    13. Vo, Truc T.Q. & Wall, David M. & Ring, Denis & Rajendran, Karthik & Murphy, Jerry D., 2018. "Techno-economic analysis of biogas upgrading via amine scrubber, carbon capture and ex-situ methanation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1191-1202.
    14. ., 2018. "Fiscal decentralization 101," Chapters, in: Fiscal Decentralization and Local Finance in Developing Countries, chapter 1, pages 3-35, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Ren'e Aid & Matteo Basei & Huy^en Pham, 2017. "A McKean-Vlasov approach to distributed electricity generation development," Papers 1705.01302, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2019.
    16. Pinheiro, Érika Flávia Machado & de Campos, David Vilas Boas & de Carvalho Balieiro, Fabiano & dos Anjos, Lúcia Helena Cunha & Pereira, Marcos Gervasio, 2015. "Tillage systems effects on soil carbon stock and physical fractions of soil organic matter," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 35-39.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Iris Kral & Gerhard Piringer & Molly K. Saylor & Javier Lizasoain & Andreas Gronauer & Alexander Bauer, 2020. "Life Cycle Assessment of Biogas Production from Unused Grassland Biomass Pretreated by Steam Explosion Using a System Expansion Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-17, November.
    2. Puricelli, S. & Cardellini, G. & Casadei, S. & Faedo, D. & van den Oever, A.E.M. & Grosso, M., 2021. "A review on biofuels for light-duty vehicles in Europe," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    3. Kolb, Sebastian & Plankenbühler, Thomas & Hofmann, Katharina & Bergerson, Joule & Karl, Jürgen, 2021. "Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of renewable gas technologies: A comparative review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    4. Witte, Julia & Calbry-Muzyka, Adelaide & Wieseler, Tanja & Hottinger, Peter & Biollaz, Serge M.A. & Schildhauer, Tilman J., 2019. "Demonstrating direct methanation of real biogas in a fluidised bed reactor," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C), pages 359-371.
    5. Nicholas Davison & Aaron Brown & Andrew Ross, 2023. "Potential Greenhouse Gas Mitigation from Utilising Pig Manure and Grass for Hydrothermal Carbonisation and Anaerobic Digestion in the UK, EU, and China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-17, February.
    6. Koj, Jan Christian & Wulf, Christina & Zapp, Petra, 2019. "Environmental impacts of power-to-X systems - A review of technological and methodological choices in Life Cycle Assessments," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 865-879.
    7. Zhang, Yizhen & Jiang, Yan & Wang, Shun & Wang, Zhongzhong & Liu, Yanchen & Hu, Zhenhu & Zhan, Xinmin, 2021. "Environmental sustainability assessment of pig manure mono- and co-digestion and dynamic land application of the digestate," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    8. Awasthi, Mukesh Kumar & Sarsaiya, Surendra & Wainaina, Steven & Rajendran, Karthik & Kumar, Sumit & Quan, Wang & Duan, Yumin & Awasthi, Sanjeev Kumar & Chen, Hongyu & Pandey, Ashok & Zhang, Zengqiang , 2019. "A critical review of organic manure biorefinery models toward sustainable circular bioeconomy: Technological challenges, advancements, innovations, and future perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 115-131.
    9. Soha, Tamás & Papp, Luca & Csontos, Csaba & Munkácsy, Béla, 2021. "The importance of high crop residue demand on biogas plant site selection, scaling and feedstock allocation – A regional scale concept in a Hungarian study area," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    10. Long, A. & Bose, A. & O'Shea, R. & Monaghan, R. & Murphy, J.D., 2021. "Implications of European Union recast Renewable Energy Directive sustainability criteria for renewable heat and transport: Case study of willow biomethane in Ireland," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    11. Gayatri Udaysinh Ingale & Hyun-Min Kwon & Soohwa Jeong & Dongho Park & Whidong Kim & Byeingryeol Bang & Young-Il Lim & Sung Won Kim & Youn-Bae Kang & Jungsoo Mun & Sunwoo Jun & Uendo Lee, 2022. "Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Hydrogen Production Processes: Turquoise Hydrogen vs. Steam Methane Reforming," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-20, November.
    12. Máté Zavarkó & Attila R. Imre & Gábor Pörzse & Zoltán Csedő, 2021. "Past, Present and Near Future: An Overview of Closed, Running and Planned Biomethanation Facilities in Europe," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-27, September.
    13. Gray, Nathan & O'Shea, Richard & Smyth, Beatrice & Lens, Piet N.L. & Murphy, Jerry D., 2022. "What is the energy balance of electrofuels produced through power-to-fuel integration with biogas facilities?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    14. Singlitico, Alessandro & Goggins, Jamie & Monaghan, Rory F.D., 2019. "The role of life cycle assessment in the sustainable transition to a decarbonised gas network through green gas production," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 16-28.
    15. Bose, Archishman & O'Shea, Richard & Lin, Richen & Long, Aoife & Rajendran, Karthik & Wall, David & De, Sudipta & Murphy, Jerry D., 2022. "The marginal abatement cost of co-producing biomethane, food and biofertiliser in a circular economy system," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    16. Wu, Benteng & Lin, Richen & Bose, Archishman & Huerta, Jorge Diaz & Kang, Xihui & Deng, Chen & Murphy, Jerry D., 2023. "Economic and environmental viability of biofuel production from organic wastes: A pathway towards competitive carbon neutrality," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    17. Wu, Benteng & Lin, Richen & O'Shea, Richard & Deng, Chen & Rajendran, Karthik & Murphy, Jerry D., 2021. "Production of advanced fuels through integration of biological, thermo-chemical and power to gas technologies in a circular cascading bio-based system," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    18. Bose, A. & O'Shea, R. & Lin, R. & Long, A. & Rajendran, K. & Wall, D. & De, S. & Murphy, J.D., 2022. "Evaluation of a biomethane, food and biofertiliser polygeneration system in a circular economy system," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    19. Li, Li & Wang, Jing & Zhong, Xiaoyi & Lin, Jian & Wu, Nianyuan & Zhang, Zhihui & Meng, Chao & Wang, Xiaonan & Shah, Nilay & Brandon, Nigel & Xie, Shan & Zhao, Yingru, 2022. "Combined multi-objective optimization and agent-based modeling for a 100% renewable island energy system considering power-to-gas technology and extreme weather conditions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    20. Inkeri, Eero & Tynjälä, Tero & Karjunen, Hannu, 2021. "Significance of methanation reactor dynamics on the annual efficiency of power-to-gas -system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 1113-1126.
    21. Robert Bedoić & Goran Smoljanić & Tomislav Pukšec & Lidija Čuček & Davor Ljubas & Neven Duić, 2021. "Geospatial Analysis and Environmental Impact Assessment of a Holistic and Interdisciplinary Approach to the Biogas Sector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-20, August.
    22. Long, Aoife & Murphy, Jerry D., 2019. "Can green gas certificates allow for the accurate quantification of the energy supply and sustainability of biomethane from a range of sources for renewable heat and or transport?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Strübing, Dietmar & Moeller, Andreas B. & Mößnang, Bettina & Lebuhn, Michael & Drewes, Jörg E. & Koch, Konrad, 2018. "Anaerobic thermophilic trickle bed reactor as a promising technology for flexible and demand-oriented H2/CO2 biomethanation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 543-554.
    2. McDonagh, Shane & Deane, Paul & Rajendran, Karthik & Murphy, Jerry D., 2019. "Are electrofuels a sustainable transport fuel? Analysis of the effect of controls on carbon, curtailment, and cost of hydrogen," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C), pages 716-730.
    3. Eveloy, Valerie & Gebreegziabher, Tesfaldet, 2019. "Excess electricity and power-to-gas storage potential in the future renewable-based power generation sector in the United Arab Emirates," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 426-450.
    4. Blanco, Herib & Faaij, André, 2018. "A review at the role of storage in energy systems with a focus on Power to Gas and long-term storage," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 1049-1086.
    5. Gray, Nathan & O'Shea, Richard & Smyth, Beatrice & Lens, Piet N.L. & Murphy, Jerry D., 2022. "What is the energy balance of electrofuels produced through power-to-fuel integration with biogas facilities?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    6. Eveloy, Valerie, 2019. "Hybridization of solid oxide electrolysis-based power-to-methane with oxyfuel combustion and carbon dioxide utilization for energy storage," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 550-571.
    7. Vo, Truc T.Q. & Wall, David M. & Ring, Denis & Rajendran, Karthik & Murphy, Jerry D., 2018. "Techno-economic analysis of biogas upgrading via amine scrubber, carbon capture and ex-situ methanation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1191-1202.
    8. Valerie Eveloy & Tesfaldet Gebreegziabher, 2018. "A Review of Projected Power-to-Gas Deployment Scenarios," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-52, July.
    9. Van Dael, Miet & Kreps, Sabine & Virag, Ana & Kessels, Kris & Remans, Koen & Thomas, Denis & De Wilde, Fabian, 2018. "Techno-economic assessment of a microbial power-to-gas plant – Case study in Belgium," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 416-425.
    10. Guandalini, Giulio & Campanari, Stefano & Romano, Matteo C., 2015. "Power-to-gas plants and gas turbines for improved wind energy dispatchability: Energy and economic assessment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 117-130.
    11. Gerbaulet, Clemens & von Hirschhausen, Christian & Kemfert, Claudia & Lorenz, Casimir & Oei, Pao-Yu, 2019. "European electricity sector decarbonization under different levels of foresight," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 141, pages 973-987.
    12. Stefan Arens & Sunke Schlüters & Benedikt Hanke & Karsten von Maydell & Carsten Agert, 2020. "Sustainable Residential Energy Supply: A Literature Review-Based Morphological Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-28, January.
    13. Bose, Archishman & O'Shea, Richard & Lin, Richen & Long, Aoife & Rajendran, Karthik & Wall, David & De, Sudipta & Murphy, Jerry D., 2022. "The marginal abatement cost of co-producing biomethane, food and biofertiliser in a circular economy system," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    14. Robert Czubaszek & Agnieszka Wysocka-Czubaszek & Piotr Banaszuk, 2020. "GHG Emissions and Efficiency of Energy Generation through Anaerobic Fermentation of Wetland Biomass," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-25, December.
    15. Lewandowska-Bernat, Anna & Desideri, Umberto, 2018. "Opportunities of power-to-gas technology in different energy systems architectures," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 57-67.
    16. Sinn, Hans-Werner, 2017. "Buffering volatility: A study on the limits of Germany's energy revolution," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 130-150.
    17. Percebois, Jacques & Pommeret, Stanislas, 2019. "Storage cost induced by a large substitution of nuclear by intermittent renewable energies: The French case," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    18. Kouchachvili, Lia & Entchev, Evgueniy, 2018. "Power to gas and H2/NG blend in SMART energy networks concept," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 456-464.
    19. Bailera, Manuel & Peña, Begoña & Lisbona, Pilar & Romeo, Luis M., 2018. "Decision-making methodology for managing photovoltaic surplus electricity through Power to Gas: Combined heat and power in urban buildings," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 1032-1045.
    20. Inkeri, Eero & Tynjälä, Tero & Karjunen, Hannu, 2021. "Significance of methanation reactor dynamics on the annual efficiency of power-to-gas -system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 1113-1126.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:228:y:2018:i:c:p:1046-1056. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.