IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i17p5374-d624811.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Geospatial Analysis and Environmental Impact Assessment of a Holistic and Interdisciplinary Approach to the Biogas Sector

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Bedoić

    (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, Ul. Ivana Lučića 5, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia)

  • Goran Smoljanić

    (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, Ul. Ivana Lučića 5, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia)

  • Tomislav Pukšec

    (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, Ul. Ivana Lučića 5, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia)

  • Lidija Čuček

    (Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, University of Maribor, Smetanova ul. 17, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia)

  • Davor Ljubas

    (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, Ul. Ivana Lučića 5, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia)

  • Neven Duić

    (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, Ul. Ivana Lučića 5, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia)

Abstract

Crop-based biogas energy production, in combination with electricity generation under subsidy schemes, is no longer considered a favourable business model for biogas plants. Switching to low-cost or gate fee feedstocks and utilising biogas via alternative pathways could contribute to making existing plants fit for future operations and could open up new space for further expansion of the biogas sector. The aim of this study was to combine a holistic and interdisciplinary approach for both the biogas production side and the utilisation side to evaluate the impact of integrating the biogas sector with waste management systems and energy systems operating with a high share of renewable energy sources. The geospatial availability of residue materials from agriculture, industry and municipalities was assessed using QGIS software for the case of Northern Croatia with the goal of replacing maize silage in the operation of existing biogas plants. Furthermore, the analysis included positioning new biogas plants, which would produce renewable gas. The overall approach was evaluated through life cycle assessment using SimaPro software to quantify the environmental benefits and identify the bottlenecks of the implemented actions. The results showed that the given feedstocks could replace 212 GWh of biogas from maize silage in the relevant region and create an additional 191 GWh of biomethane in new plants. The LCA revealed that the proposed measures would contribute to the decarbonisation of natural gas by creating environmental benefits that are 36 times greater compared to a business-as-usual concept. The presented approach could be of interest to stakeholders in the biogas sector anywhere in the world to encourage further integration of biogas technologies into energy and environmental transitions.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:17:p:5374-:d:624811
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/17/5374/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/17/5374/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Borna Doračić & Tomislav Novosel & Tomislav Pukšec & Neven Duić, 2018. "Evaluation of Excess Heat Utilization in District Heating Systems by Implementing Levelized Cost of Excess Heat," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-14, March.
    2. Höhn, J. & Lehtonen, E. & Rasi, S. & Rintala, J., 2014. "A Geographical Information System (GIS) based methodology for determination of potential biomasses and sites for biogas plants in southern Finland," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1-10.
    3. Alberto Benato & Alarico Macor, 2019. "Italian Biogas Plants: Trend, Subsidies, Cost, Biogas Composition and Engine Emissions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-31, March.
    4. Roubík, Hynek & Mazancová, Jana & Rydval, Jan & Kvasnička, Roman, 2020. "Uncovering the dynamic complexity of the development of small–scale biogas technology through causal loops," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 235-243.
    5. Ciro Florio & Gabriella Fiorentino & Fabiana Corcelli & Sergio Ulgiati & Stefano Dumontet & Joshua Güsewell & Ludger Eltrop, 2019. "A Life Cycle Assessment of Biomethane Production from Waste Feedstock Through Different Upgrading Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-12, February.
    6. Peter Lustenberger & Felix Schumacher & Matteo Spada & Peter Burgherr & Bozidar Stojadinovic, 2019. "Assessing the Performance of the European Natural Gas Network for Selected Supply Disruption Scenarios Using Open-Source Information," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-28, December.
    7. 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.
    8. Bacenetti, Jacopo & Sala, Cesare & Fusi, Alessandra & Fiala, Marco, 2016. "Agricultural anaerobic digestion plants: What LCA studies pointed out and what can be done to make them more environmentally sustainable," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 669-686.
    9. Lovrak, Ana & Pukšec, Tomislav & Duić, Neven, 2020. "A Geographical Information System (GIS) based approach for assessing the spatial distribution and seasonal variation of biogas production potential from agricultural residues and municipal biowaste," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    10. Scarlat, Nicolae & Dallemand, Jean-François & Fahl, Fernando, 2018. "Biogas: Developments and perspectives in Europe," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 129(PA), pages 457-472.
    11. Kantorek, Marcin & Jesionek, Krzysztof & Polesek-Karczewska, Sylwia & Ziółkowski, Paweł & Stajnke, Michał & Badur, Janusz, 2021. "Thermal utilization of meat-and-bone meal using the rotary kiln pyrolyzer and the fluidized bed boiler – The performance of pilot-scale installation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1447-1456.
    12. Meha, Drilon & Novosel, Tomislav & Duić, Neven, 2020. "Bottom-up and top-down heat demand mapping methods for small municipalities, case Gllogoc," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    13. Jacobs, Anna & Auburger, Sebastian & Bahrs, Enno & Brauer-Siebrecht, Wiebke & Christen, Olaf & Götze, Philipp & Koch, Heinz-Josef & Mußhoff, Oliver & Rücknagel, Jan & Märländer, Bernward, 2017. "Replacing silage maize for biogas production by sugar beet – A system analysis with ecological and economical approaches," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 270-278.
    14. Jeong, Dawoon & Tyner, Wallace E. & Meilan, Richard & Brown, Tristan R. & Doering, Otto C., 2020. "Stochastic techno-economic analysis of electricity produced from poplar plantations in Indiana," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 189-197.
    15. Bedoić, Robert & Jurić, Filip & Ćosić, Boris & Pukšec, Tomislav & Čuček, Lidija & Duić, Neven, 2020. "Beyond energy crops and subsidised electricity – A study on sustainable biogas production and utilisation in advanced energy markets," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    16. Federico Battista & Nicola Frison & David Bolzonella, 2019. "Energy and Nutrients’ Recovery in Anaerobic Digestion of Agricultural Biomass: An Italian Perspective for Future Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-13, August.
    17. Bedoić, Robert & Dorotić, Hrvoje & Schneider, Daniel Rolph & Čuček, Lidija & Ćosić, Boris & Pukšec, Tomislav & Duić, Neven, 2021. "Synergy between feedstock gate fee and power-to-gas: An energy and economic analysis of renewable methane production in a biogas plant," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 12-23.
    18. Collet, Pierre & Flottes, Eglantine & Favre, Alain & Raynal, Ludovic & Pierre, Hélène & Capela, Sandra & Peregrina, Carlos, 2017. "Techno-economic and Life Cycle Assessment of methane production via biogas upgrading and power to gas technology," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 282-295.
    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. Alessandro A. Carmona-Martínez & Carmen Bartolomé & Clara A. Jarauta-Córdoba, 2023. "The Role of Biogas and Biomethane as Renewable Gases in the Decarbonization Pathway to Zero Emissions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-3, August.
    2. Piotr Pietrzak & Elżbieta Kacperska & Jakub Kraciuk & Katarzyna Łukasiewicz, 2025. "Publication Trends, Key Findings, and Research Gaps in Renewable Energy Applications in Agriculture," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-22, January.
    3. Thanuja Gelanigama Mesthrige & Prasad Kaparaju, 2025. "Decarbonisation of Natural Gas Grid: A Review of GIS-Based Approaches on Spatial Biomass Assessment, Plant Siting and Biomethane Grid Injection," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-35, February.
    4. Mislav Kontek & Luka Brezinščak & Vanja Jurišić & Ivan Brandić & Alan Antonović & Božidar Matin & Karlo Špelić & Tajana Krička & Ana Matin, 2023. "Mitigating the Energy Crisis: Utilization of Seed Production Wastes for Energy Production in Continental Croatia," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-11, January.

    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. Lombardi, Lidia & Francini, Giovanni, 2020. "Techno-economic and environmental assessment of the main biogas upgrading technologies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 440-458.
    2. Lovrak, Ana & Pukšec, Tomislav & Grozdek, Marino & Duić, Neven, 2022. "An integrated Geographical Information System (GIS) approach for assessing seasonal variation and spatial distribution of biogas potential from industrial residues and by-products," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PB).
    3. Guzović, Zvonimir & Duic, Neven & Piacentino, Antonio & Markovska, Natasa & Mathiesen, Brian Vad & Lund, Henrik, 2022. "Recent advances in methods, policies and technologies at sustainable energy systems development," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    4. Elena Tamburini & Mattias Gaglio & Giuseppe Castaldelli & Elisa Anna Fano, 2020. "Is Bioenergy Truly Sustainable When Land-Use-Change (LUC) Emissions Are Accounted for? The Case-Study of Biogas from Agricultural Biomass in Emilia-Romagna Region, Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-20, April.
    5. Cho, Hannah Hyunah & Strezov, Vladimir & Evans, Tim J., 2024. "Life cycle assessment of power-to-methane and renewable methane production technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. Medina, Oscar E. & Amell, Andrés A. & López, Diana & Santamaría, Alexander, 2025. "Comprehensive review of nickel-based catalysts advancements for CO2 methanation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    9. Bedoić, Robert & Dorotić, Hrvoje & Schneider, Daniel Rolph & Čuček, Lidija & Ćosić, Boris & Pukšec, Tomislav & Duić, Neven, 2021. "Synergy between feedstock gate fee and power-to-gas: An energy and economic analysis of renewable methane production in a biogas plant," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 12-23.
    10. Jacopo Bacenetti, 2020. "Economic and Environmental Impact Assessment of Renewable Energy from Biomass," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-5, July.
    11. Ingrao, Carlo & Bacenetti, Jacopo & Adamczyk, Janusz & Ferrante, Valentina & Messineo, Antonio & Huisingh, Donald, 2019. "Investigating energy and environmental issues of agro-biogas derived energy systems: A comprehensive review of Life Cycle Assessments," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 296-307.
    12. Valerii Havrysh & Antonina Kalinichenko & Grzegorz Mentel & Tadeusz Olejarz, 2020. "Commercial Biogas Plants: Lessons for Ukraine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-24, May.
    13. Bidart, Christian & Wichert, Martin & Kolb, Gunther & Held, Michael, 2022. "Biogas catalytic methanation for biomethane production as fuel in freight transport - A carbon footprint assessment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    14. Agnieszka Urbanowska & Małgorzata Kabsch-Korbutowicz, 2021. "The Use of Flat Ceramic Membranes for Purification of the Liquid Fraction of the Digestate from Municipal Waste Biogas Plants," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-12, July.
    15. 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.
    16. Siegrist, Armin & Bowman, Gillianne & Burg, Vanessa, 2022. "Energy generation potentials from agricultural residues: The influence of techno-spatial restrictions on biomethane, electricity, and heat production," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 327(C).
    17. 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).
    18. De Menna, Fabio & Malagnino, Remo Alessio & Vittuari, Matteo & Segrè, Andrea & Molari, Giovanni & Deligios, Paola A. & Solinas, Stefania & Ledda, Luigi, 2018. "Optimization of agricultural biogas supply chains using artichoke byproducts in existing plants," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 137-146.
    19. 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).
    20. Buffat, René & Raubal, Martin, 2019. "Spatio-temporal potential of a biogenic micro CHP swarm in Switzerland," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 443-454.

    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:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:17:p:5374-:d:624811. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.