IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i8p3323-d1376513.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Life Cycle Assessment of Methane Slip in Biogas Upgrading Based on Permeable Membrane Technology with Variable Methane Concentration in Raw Biogas

Author

Listed:
  • Egidijus Buivydas

    (Lithuanian Energy Institute, Breslaujos Str. 3, LT-44403 Kaunas, Lithuania)

  • Kęstutis Navickas

    (Agriculture Academy, Vytautas Magnus University, K. Donelaičio Str. 58, LT-44248 Kaunas, Lithuania)

  • Kęstutis Venslauskas

    (Lithuanian Energy Institute, Breslaujos Str. 3, LT-44403 Kaunas, Lithuania
    Agriculture Academy, Vytautas Magnus University, K. Donelaičio Str. 58, LT-44248 Kaunas, Lithuania)

Abstract

While energy-related sectors remain significant contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, biogas production from waste through anaerobic digestion (AD) helps to increase renewable energy production. The biogas production players focus efforts on optimising the AD process to maximise the methane content in biogas, improving known technologies for biogas production and applying newly invented ones: H 2 addition technology, high-pressure anaerobic digestion technology, bioelectrochemical technology, the addition of additives, and others. Though increased methane concentration in biogas gives benefits, biogas upgrading still needs to reach a much higher methane concentration to replace natural gas. There are many biogas upgrading technologies, but almost any has methane slip. This research conducted a life cycle assessment (LCA) on membrane-based biogas upgrading technology, evaluating biomethane production from biogas with variable methane concentrations. The results showed that the increase in methane concentration in the biogas slightly increases the specific electricity consumption for biogas treatment, but heightens methane slip with off-gas in the biogas upgrading unit. However, the LCA analysis showed a positive environmental impact for treating biogas with increasing methane concentrations. This way, the LCA analysis gave a broader comprehension of the environmental impact of biogas upgrading technology on GHG emissions and offered valuable insights into the environmental implications of biomethane production.

Suggested Citation

  • Egidijus Buivydas & Kęstutis Navickas & Kęstutis Venslauskas, 2024. "A Life Cycle Assessment of Methane Slip in Biogas Upgrading Based on Permeable Membrane Technology with Variable Methane Concentration in Raw Biogas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-18, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:8:p:3323-:d:1376513
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/8/3323/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/8/3323/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. George Mallouppas & Elias Ar. Yfantis & Constantina Ioannou & Andreas Paradeisiotis & Angelos Ktoris, 2023. "Application of Biogas and Biomethane as Maritime Fuels: A Review of Research, Technology Development, Innovation Proposals, and Market Potentials," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-25, February.
    2. Baral, Khagendra R. & Jégo, Guillaume & Amon, Barbara & Bol, Roland & Chantigny, Martin H. & Olesen, Jørgen E. & Petersen, Søren O., 2018. "Greenhouse gas emissions during storage of manure and digestates: Key role of methane for prediction and mitigation," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 26-35.
    3. 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).
    4. Ghafoori, Mohammad Samim & Loubar, Khaled & Marin-Gallego, Mylène & Tazerout, Mohand, 2022. "Techno-economic and sensitivity analysis of biomethane production via landfill biogas upgrading and power-to-gas technology," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PB).
    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. Ismaila Rimi Abubakar & Khandoker M. Maniruzzaman & Umar Lawal Dano & Faez S. AlShihri & Maher S. AlShammari & Sayed Mohammed S. Ahmed & Wadee Ahmed Ghanem Al-Gehlani & Tareq I. Alrawaf, 2022. "Environmental Sustainability Impacts of Solid Waste Management Practices in the Global South," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-26, October.
    7. Jacobs, Anna & Auburger, Sebastian & Bahrs, Enno & Brauer-Siebrecht, Wiebke & Christen, Olaf & Götze, Philipp & Koch, Heinz-Josef & Rücknagel, Jan & Märländer, Bernward, 2017. "Greenhouse gas emission of biogas production out of silage maize and sugar beet – An assessment along the entire production chain," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 114-121.
    8. Eljamal, Ramadan & Maamoun, Ibrahim & Bensaida, Khaoula & Yilmaz, Gulsum & Sugihara, Yuij & Eljamal, Osama, 2022. "A novel method to improve methane generation from waste sludge using iron nanoparticles coated with magnesium hydroxide," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Beatriz Aibar-Guzmán & Sónia Monteiro & Fátima David & Francisco M. Somohano-Rodríguez, 2023. "The Waste Hierarchy at the Business Level: An International Outlook," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-22, November.
    2. Svetlana Zueva & Andrey A. Kovalev & Yury V. Litti & Nicolò M. Ippolito & Valentina Innocenzi & Ida De Michelis, 2021. "Environmental and Economic Aspects of Biomethane Production from Organic Waste in Russia," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-8, August.
    3. Henrik B. Møller & Peter Sørensen & Jørgen E. Olesen & Søren O. Petersen & Tavs Nyord & Sven G. Sommer, 2022. "Agricultural Biogas Production—Climate and Environmental Impacts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-24, February.
    4. Nawaz, Ahmad & Razzak, Shaikh Abdur, 2024. "Co-pyrolysis of biomass and different plastic waste to reduce hazardous waste and subsequent production of energy products: A review on advancement, synergies, and future prospects," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    5. Khan, Muhammad Usman & Lee, Jonathan Tian En & Bashir, Muhammad Aamir & Dissanayake, Pavani Dulanja & Ok, Yong Sik & Tong, Yen Wah & Shariati, Mohammad Ali & Wu, Sarah & Ahring, Birgitte Kiaer, 2021. "Current status of biogas upgrading for direct biomethane use: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    6. 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).
    7. 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.
    8. Lauer, Markus & Hansen, Jason K. & Lamers, Patrick & Thrän, Daniela, 2018. "Making money from waste: The economic viability of producing biogas and biomethane in the Idaho dairy industry," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 621-636.
    9. Eljamal, Osama & Eljamal, Ramadan & Falyouna, Omar & Maamoun, Ibrahim & Thompson, Ian P., 2024. "Exceptional contribution of iron nanoparticle and aloe vera biomass additives to biogas production from anaerobic digestion of waste sludge," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    10. Alessia Amato & Konstantina Tsigkou & Alessandro Becci & Francesca Beolchini & Nicolò M. Ippolito & Francesco Ferella, 2023. "Life Cycle Assessment of Biomethane vs. Fossil Methane Production and Supply," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-18, June.
    11. Sylwia Myszograj, 2019. "Biogas and Methane Potential of Pre-Thermally Disintegrated Bio-Waste," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-12, October.
    12. 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.
    13. Reem F. Alruwaili & Nourah Alsadaan & Abeer Nuwayfi Alruwaili & Afrah Ghazi Alrumayh, 2023. "Unveiling the Symbiosis of Environmental Sustainability and Infection Control in Health Care Settings: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-16, November.
    14. Herz, Gregor & Reichelt, Erik & Jahn, Matthias, 2017. "Design and evaluation of a Fischer-Tropsch process for the production of waxes from biogas," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 370-381.
    15. Juan Félix González & Carmen María Álvez-Medina & Sergio Nogales-Delgado, 2023. "Biogas Steam Reforming in Wastewater Treatment Plants: Opportunities and Challenges," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-35, September.
    16. Rasheed, Rizwan & Tahir, Fizza & Yasar, Abdullah & Sharif, Faiza & Tabinda, Amtul Bari & Ahmad, Sajid Rashid & Wang, Yubo & Su, Yuehong, 2022. "Environmental life cycle analysis of a modern commercial-scale fibreglass composite-based biogas scrubbing system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 1261-1271.
    17. Yusuf, Noor & Almomani, Fares, 2023. "Recent advances in biogas purifying technologies: Process design and economic considerations," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    18. Apoorva Upadhyay & Andrey A. Kovalev & Elena A. Zhuravleva & Dmitriy A. Kovalev & Yuriy V. Litti & Shyam Kumar Masakapalli & Nidhi Pareek & Vivekanand Vivekanand, 2022. "Recent Development in Physical, Chemical, Biological and Hybrid Biogas Upgradation Techniques," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-30, December.
    19. 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).
    20. Lijó, Lucía & González-García, Sara & Bacenetti, Jacopo & Moreira, Maria Teresa, 2017. "The environmental effect of substituting energy crops for food waste as feedstock for biogas production," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 1130-1143.

    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:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:8:p:3323-:d:1376513. 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.