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Is grass biomethane a sustainable transport biofuel?
Author(s) -
Korres Nicholas E.,
Singh Anoop,
Nizami AbdulSattar,
Murphy Jerry D.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
biofuels, bioproducts and biorefining
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.931
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1932-1031
pISSN - 1932-104X
DOI - 10.1002/bbb.228
Subject(s) - biogas , biofuel , digestate , greenhouse gas , environmental science , renewable energy , arable land , waste management , biomass (ecology) , electricity , sustainability , diesel fuel , fossil fuel , anaerobic digestion , environmental engineering , agriculture , engineering , methane , agronomy , chemistry , ecology , electrical engineering , biology , organic chemistry
Grassland is a beneficial landscape for numerous reasons including potential to sequester carbon in the soil. Cross compliance dictates that grassland should not be converted to arable land; this is particularly interesting in Ireland where 91% of agricultural land is under grass. Biogas generated from grass and further upgraded to biomethane has been shown to offer a better energy balance than first‐generation liquid biofuels indigenous to Europe. The essential question is whether the gaseous biofuel meets the EU sustainability criteria of 60% greenhouse gas emission savings. The base‐case scenario investigated included: utilization of electricity from the grid; over‐sizing heated digestion tanks to hold digestate in the winter period; vehicular efficiency 82% of that of a diesel vehicle; and no allowance for carbon sequestration. The analysis of the base case showed a reduction in emissions of 21.5%. However by varying the system, using electricity from wind, improving digester configuration, and by using a vehicle optimized for gaseous fuel, a reduction of 54% was evaluated. Furthermore allowing for 0.6 t carbon sequestration per hectare per annum the reduction increased to 75%. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd