Biogas transport grids, case study “Province of West-Flanders”

Abstract

Biogas collection from several digesters to a hub could support the efficient use of renewable energy from biomass. At a hub, generally a larger volume of biogas induce a scale advantage for the end user, e.g. a CHP. For heat and electricity production, a large improvement of overall energy efficiency can be achieved when heat generation and heat demand are matched. In the Belgian province of West-Flanders 38 digesters were identified. The biogas from these digesters is used to produce electricity and heat at or close to the digester site. In case manure is part of the biomass input streams the heat is mainly used to dry the digestate before it is transported abroad. However, studies are looking at other potential usages of the digestate such as nutrient recovery, which might decrease the demand for heat in the future. For this reason biogas hubs can be an interesting alternative to valorise the biogas. The potential advantages of using a hub have not been fully examined up till now. In this case study the costs (€ct m-3) of biogas transport to a hub were estimated. It is an important first step to evaluate the viability of a business case including a biogas grid in the region. The hub could be situated at one of the digester sites or at a site proposed by experts to be promising for the business case. In the preliminary results biogas transport costs to the hub in a star lay-out for digesters (scale > 1000 m3h-1) are in the range from 2.0 to 6.6 €ct m-3, depending on the distance to the hub and the digester scale.