Biosynthetic Natural Gas

Excerpt

Since the discussion on climate protection started and numerous countries declared defined goals for the use of renewable sources of energy in the heat, electricity as well as in the transportation sector, the request to develop promising and sustainable nonfossil energy pathways gain more and more importance on the political agenda. Under the various renewable sources of energy biomass and especially solid biofuels contribute already significantly within the global energy system mainly due to the easy availability of solid biomass and the ability to cover the given demand anytime (e.g., application for cooking purposes in developing countries, provision of heat in countries with a cold season). Beside these established pathways, new routes for an efficient and sustainable biomass use are under development. One promising example of such a new provision chain is the conversion of solid biofuels via gasification and subsequent methanation into Biosynthetic Natural Gas (Bio-SNG) to be used as a substitute for Natural Gas. This provision pathway allows the use of local available lignocellulosic biomass for the efficient production of a well-known gaseous energy carrier (i.e., Bio-SNG). Thus, this energy carrier can substitute Natural Gas and can help to reduce the energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. With the use of Bio-SNG in the mobile and stationary sector, the already existing infrastructure can be used. Based on this, the aim of the following explanations is to present such Bio-SNG provision chains in detail and to assess them concerning technical, economic and environmental aspects. …