Technology roadmap of renewable natural gas: Identifying trends for research and development to improve biogas upgrading technology management

Lorena R. C. Assunção, Pietro A. S. Mendes, Stelvia Matos and Suzana Borschiver

Applied Energy, 2021, vol. 292, issue C, No S0306261921003433

Abstract: Upgrading biogas offers interchangeability with natural gas, plus the benefits of converting waste into energy to help address climate change. However, only 5% of the biogas produced worldwide is purified to biomethane and injected into the gas grid or used as a transport fuel. Using a Technology Roadmapping approach, this study aims to identify technology trends, key players, and critical factors to broader the production and application of biomethane. Data included 53 companies’ websites, 194 granted patents, 177 patents applied for, and 225 articles, correlating them to different timeframes. We classify the gathered information into taxonomies, which outlines the sector's global trends and gaps over time. Our findings have direct implications for guiding R&D management and strategic planning. Overall, we found that hybrid processes, mainly membranes combined with pressure swing adsorption and absorption with membrane contactor, and cryogenic separation are tendencies for short and medium-term development focus. Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage, and biological upgrading processes, especially microalgae-based, have had a great academic interest and are long-term trends, present in 32% and 20% of the articles, respectively. Biogas upgrading technologies are at a high maturity level with more prominent activity in optimisation and hybrid technologies. There is room for materials improvement and breakthroughs in second-generation technologies, such as biological methanation and Power-to-Gas, by converting carbon dioxide instead of its separation. Finally, to ensure biomethane sustainability and competitiveness, energy & environmental efficiencies and cost reduction are critical factors for R&D, which has prioritised gas purity, yield, and recovery.

Keywords: Technology Roadmapping; Roadmap; Biogas upgrading; Biomethane; Renewable natural gas; Technology management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261921003433
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:292:y:2021:i:c:s0306261921003433

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.116849

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().