Biogas digestate marketing: Qualitative insights into the supply side

Johannes Dahlin, Carsten Herbes and Michael Nelles

Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 2015, vol. 104, issue PA, 152-161

Abstract: Managing digestate output and developing a market for the product is a serious challenge for the biogas industry. Without effective strategies for sustainable management, the large volume of digestate produced by biogas plants may cripple the industry and its potential. Through interviews with diverse biogas stakeholders, we examine current approaches to digestate marketing to identify factors that support and those that inhibit its success. We find that marketing to regions with a nutrient demand or into the non-agricultural sector holds promise. Upgraded digestate products offer increased marketability due to their higher nutrient content and lower water content. Fertilizer and soil manufacturers, farmers, horticulturists and private customers all represent markets for digestate. Current disposal prices range from negative to strongly positive, depending on the regional nutrient availability, agricultural structure, season, feedstock and degree of upgrading. Marketers agree that concealing the biogas origin of digestate products is still necessary to avoid negative perceptions by customers. One implication of this is the need for better understanding by marketers of consumer concerns and preferences, and for better education of consumers regarding the safety and benefits of digestate. Overall, we find that opportunities for digestate marketing remain largely unexploited and marketing strategies remain immature. Our findings should prove helpful to current and future digestate marketers.

Keywords: Marketing; Biogas digestate; Organic fertilizer; Compost (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344915300732
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:recore:v:104:y:2015:i:pa:p:152-161

DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2015.08.013

Access Statistics for this article

Resources, Conservation & Recycling is currently edited by Ming Xu

More articles in Resources, Conservation & Recycling from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Kai Meng ().