Biogas and biomethane production potential via anaerobic digestion of manure: A case study of Portugal

Daniel J. Fernandes, Ana F. Ferreira and Edgar C. Fernandes

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2023, vol. 188, issue C

Abstract: Anaerobic digestion is a promising technology that can be part of the solution to meet the increasing energy demand while reducing the harmful effects on the environment. The objective of this work is to assess Portugal’s potential to produce biogas or biomethane via anaerobic digestion of manure. First, a spatial analysis of manure availability was done using ArcGIS. Then, a thermodynamic model of the production system was created in MATLAB, which includes three proposed production paths. The outputs of the thermodynamic model served as inputs for an economic analysis, also performed in MATLAB, and a life cycle assessment done using SimaPro software. Findings from the spatial analysis revealed that the centre and south areas (excluding Algarve) of Portugal have the highest manure availability, 73.6% of the national amount, and the Azores archipelago has high availability of cattle manure, 17.88% of the national amount. The total possible amount of production plants was estimated as 743. The thermodynamic model results show that the region of Lezíria do Tejo has the highest biogas and biomethane production potential, at 557172 t/year and 352364 t/year. Furthermore, the total potential biogas and biomethane production in Portugal was estimated as 3561947.05 t/year and 1791402.48 t/year. Regarding energy, the calculated efficiencies of biogas and biomethane production were 62.96% and 51.82%. The economic analysis yielded national average selling prices of 0.8174 €/kg and 1.290 €/kg for biogas and biomethane. The life cycle assessment showed that the main concerns regarding this type of systems are toxicity impacts and resource consumption.

Keywords: Biogas; Biomethane; Anaerobic digestion; Thermodynamic model; Economic analysis; Life cycle assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032123007049
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:rensus:v:188:y:2023:i:c:s1364032123007049

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600126/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2023.113846

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews is currently edited by L. Kazmerski

More articles in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().