Critical Issues and Opportunities for Producing Biomethane in Italy

Roberto Murano, Natascia Maisano, Roberta Selvaggi, Gioacchino Pappalardo and Biagio Pecorino
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Roberto Murano: Consorzio Italiano Biogas e Gassificazione—CIB, 26900 Lodi, Italy
Natascia Maisano: Ente Nazionale Meccanizzazione Agricola—ENAMA, 00159 Rome, Italy
Roberta Selvaggi: Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia, 95123 Catania, Italy
Gioacchino Pappalardo: Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia, 95123 Catania, Italy
Biagio Pecorino: Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia, 95123 Catania, Italy

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-14

Abstract: Nowadays, most Italian biogas produces electricity even though recent political incentives are promoting biomethane from biogas by “upgrading” it. The aim of this paper is to focus on the regulatory framework for producing biomethane from new or already-existent anaerobic digestion plants. The complexity and lack of knowledge of the regulations on biofuel production and of anaerobic digested biomethane from waste and by-products create difficulties of both interpretation and application. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to analyze the regulations for producing biomethane, underline the critical issues and opportunities, and evaluate whether an electrical plant built in the last 10 years in Italy can really be converted to a biomethane plant, thereby lengthening its lifespan. Three case studies were considered to look more closely into applying Italian biomethane incentives and to simulate the types of incentivization in agriculture with examples based on certain fuel types typical of a standard biomethane plant of 500 standard cubic meter per hour. All the considered cases put in evidence that biomethane is a further opportunity for development with a high level of efficiency for all biogas producers, especially for many biogas plants whose incentivization period is about to finish.

Keywords: biomethane; CIC; anaerobic digestion; ILUC; EU Directive 2015/1513 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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