RENEWABLE ENERGY

Biogas is a gas produced during the biological breakdown of organic matter which can be used to provide energy. The gas is produced from the decay of vegetation and other organic materials such as animal manures, sewage treatment sludge or food processing waste. This can occur in places where there is little or no oxygen such as in a landfill (where it is known as landfill gas) or under controlled conditions such as an engineered waste digester.
Biogas emitted from landfill sites or engineered waste digesters can be used to provide heat or to generate electricity.

Why use biogas for energy?

Utilising biogas makes sense because it occurs as a result of a number of existing natural processes and the gas would otherwise be emitted into the atmosphere as a harmful greenhouse gas. Biogas contains methane, which has twenty times more greenhouse effect than carbon dioxide. The process of burning biogas for electricity generation or heat converts the methane into carbon dioxide, therefore significantly reducing the environmental impact. Using biogas technology also means that the polluting potential of organic material is reduced. For example a farmer may choose to collect the effluent from a shed and convert it into gas in an engineered waste digester. By doing so, the farmer avoids having to dispose of the material in the local river which can harm the environment, incur a disposal charge and possibly contaminate the area if any disease was present in the original waste. The farmer can then use the sludge from the digester as a fertiliser as any harmful bacteria will have been killed during the gasification process.

Biogas and landfill gas production

Biogas production processes. Biogas is commonly produced by anaerobic digestion of wet organic waste. In warm, wet and airless conditions, like in decaying vegetation at the bottom of wetlands and ponds, bacteria digests the organic matter. This process can also occur in situations created by human activities, such as in concentrations of sewage and animal manure, in rubbish buried in landfill sites and in engineered waste digesters. The bacterial process itself produces some heat, which helps keep the temperature at an ideal 35C. However, if the engineered waste disposal system is in a cooler climate some of the gas produced may need to be fed back into the process to maintain the optimal temperature. The amount of biogas produced from each dry tonne of feedstock, and the actual useful methane content (which varies from 50 to 90%), both depend on the characteristics of the feedstock. Biogas has a heat value of 19-26 megajoules per cubic meter (MJ/m3).

Image courtesy of URS New Zealand Ltd

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Landfill gas. In landfills, biogas is produced relatively slowly, as the conditions are not ideal for bacteria. The amount of biogas produced will depend on the management and design of the landfill. Depending on how the waste has been laid down and how gas is collected, landfill gas may still be produced for 10 to 50 years after the landfill is sealed. In a landfill, the gas is collected by an array of perforated pipes that are buried as the landfill is filled, or alternatively vertical wells can be drilled to bring the gas to the surface using a vacuum collection system. A typical landfill gas mix will consist of between 40 and 60% methane, with most of the balance being carbon dioxide. Whereas natural gas typically has a heat value of 40MJ/m3, landfill gas is usually around 19-22MJ/m3. Of course the amount of gas produced varies with the proportion of biological material contained in the domestic rubbish, which is typically up to 50%, and in practice most existing landfills have not been designed or managed to achieve optimal gas production. Engineered biomass waste digester. Under controlled and optimised conditions, an engineered biomass waste digester can convert feedstock into biogas in a few days. The anaerobic

even more. In 2003 it provided enough electricity for approximately 19,000 houses; 85GWh of electricity was produced from three landfill gas plants in the Auckland and Wellington regions alone, and 70GWh of electricity was produced from sewage works in Auckland, Christchurch and Hamilton.

Potential resource in New Zealand

The potential for energy from biogas using existing sources of organic waste is in the order of 1.4PJ or 0.3% of New Zealands energy demand. Approximately 80 to 200m3 of landfill gas is produced per tonne of municipal solid waste, and in addition New Zealand has a relatively large primary agricultural industry with many opportunities for producing biogas from animal manure. Potential methane resource generated from piggery waste at farms could provide up to 0.05PJ (14GWh) a year, which is equivalent to the amount of electricity used by 1,700 houses. There is also further potential for biogas from the poultry and dairy industry.

1.4PJ

The potential for energy from biogas using existing sources of organic waste is in the order of 1.4PJ, enough for more than 30,000 homes for a year.
With a change in agricultural and horticultural practices, crop residues could provide significant additional sources of biomass for biogas production, without competing with food production. In many cases, the costs could well prove to be economic because of reduced waste disposal costs. For example, the straw and trash from cereal production could be used in an engineered waste digestion system instead of burning it, as could the grass clippings from mowing orchards. In both cases, energy would be recovered from the biogas, and the digester residues could be returned to the land as fertiliser.

digestion process works on biomass with high moisture content (sometimes up to 95% water), and uses a mixed population of bacteria types to slowly break down the organic materials into sugars and then into various acids. These acids subsequently decompose into a mixture of gases, consisting mainly of methane, carbon dioxide and a little hydrogen sulphide. An inert residue is left behind and often contains nutrients and organic matter which can make it a useful soil conditioner. However if materials in the feedstock are toxic to the processing bacteria, the gas production system can stop completely. There are many digester designs and sizes, ranging from 1m3 in volume for a single household unit to 15,000m3 for a large commercial installation.

Users of biogas for energy

Organisations such as councils and electricity or gas retailers are typical users of biogas as an energy resource. Some individual users, such as farms, will use the gas directly to provide heat for their own operations. Biogas could be used directly for refrigeration or to generate electricity, but this is not as efficient or cost effective as using the gas for heat.

The potential for energy production

Biogas from sewage and landfills is already used for energy in some areas of New Zealand and has the potential to provide

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Biogas can be used to power conventional gas or diesel engines driving electricity generators and to fuel boilers in commercial environments. Generally, the risks associated with unprocessed volatile organic compounds in landfill gas are too high, without treatment, to be used directly in domestic appliances. However these gases can be upgraded to natural gas quality and fed into a local utility network in some circumstances. The biogas can be used as a fuel in a number of different types of plants such as reciprocating gas engines, mini-gas turbines, Stirling engines and fuel cells or by direct combustion in boilers or as part of aco-generation facility. Sewage treatment plants are methane producers by the nature of the process. The gas can be used on site to produce electricity for local consumption or export from the site. Plants at Christchurch, Hamilton and Auckland municipal sewage works are good examples where both methane and natural gas supplies are used in generators at each site. As a vehicle fuel. Less commonly, biogas can be treated, compressed and used as a vehicle fuel in the same way as CNG (compressed natural gas). Treatment is required to remove the carbon dioxide, as it has no energy value and would takeup space in the storage cylinder. Any hydrogen sulphide present is also usually removed if the gas is used in reticulated systems or in engines, as it can cause corrosion of the engine and fuel system components. The resulting scrubbed gas is therefore primarily methane.

refuse over their design life are now required to have the landfill gas collected. This will induce greater utilisation of landfill gas for energy, such as by burning it in a gas turbine onsite to generate electricity, or reticulating the gas for direct use in local industry, community facilities or nearby households. For biogas, the most significant constraint is the lack of information on the technologies, economics and opportunities for using agricultural biomass for energy production. Biogas production is particularly sensitive to feedstock costs. This is shown in the case of biogas crops where the return required to make a farmer switch makes biogas production not viable. It is also critical that there be a continual year-round supply of feedstock of a consistent composition. The need to improve current waste disposal practices under the Resource Management Act in New Zealand is encouraging the food industry to develop waste treatment systems based on biogas technology. This gas can also be used for providing heat energy and on a larger scale, for conversion to electricity.

Why is biogas not used more often to replace natural gas?

Biogas cannot be substituted directly for natural gas because of the carbon dioxide, trace contaminants and any hydrogen sulphide it contains. The cost of removing these makes it less viable in a number of applications. Two critical factors affecting the viability of landfill gas based power schemes are the gas yield per tonne of waste and the total collectable quantity of gas. Both of these can be affected by future waste management strategies, site topography and conditions. Trends towards paper recycling, composting, mulching and re-use of yard wastes will reduce landfill gas production. However, under the National Environmental Standard to Control Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Landfills, all new operational landfills accepting one million tonnes of
Image courtesy of Integrated Systems Engineers

Economics
A number of landfill gas sites operate commercially in New Zealand for the production of electricity and heat and after processing, for addition to natural gas reticulation. The economics for the most favourable sites vary widely at approximately 28c/kWh. In many cases treatment of the waste to produce biogas is not economical in itself but is carried out for other reasons such as odour control and risk management. Also, smallscale generation of biogas is rarely economic because of

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the high labour requirements and dilute nature of the effluent being treated. However as environmental standards in areas such as dairy farming are increased, engineered waste digesters will become often the most economic form of waste disposal. Life cycle cost analyses of anaerobic digester plants and ancillary equipment show that electricity can be generated from biogas for around 2-5c/kWh if the waste feed material is free. However the opportunity value of feedstock for other uses, such as animal feed, and the high labour requirements may increase this cost estimate substantially, particularly for small-scale plants. If green crops are grown for feedstock, the generating costs rise to around 11-18c/kWh.

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Case study
In late 2001, Hamilton City Council signed an agreement with its local electricity distribution network company, WEL Networks, and a landfill gas developer, Green Energy, to develop a landfill gas to energy project at Horotiu, near Hamilton. WEL Networks and Green Energy formed a joint venture, WEL Green Energy (WGE). WGE installed a gas engine and generator at the site to generate electricity from the gas, which has been operating since late 2004. The generator is rated at 920kW. In early 2005 it was running at around 750kW (enough to power about 820 homes). When the final stage is completed in 2007, the generator will operate at full capacity. This project is one of a number that have arisen from the Councils energy management programme startedfive years ago. Over time, annual cost savings have steadily increased, and are presently in excess of $500,000 per annum. The landfill generator will supply around 8 million kWh per year of electricity from a renewable energy source and will displace the equivalent amount from national generators. The Council supplies the landfill gas to WGE and purchases the electricity for use in its facilities at a fixed price. WGE is responsible for maintaining and operating the gas engine and supplying electricity to the Council. As part of covering the landfill, a gas collection system is installed to extract gas and reduce odour and fire risk. The landfill supplying the generator contains more than 600,000 tonnes of waste. Around 650 to 750m3 of biogas is collected every hour for energy conversion from the vertical collectors in the landfill. Once the last stage of the landfill is completed total gas generation is anticipated to be more than 1,000m3/hr. The benefits of the project are significant. In addition to converting methane into less harmful carbon dioxide, it helps displace generation requirements in New Zealand and has allowed the Council to provide its own hedge against volatile electricity market prices. The project has an expected life of twenty years and over that time will deliver significant cost savings that will benefit the community. Electricity supplied from the landfill is not subject to the carbon tax charge and this alone could generate significant savings. National electricity costs are expected to increase from current levels, and this will further improve the cost effectiveness of the project.

This fact sheet was produced by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA). EECA is a Crown entity implementing the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy through improving energy choices.

For more information about EECA, the renewable energy target and links to other information sources visit: www.eeca.govt.nz For more information on biogas visit: www.epa.govt/landfill

June 2005

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