Assessing process effectiveness with specific environmental and economic impact of heat, power & chemicals (HPC) option as future perspective in biogas

Abstract

In RED II, the overall EU target for renewable energy sources consumption by 2030 has been raised to 32%. Biogas is an important contributor to the future of bioenergy and its targets. The most used technology processes to exploit biogas are the production of heat and electricity in Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants and Biomethane Injection Plant (BIP) where biogas is upgraded to biomethane through the removal of CO2 and impurities. Nowadays, however, with the new national and European directives lowering incentives for energy generation from biogas, these plants have the critical risk of dismissing. The chemical industry requires new innovative pathways to exploit this feedstock. A promising opportunity that offers economic profitability seems to be the conversion of biogas into chemicals such as biomethanol with a new process technology called Heat, Power & Chemicals (HPC). This work introduces the HPC methanol synthesis through process simulation and LCA assessment analysis comparison with the most consolidated processes. Cradle-to-gate LCA analysis results highlight a lower carbon footprint for HPC technology. CAPEX/OPEX analysis assesses the promising economic feasibility of the HPC process. The positive feedback from the two studies gives actual and future perspectives in the biogas sector with the production of cleaner fuel through a circular process.

Keywords

• Biogas
• Biofuels
• HPC
• CHP
• Biorefineries
• Green Methanol