Grass Biomethane as a Transport Fuel 13.04.2010
"Grass as a source of renewable gaseous fuel” is the title of a conference being hosted by The Environmental Research Institute (ERI), UCC on Thursday, April 15th 2010. The event is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The
conference has two ambitions:
to highlight the benefits of
grass as a source of biomethane;
to promote injection of
biomethane to the gas grid which facilitates its use elsewhere as a source
of renewable transport fuel or renewable heat.
Ireland has 91% of land
under grass. This grassland is at present under utilised. There is a very low
family farm income associated with beef farming. Environmental legislation does
not allow conversion of grassland to arable land. Thus ubiquitous grasslands
may now be the source of clean indigenous biofuel that may be said to be free
from the food fuel debate and from land use change issues.
Grass
biomethane has been shown to be a very sustainable renewable energy sources.
Grasslands are carbon sinks; grass is a low energy input crop as it is a
perennial; the anaerobic digestion process is a simple low energy input
technology. The industry has to be rural based, is generally of relatively
small scale and as such has great benefits for rural development.
Germany has
4700 digesters and expects to increase this number by 1000 per annum. Austria
has 600 digesters. A paper published by the Biofuels Research
Group in the ERI suggests that 7% substitution of natural gas by biomethane in
Ireland is readily achievable by 2020 with grass as the dominant feedstock. This would be effected through 200 digesters at a scale of about 50,000
tonnes per annum. Typically each digester would cost €7 million. The industry
will bring economic benefits, through reduced energy importation, reduced
carbon fines, direct rural employment in operation of digesters, reemployment
of the construction workforce in building digesters.
Biomethane
injection to the gas grid offers a very efficient distribution system for a
renewable energy source. It also allows the biomethane to be used in lieu of
natural gas for heating and for transport. It is a most effective means of
renewable heat supply in conjested cities such as London and Dublin. About
640,000 houses and businesses are connected to the gas grid in the Republic of
Ireland.
The
Conference will include presentations from academia, industry and the Irish
Farmers Association.
Enquiries: Dr Jerry Murphy, Environmental Research Institute, UCC; jerry.murphy@ucc.ie
Pictured at the event today (April 15th 2010) were: Laura Burke, Environmental Protection Agency, Phillip O'Brien, Dr Jerry D. Murphy, Chair, Biofuels Research Group, ERI and Dr Padraig O Kiely, Teagasc.
