Agricultural Biogas—An Important Element in the Circular and Low-Carbon Development in Poland

Abstract

The agricultural sector can play an important role in the transformation of the energy economy in Poland. Special attention in this paper has been paid to the development of the agricultural biogas market in Poland. The considerations mainly concern organizational and economic aspects. Agricultural biogas plant represents the circular cycle of matter and energy. It enables the establishment of low-carbon, resource-efficient links between the agriculture and energy sectors. This is an important element of the circular economy, where waste from agricultural production and the agri-food industry, coming from renewable resources, is transformed into goods with a higher added value. The social and economic needs of the present generation and future generations are considered. The paper presented the characteristics of the Polish market, i.e., the number of entities, the number and location of plants, as well as the production volumes. Analyses were performed in the area of raw materials used to produce agricultural biogas. The analyses were carried out between 2011 and 2018. According to analyses, the potential of the agricultural biogas market in Poland is currently being used to a small extent. It is necessary not only to provide institutional support but also to increase the awareness of farmers and managers in agri-food companies of the possibility of using production waste for energy purposes.

Operational Parameters of Biogas Plants: A Review and Evaluation Study

“…To meet the increased demand for energy needs and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the capacity of worldwide installed renewable energy systems has been doubled over the last decade [1][2][3][4][5]. This also applies to biogas as a source of renewable energy, where the number of biogas plants installed in Europe has been increased from 6227 in 2009 to reach 18,202 by the end of 2018 [6]. The total produced electricity from biogas reached 88 TWh in 2017, 40% of which was generated in Germany [4].…”

“…The total produced electricity from biogas reached 88 TWh in 2017, 40% of which was generated in Germany [4]. Hence, Germany is a leading country in this field [6]. Biogas can be utilized-after treatment-in numerous applications, like electricity and heat generation, connection to the natural gas grid, or as biofuel in vehicles [7].…”

“…Anaerobic digestion is a biological process, in which the microorganisms degrade the complex organic matter to simpler components under anaerobic conditions to produce biogas and fertilizer [6,8]. This process has many environmental benefits, such as green energy production, organic waste treatment, environmental protection, and greenhouse gas emissions reduction [2,[9][10][11][12][13].…”

Importance of Agriculture in Creating Energy Security—A Case Study of Poland

“…The current situation enables Poland to become more independent from imported energy supplies (mainly natural gas imported from the Russian Federation), to achieve diversification of sources of energy, and to create conditions for the development of dispersed energy generation based on locally available raw materials. These are particularly important steps on the path to reaching the national energy policy's goals [31].…”

Correlations between the Composition of Liquid Fraction of Full-Scale Digestates and Process Conditions

“…The appropriate post-treatments for either solid fractions or liquid fractions of digestates are very crucial for any future biogas plant that integrates part of the circular bioeconomy [17,29,30]. The aim of the circular economy is to influence material and energy flows in order to maximize environmental benefits whilst avoiding costs (grow-makese-restore) [31]; which is currently one of the main priorities of the European Union as described in detail by Molina-Moreno et al [32], Muradin et al [33] and Vilardi et al [34].…”