Biomethane: A Renewable Resource as Vehicle Fuel

Cucchiella, Federica; D’Adamo, Idiano; Gastaldi, Massimo

doi:10.3390/resources6040058

Cited by 40 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The economic systems of the EU states are directly influenced by the energy policy at the EU level. The European energy system should respond to climate change challenges and support the achievement of sustainable growth in the EU member States [9]. The EU countries with higher GDP succeeded in making progress in production and utilization of renewable energies as higher economic development level provides more financial resources and opportunities to invest in new renewable energy technologies also taking into account geographical conditions of these countries [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The European energy system should respond to climate change challenges and support the achievement of sustainable growth in the EU member States [9]. The EU countries with higher GDP succeeded in making progress in production and utilization of renewable energies as higher economic development level provides more financial resources and opportunities to invest in new renewable energy technologies also taking into account geographical conditions of these countries [9]. Another possible explanation would be the fact that in the EU developed Member States the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources is encouraged by well-developed national legislative frameworks and strong institutions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The subsidies, tax credits, financial assistance and rebates are well-established in favour of renewable technologies in developed market economies. Transition countries having lower GDP per capita and less developed energy markets, have weaker institutions and policy frameworks to support RES as well as less budget resources to provide financial support for RES technologies [9,10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Renewable Energy in the Electricity Sector and GDP per Capita in the European Union

et al. 2019

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Considering that the European Directive has imposed that at least 20% of the total energy should come from renewable energy sources (RES) by 2020 already and the specific targets for each European Union Member State, this paper attempts to assess the importance of GDP per capita in realizing these targets and also the effects of the RES share in electricity. Contrary to previous research, this paper does not consider the connection between economic growth and RES, but rather the potential connection between the share of RES in electricity and the real GDP per capita. The panel data models indicated to a positive, but very low impact of GDP per capita on the share of RES in electricity in the period of 2007–2017 in the case of the EU countries, except Luxembourg that has outlier values of GDP per capita. However, causality between the two variables was not identified. Some groups of countries were described according to these variables using cluster analysis. Future research should focus on the extension of this model by including other important variables such as RES potential available in the countries with specific geographical conditions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Renewable Energy in the Electricity Sector and GDP per Capita in the European Union

et al. 2019

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“…Biomethane is currently emerging as one viable solution for the heavy-duty transport sector [10][11][12], with comprehensive reviews of its benefits and constraints [13,14], and of the required heavy-duty vehicle fleet [15]. The European biomethane market comprises 90% of the global supply [16] and has grown seven-fold since 2000 [17]. Production can be doubled by 2030 [8,17,18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Potential of Biomethane in Replacing Fossil Fuels in Heavy Transport—A Case Study on Finland

et al. 2019

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Electrification is a frequently discussed solution for reducing transport related carbon dioxide emissions. However, transport sectors such as aviation and heavy-duty vehicles remain dependent on on-board fuels. Here, biomethane is still a little exploited solution, and the case of heavy-duty vehicles is particularly underappreciated despite the recent technical advances and potentially notable emission reductions. This paper discusses the potential of biomethane in heavy-duty road transport in the case of Finland, where the utilization rate is low compared to the technical potential. To this end, the potential of biomethane production through both anaerobic digestion and gasification was calculated in three scenarios for the heavy-duty transport fleet, based on the literature values of biomethane potential and truck class fuel consumption. The authors find that approximately half of the heavy-duty transport in Finland could be biomethane fueled by 2030. The estimated production costs for biomethane (81-190 €/MWh) would be competitive with the current consumer diesel price (152 €/MWh). Utilizing the total biomethane potential in heavy-duty transport would furthermore decrease the respective carbon dioxide emissions by 50%. To accelerate the transition in the heavy-duty transport sector, a more comprehensive political framework is needed, taking into account both production and consumption.

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“…In the past, several research studies reported the environmental and economic benefits of using CBM as transport fuel [11][12][13][14]. Importantly, CBM as transportation fuel reduces environmental externality costs [12] and economically incentivize operation of public transportation [15]. However, the potential sustainability benefits of establishing a food waste-based AD plant and upgradation of produced biogas to CBM to use it as a fuel for transit buses subsequently is not comprehensively understood for a city in developing nation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Cost Benefit Analysis of Operating Compressed Biomethane (CBM) Transit Buses in Cities of Developing Nations: A Case Study

et al. 2019

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Cities in developing nations have to deal with two significant sustainability challenges amidst rampant urbanization. First, consumer-generated food waste is increasing monumentally since open dumping is still followed as a predominant practice, the negative environmental externalities associated with food waste disposal are growing beyond manageable proportions. Second, the dependency on conventional fuels like diesel to operate transit buses, which is one of the major causes for deteriorating urban air quality. A nexus established between food waste management and operation of transit buses can improve the sustainable performance of cities in developing nations. In this study, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) supported Social Cost-Benefit Analysis (SCBA) is performed by considering a hypothetical scenario of establishing a large food waste treating biomethanation plant in Mumbai, India. The food waste from the city is transported to a biomethanation plant where it is subjected to an anaerobic digestion (AD) process. The biogas produced as a byproduct is upgraded to compressed biomethane (CBM) and used as a vehicle fuel to operate transit buses within the city. The LCA results suggest that CBM buses can reduce greenhouse gas and particulate matter emissions by 60% compared to diesel or compressed natural gas (CNG) buses. Fossil depletion potential of CBM buses is 98% lower than diesel, suggesting CBM’s importance in decoupling developing nations dependency on imported crude oil. The SCBA considers: (a) costs to stakeholders, i.e., fees for open dumping of food waste and cost of fuel for operating transit buses; and (b) social costs incurred by negative environmental externalities (obtained by monetizing LCA results) resulting from both, open dumping as well as fuel combustion. SCBA results indicate that the food waste-based CBM model can save 6.86 billion Indian rupees (USD 99.4 million) annually for Mumbai. The savings are made due to a reduction in stakeholder’s costs (fuel) coupled with societal, i.e., environmental externality costs if entire transit bus fleet operates on CBM fuel instead of conventional fuel mix (33:67 diesel to CNG) currently used. Although the study is performed for Mumbai, the results will be replicable to any city of developing nations facing similar issues.

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Biomethane: A Renewable Resource as Vehicle Fuel

Cited by 40 publications

References 27 publications

Renewable Energy in the Electricity Sector and GDP per Capita in the European Union

Renewable Energy in the Electricity Sector and GDP per Capita in the European Union

The Potential of Biomethane in Replacing Fossil Fuels in Heavy Transport—A Case Study on Finland

Social Cost Benefit Analysis of Operating Compressed Biomethane (CBM) Transit Buses in Cities of Developing Nations: A Case Study

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