Title:
Monitoring of Fugitive Methane Emissions from Biogas Plants
Author(s):
Reinelt, T., Liebetrau, J.
Document(s):
Paper
Poster
Abstract:
Biogas plants produce methane to supply carbon-neutral energy using agricultural residues, biowaste and/or energy crops. However, the storage, transport and combustion of methane within these gas-producing plants cannot be considered as an emission-free process. The emission monitoring of biogas plants is a complex challenge due to several possible single sources, which either are locally unknown and/or have a time-variant emission characteristic. In general, there are two measurement approaches. The on-site approach investigates the single emission sources and sums them up. The remote sensing approach determines the overall emission from the whole biogas plant by analyzing atmospheric methane concentrations upwind and downwind of the source area. However, the comparison of literature values remains difficult due to different measurement approaches applied on different plant configurations. Though first intercomparison measurements based on both approaches were carried out recently, the resulting emission factors still showed high deviations so that the harmonization of the measurement approaches have to be continued. However, both approaches have their benefits depending on the purpose of the emission monitoring and the chased emission mitigation strategies. In Germany, the new insight about methane emissions from biogas plants started an intensive discussion about the state of the art of emission monitoring, new limits and further regulation of plants.
Keywords:
emissions, environmental impact, agriculture biogas plant
Topic:
Biomass Policies, Markets and Sustainability
Subtopic:
Environmental impacts of bioenergy
Event:
25th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition
Session:
4AV.2.29
Pages:
1770 - 1774
ISBN:
978-88-89407-17-2
Paper DOI:
10.5071/25thEUBCE2017-4AV.2.29
Price:
FREE
