Agricultural By-Products for Biomethane Production: Opportunities for a Sustainable Bioenergy Conversion

The use of agricultural and livestock by-products for bioenergy production can contribute to the achievement of sustainable development goals. In the areas where there are already anaerobic digestion plants fed with energy crops, it may be cost-effective to maintain existing plants while changing the diet. In this case, it is necessary to study how this feed change will affect energy production. To evaluate this potential, in this work a biomass distribution model for biogas production was developed. This work aims to develop a scenario for the reconversion of the feeding of biogas plants in the Veneto region to use only agricultural by-products and livestock manure. Considering the existing plants, without installing new facilities, it was calculated that 46.6% of the plants can maintain or increase their power using only by-products, while the remaining 53.4% need to reduce their installed power. With this analysis, it was also possible to identify the 46 plants most suitable for the installation of biomethane upgrading systems.