Biogas production has employment generation potential
INDIGENOUS Wood-based biogas is an indigenous energy gas. Its raw material sourcing, gas production and use all take place in Finland. ■ Wood used to produce biogas comes from Finnish forests. Thanks to local forest industry, the raw material procurement chain is already in place. Biogas production does not compete for timber with other industries as it can use chips created as forest industry by-products as a raw material. ■ Biogas investments also benefit local communities and industries. A biorefinery producing wood-based biogas will be constructed in Finland, providing opportunities for Finnish technology industries. Commitment has been made at Government level to promote the development of new export industries around environmental and energy technologies. ■ Biogas production will create jobs in raw material sourcing and production facility construction and operation. The employment impact will be particularly high in areas that have suffered from economic restructuring and job losses. ■ Biogas produced in Finland will be transmitted via the gas network to usage sites around Finland.
ENERGY-EFFICIENT Wood-based biogas is a fuel that provides high energy efficiency in every stage of the value chain: production, logistics and usage sites. In practice this efficiency means lower emissions, energy consumption and costs. ■ Converting wood raw material into biogas is more efficient than producing diesel from the same raw material. Gasification enables the utilisation of up to 90% of the raw material energy content: the maximum biogas yield is 70% and thermal energy rate 20%. ■ The production technology required is already available. Pilot facilities have been constructed in countries such as the Netherlands and Austria, and a 20 MW plant is currently under construction in Sweden. ■ There is no need for new investments in gas logistics or usage sites. Finland already has a gas network and power plants that are capable of using wood-based biogas without changes needed. ■ The gas network is the most efficient way to transmit large amounts of energy. The underground pipeline network enables the transmission of gas to usage sites safely and out of sight − without any need for road or sea transport. ■ Gas is the best fuel for combined heat and power (CHP) production. The total efficiency of a modern CHP plant can exceed 90%. The power to heat ratio of gas-fuelled power plants is higher than that of solid-fuel plants.
The gas network links Finland’s forest resources to the largest energy usage sites
KYRÖSKOSKI
TAMPERE
KANGASALA
VALKEAKOSKI
IMATRA
HÄMEENLINNA
LAPPEENRANTA
LAHTI KOUVOLA
RIIHIMÄKI ORIMATTILA MÄNTSÄLÄ
NAANTALI TURKU
KERAVA LOHJA
ESPOO
HELSINKI
HAMINA PORVOO
KOTKA
LOW EMISSIONS Wood-based biogas is a renewable and clean fuel. The utilisation of the indigenous biogas potential contributes towards achiewing highly ambitious emission reduction targets. ■ EU targets require Finland to achieve a 20% reduction from the 1990 level in greenhouse gas emissions and increase the share of renewable energy output to 38% of total consumption by 2020. Wood-based biogas contributes towards these objectives. ■ Biogas is a fully renewable fuel: its use does not result in any greenhouse gas emissions. Bio-based carbon dioxide can also be captured in the production process of biogas, resulting in even greater emission reductions. ■ Particulate, nitrogen and sulphur emissions that affect local air quality are very low. ■ Biogas produced from local wood is also an ethically sound choice of fuel as its raw material sourcing does not burden the rainforests.
Wood-based biogas can help reduce gas system CO2 emissions Hydrogen
12
CO2 capture
10
Wood-based biogas
8
Waste- and field-based biogas
6
Emission reductions achievable from added use of natural gas post-2010
4
2050
2040
2030
Natural gas emission 2020
0 2010
Emissions from plants replaced by new gas plants 1990−2010 2000
2
1990
Million t CO2 eqv.
14
CO2 emissions from natural gas use and Gasum’s emission reduction vision into 2050 (Source: Pöyry)
WOOD-BASED BIOGAS VALUE CHAIN THE RAW MATERIAL is solid biomass, such as wood chips available as forest industry by-products.
AT THE BIOREFINERY biomass is gasified and converted into
methane using catalysts. The composition of the gas produced corresponds to that of natural gas.
FROM THE PRODUCTION FACILITY GAS IS TRANSMITTED to
customers via an underground pipeline network. The gas network is the logistically most efficient means of transmitting large amounts of energy.
BIOGAS CAN BE USED in ways that are as diverse,
efficient and environmentally friendly as the uses of natural gas: ■ by municipal power plants; ■ by the industry; ■ by homes; ■ as a transport fuel. Finland has the annual potential to produce up to 15 TWh of wood-based biogas. This corresponds to around a third of the current consumption of natural gas in Finland. Wood-based biogas is also referred to as bio-synthetic natural gas (bio-SNG).
Established in 1994, Gasum focuses on the import and transmission of natural gas. Gasum develops the Finnish natural energy gas market and will also offer its customers renewable indigenous biogas in the future.
Fully renewable and indigenous, biogas can be produced from a wide range of raw materials. A process of anaerobic digestion can be employed to produce biogas from materials such as wastewater sludge, organic waste or energy crops. Future possibilities also include biogas production from algae. The biggest potential in Finland can be found in wood-based biogas that can be produced through wood gasification.
