Biomethane and Bio-LNG
What is biomethane ?
Biomethane is a « green » gas derived from waste produced by the agri-food industry and restaurants, from farm and household waste, or from sewage sludge. This purified biogas possesses all of the properties of natural gas.
Biomethane is a source of renewable, clean alternative energy. It will help decarbonise the heavy-duty transport (and other sectors) in a cost effective way and help the European Union to reach its 2030 climate targets and become carbon neutral by 2050.
How is biomethane created ?
First, biogas is created by anaerobic digestion (AD) through biological breakdown of organic matter.
The organic waste is sorted, stirred and transferred into a biogas plant. It is then mixed, heated and, when fermented by bacteria, transformed into biogas.
This biogas (which consists of about 40-60% methane, the rest being CO2 and some traces of other compounds such as H2S) is then purified to eliminate the CO2 and the other compounds, keeping only the biomethane, which has the same properties as natural gas, can be used in the same applications normally reserved to natural gas but it is 100% renewable.
Alternatively to AD, other processes for the production of biomethanre are now emerging: gaseification of biomass, electrolysis and methanation, etc. All those processes achieve production of methane with low or zero CO2 footprint.
Total biomethane production in Europe was ca. 1.8 million ton in 2020 and is expected to reach 70 million ton per annum by 2050.
How is biomethane used ? And, what is bio-LNG ?
Firstly, biogas may fuel cogeneration (CHP) motors, for local electricity production, without the need to be transformed into biomethane.
The excess biomethane production is fed into the gas distribution grid to displace natural gas of fossil origin.
If the the production plant (AD or other technology) is too far away from the gas grid, the biomethane is turned into bio-LNG: biomethane is liquefied and delivered by truck to the end users thus displacing fossil LNG.
Biomethane and bio-LNG are particularly suitable for use in the road transportation sector to replace fossil CNG and LNG respectively.
What are the advantages of biomethane and bio-LNG?
Recycling waste to produce renewable energy: biomethane and bio-LNG production constitutes a virtuous cycle in which waste becomes a resource to produce local renewable energy replacing conventional energy.
Biomethane and bio-LNG offer all the environmental advantages of natural gas and LNG vs. fossil fuel, in particular gasoil used in heavy goods road transportation, plus a reduction of CO2 footprint. Depending on the source and method of production, bio-LNG's full lifecycle (well to wheel) CO2 emissions could be reduced to zero, and even turned negative, when bio-LNG production from waste avoids natural rotting of organic matter, which would otherwise release methane directly into the atmosphere.
What is a Green Gas Certificate?
In all cases, except when biogas is used locally on the production site for power generation or other applications, any shipment of biomethane or bio-LNG is accompanied with the emission of a Green Gas Certificate.
The Green gas Certificate document is issued by a the producer, with official certification delivered by a government-approved body. It certifies that the gas comes from a renewable source and ensures that there is no double counting. Green Gas Certificate are traced in a government-approved registry so that at any stage of the supply chain sellers, buyers and users can verify the ultimate renewable origin of the the biomethane or bio-LNG supplied.
What is Axegaz T&T bio-LNG offer ?
To customers who want to further reduce their CO2 emission, Axegaz T&T offers to replace part or whole of their LNG supplies with bio-LNG. Axegaz T&T provides its customers the Green Gas Certificates matching the quantities of bio-LNG they have elected to receive, so that they have the definitive proof that the methane they use comes indeed from a renewable source.
This perfect traceability allows identification of the place of production and the type of feedstock used for the bio-LNG production.
Axegaz T&T has started supplying bio-LNG to one of its customers, a freight hauler clients in France, back in 2014.
We are able to address requirement of any quantities of biomethane and bio-LNG, and any specifications that might be important for you including: the feedstock used, the country or region of production, or the time of production.
We optimise the physical LNG and bio-LNG supply chain to keep costs down for our customers and minimise trasportation impact on the environment. We typically arrange delivery of physical bio-LNG where it contributes to achieve the economic and environmental targets of our customers.
To find out the price of our bio-LNG offering or to discuss your specific bio-LNG or biomethane requirements please contact us:
Are you a biomethane or bio-LNGproducer ?
Axegaz T&T costantly expands the pool of its biomethane and bio-LNG suppliers. If you are a biomethane or bio-LNG producer and are looking to commercialise your production, we offer a long term partnership to distribute it efficiently and profitably.
If you would like to find out how to monetise your bio-LNG production please contact us:
Source: Gas for Climate 2050, European Biogas Association, Natural Gas vehicles Association Europe
