VALORACIÓN AMBIENTAL DE LA INSERCIÓN DE BIOGÁS EN REDES DE GAS NATURAL

Abstract

The substitution of NG by a renewable equivalent is an interesting option to reduce the use of fossil fuels and the accompanying greenhouse gas emissions, as well as from the point of view of security of supply. In the biomass alternative energies, one of the more promising is the biogas production. Biogas can be obtained from wood, waste, etc. Usually, biogas is burned to produce electricity and the results are quite good in the cogeneration ones. Another possibility is clean and upgrades the biogas in order to obtain synthetic natural gas (SNG). This route can be benefited from all the advantages of NG, like the existing dense infrastructure, trade and supply network, and NG applications. There are many technological options to upgrade the biogas but all of them imply energy consumption and losses of greenhouse gases. The aim of this study is to analyze the environmental effects of producing biogas from anaerobic digestion of agro-industrial waste, clean and upgrade it using a very low temperatures separation method. A Life Cycles Assessment methodology was be used to compare the effect of the production of SNG using this route and the imported NG. Keywords: Life Cycle Assessment; biogas; renewable energy; SNG