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Marginal Abatement Cost Curves compare and assess greenhouse gas mitigation options available to various sectors of the economy. In the Irish agricultural sector, large anaerobic digestion facilities are currently considered a high-cost abatement solution. In prior studies of anaerobic digestion abatement costs, two options were assessed: the generation of heat and electricity from biogas (115 €/tCO 2eq ) and the production of renewable heat from biomethane (280 €/tCO 2eq ). Both scenarios encompass single cost values that may not capture the potentially variable nature of such systems. In contrast, prior techno-economic analyses and lifecycle analyses can provide a comparison of the abatement costs of anaerobic digestion systems at a range of scales. This work compares two case studies (based on prior literature) for small and medium-scale on farm anaerobic digestion systems. The small-scale system is set in Ireland with cattle slurry collected in open tanks during the winter, while the medium-scale system is set in the USA with cattle slurry collected periodically indoors all year-round. It was found that the abatement cost can vary between -117 to +79 € per t CO2 eq . The key variables that affected the abatement cost were additional revenue streams such as biofertilizer sales, displaced energy savings, and additional incentives and emissions savings within the system boundary. Including only some of these options in the analysis resulted in higher abatement costs being reported. Based on the variation between system topologies and therefore system boundaries, assigning a single mitigation cost to anaerobic digestion systems may not be representative.

Increased biogas production from increasing numbers of anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities has increased the mass of digestate applied to agricultural land close to AD plants and has led to an oversupply in some regions. This necessitates long distance digestate transportation accompanied by economic, environmental, and social drawbacks. This work assesses the performance of three different digestate management options (MOs); land application of whole digestate (MO1), digestate separation (MO2), and digestate separation and evaporation (MO3), combined with centralised or decentralised digestate storage. All MOs required the same landbank area, whilst MO2 and MO3 reduced digestate management costs by 9% and 37% (if recovered heat is used) respectively. GHG emissions from MO2 were 41% lower than MO1 if renewable electricity was used. MO3 reduced GHG emissions by 63% compared to MO1, if renewable electricity and recovered heat were used. MO2 required the same centralised digestate storage volume as MO1 while MO3 required 44% of the centralised storage volume. Centralised digestate storage required a maximum of 79 days for digestate transportation (33 trucks/day, 20 m 3 capacity) to land for MO1 and MO2, and 35 days for MO3. Decentralised digestate storage required 63 storage tanks and 15 trucks/day for MO1, 69 tanks and 15 trucks/day for MO2, and 68 tanks and 7 trucks/day for MO3. Tank size ranged from 500 m 3 to 20,000 m 3 . MO3 combined with decentralised storage could reduce the cost and GHG emissions (if recovered energy is used), vehicle movements, and the number of storage tanks required for digestate management., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The rise in intermittent renewable electricity production presents a global requirement for energy storage. Biological hydrogen methanation (BHM) facilitates wind and solar energy through the storage of otherwise curtailed or constrained electricity in the form of the gaseous energy vector biomethane. Biological methanation in the circular economy involves the reaction of hydrogen - produced during electrolysis - with carbon dioxide in biogas to produce methane (4H 2 + CO 2 = CH 4 + 2H 2 ), typically increasing the methane output of the biogas system by 70%. In this paper, several BHM systems were researched and a compilation of such systems was synthesized, facilitating comparison of key parameters such as methane evolution rate (MER) and retention time. Increased retention times were suggested to be related to less efficient systems with long travel paths for gases through reactors. A significant lack of information on gas-liquid transfer co-efficient was identified.

Biomethane is a flexible energy vector that can be used as a renewable fuel for both the heat and transport sectors. Recent EU legislation encourages the production and use of advanced, third generation biofuels with improved sustainability for future energy systems. The integration of technologies such as anaerobic digestion, gasification, and power to gas, along with advanced feedstocks such as algae will be at the forefront in meeting future sustainability criteria and achieving a green gas supply for the gas grid. This paper explores the relevant pathways in which an integrated biomethane industry could potentially materialise and identifies and discusses the latest biotechnological advances in the production of renewable gas. Three scenarios of cascading biomethane systems are developed., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The technical feasibility of long term anaerobic mono-digestion of two brown seaweeds, and co-digestion of both seaweeds with dairy slurry was investigated whilst increasing the organic loading rate (OLR). One seaweed was natural (L. digitata); the second seaweed (S. Latissima) was cultivated. Higher proportions of L. digitata in co-digestion (66.6%) allowed the digester to operate more efficiently (OLR of 5kgVSm(-3)d(-1) achieving a specific methane yield (SMY) of 232LCH4kg(-1)VS) as compared to lower proportions (33.3%). Co-digestion of 66.6% cultivated S. latissima, with dairy slurry allowed a higher SMY of 252LCH4kg(-1)VS but at a lower OLR of 4kgVSm(-3)d(-1). Optimum conditions for mono-digestion of both seaweeds were effected at 4kgVSm(-3)d(-1). Chloride concentrations increased to high levels in the digestion of both seaweeds but were not detrimental to operation., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study investigated the feasibility of mono-digesting grass silage, dairy slurry and the co-digestion of the two substrates at a range of concentrations with a specific focus on digester performance while increasing organic loading rate (OLR). The results show that the higher the proportion of grass silage in the substrate mix the higher the specific methane yield (SMY) achieved. Optimum conditions were assessed for 100% grass silage at an OLR of 3.5 kg VS m(-3) d(-1) generating a SMY of 398 L CH4 kg(-1) VS equating to a biomethane efficiency of 1.0. For co-digestion of grass silage with 20% dairy slurry the optimum condition was noted at an OLR of 4.0 kg VS m(-3) d(-1) generating a SMY of 349L CH4 kg(-1) VS and a biomethane efficiency of 1.01. Hydraulic retention times of less than 20 days proved to be a limiting factor in the operation of farm digesters., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Ulva lactuca, a green seaweed, accumulates on beaches and shallow estuaries subject to eutrophication. As a residue, and a macro-algae, it is a source of sustainable third generation biofuel. Production of biomethane from mono-digestion of U. lactuca, however is problematic due to high levels of sulphur and low ratios of carbon to nitrogen. Fresh and dried U. lactuca were continuously co-digested with dairy slurry at ratios of 25%, 50% and 75% (by volatile solid content) in 6 number 5L reactors for 9months. The reactors digesting a mix with 75% U. lactuca struggled to reach stable conditions. Volatile fatty acid levels of 14,000mgl(-1) were experienced. The levels of ammonia increased with percentage U. lactuca in the mix. Optimum conditions were observed with a mix of 25% fresh U. lactuca and 75% slurry. A yield of 170LCH4kg(-1)VS was achieved at an organic loading rate of 2.5kgVSm(-3)d(-1)., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A biomethane potential (BMP) assessment of grass silage yielded 107 m(3)CH4 t(-1). Long term mono-digestion of grass silage can suffer due to a deficiency in essential nutrients; this may be overcome by co-digesting with slurry. Mono-digestion of slurry achieved a low yield of 16 m(3)CH4 t(-1). BMP assessments at a range of co-digestion ratios indicated methane yields were between 4% and 11% lower than the values calculated from mono-digestion. This paper suggests that co-digestion of the majority of slurry produced from dairy cows in Ireland with grass silage quantities equivalent to 1.1% of grassland on a 50:50 volatile solids basis would generate over 10% renewable energy supply in transport (RES-T). The industry proposed would equate to 170 digesters each treating 10,000 t a(-1) of grass silage and 40,000 t a(-1) of slurry from dairy cows., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)