INTRODUCTION TO BIOGAS

As the world marches towards an era of modernization and globalization, the inevitability of
energy consumption has grown more and more urgent. Rapid development has sparked the
increase of demand in energy and resources. From manufacturing sectors to research and
development facilities, the need for energy has become an increasingly prominent issue, as
traditional energy resources, such as natural gas, coal and fossil fuel have been depleted to
alarming rates. Octopus Energy (n.d.) has estimated that coal and natural gas will run out at
2060 if no additional reserves are being found to replenish the supply, while we might also
see oil reserves emptying by 2052.

Furthermore, the aftermath brought by the continued dependency of fossil fuel has been
dramatic; one of which is the pollution from incomplete combustions of fossil fuels. Not only
does fossil fuel combustion emit a myriad of toxic air pollutants that adversely impact
biological life on the ecosystem, but also release the most climate-altering greenhouse gas to
the environment in the form of carbon dioxide (Perera, 2017). Aside from that, fossil fuels are
unevenly distributed, further increasing concerns over energy security due to their key role in
today’s energy production systems (Narula, 2019).

To solve this issue, the race to look for more efficient energy source alternatives has been
prominent than ever. Renewable energy sources have become popular throughout the years
due to its sustainability and reliability. Such sources include solar, tidal, wind and much
more, most of which is dependant, and henceforth limited to geological features of the place
of interest. Certain renewable energy sources such as biogas, however, can be beneficial to a
wider range of people and places due to the availability and abundance of biomass. Not only
that, the usage of Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW) as feedstocks help reduce the emission of
methane to the environment, in which the volume cannot be underestimated if MSW are
dumped untreated (Mustafa, Calay & Román, 2016). This causes biogas to emerge as a
frontrunner of the replacement of fossil fuels.

Biogas is defined as mixtures of gases derived from the decomposition of organic matter in
an oxygen free environment by anaerobic organisms. Since biogas shows promising future
applications, several government institutions and researchers have instated programs and
conducted studies to promote the use of biogas (Sawyerr, Trois, Seyoum Workneh &
Okudoh, 2019). Feedstocks usually consist of MSW, crop, agricultural resides and plant
residues. In Malaysia, the source of biogas is mostly agricultural wastes, animal manure,
domestic wastes, household waste, etc (Muda, 2016).

APPLICATION OF BIOGAS

Biogas has proven to be a very flexible and reliable energy source throughout the world. Due
to its high energy content, biogas has been used in direct combustion systems such as
turbines, burners, or fuel cells to produce electricity with the help of generators. Additionally,
biogas can be used to produce space heating, water heating, drying, absorption cooling, and
steam production.

Denmark's government decided to develop and enhance usage of biogas. It is used for
vehicles to run on electricity, as well as natural gas and hydrogen. They plan to have 200,000
electrical charging points in place by 2020 ("8 Biogas Uses List - How Biogas is Used to
Make Lives Sustainably Better", 2018). In India, there are some 16,000 buses across the
district of Delhi that run on two types of clean fuel: biogas and compressed natural gas.
Studies have shown promising application of biogas produced in small scale UASB-based
sewage treatment plants in Brazil on sludge sanitation, cooking and water heating (Passos,
Bressani-Ribeiro, Rezende & Chernicharo, 2020).

In Malaysia, a large part of the country is surrounded with palm oil mills as the country is one
of the largest palm oil exporters in the world. Malaysia’s biogas is mostly derived from Palm
Oil Mill Effluents (POME). Biogas is known to burn more efficiently compared to fuelwood
(Mengistu, Simane, Eshete & Workneh, 2015). Furthermore, since most households in
Malaysia use Liquefied natural gas (LHG), an expensive option for cooking, some
households have opted on going for biogas for cooking purposes.

Biogas has a general calorific value (CV) between 21-23 MJ / m 3, and, when burned directly
in a boiler, can generate hot water or steam. In a well-sized and operated boiler, roughly 85%
of the energy in the biogas will be converted to heat within the boiler, providing heat for
industrial purposes. Biogas can also be used to generate electricity through turbines and
generators which convert mechanical energy to electrical energy before being transferred to
transformers and subsequently energy grid systems (Mohtar et al., 2017).

CURRENT STATUS

Although biogas technologies have been widely applied across the world, there is still room
for further improvement. Globally, the biogas industry can be discussed under 3 categories:
micro digester using biogas, scale digesters generating electricity and scale digesters
producing biomethane.

Micro digesters play a crucial role in rural areas of third world countries, where they are an
integral part of farming, waste management and energy security. A total of close to 50
million of micro-scale digesters operate around the globe with 42 million operating in China
and another 4.9 million in India. 700,000 biogas plants are estimated to have been installed in
rest of Asia, Africa, and South America. The biogas from micro-scale digesters is most often
used for cooking or heating, replacing firewood and charcoal that often emit highly toxic air
pollutants. Approximately 50 million biogas stoves are used by about 126 million people for
cooking, primarily in China (112 million) and India (10 million).

Generation of electricity from biogas has been widely implemented around the globe. This is
mostly done with a CHP engine that can be linked to any operating anaerobic digester.
Operators of biogas plants using CHP engine are trying to maximize efficiency and income
streams by increasing the utilisation of heat. There is also a growing interest of the potential
trigeneration of biogas of which biogas is used to generate electricity, heat and cooling when
needed. Europe has enough plants which has installed capacity of 10.5GW, with Germany
emerging as the leader of the pack. Canada has roughly 180 digesters with roughly 196MW
installed capacity (Jain, 2019).

A part of the industry upgrade biogas to vehicle fuels, while some even used it in local and
national grids. Over 540 upgrading plants have been erected throughout Europe. The biogas
sector has an estimated 344,000 employees globally, creating enough job opportunities (Jain,
2019).

In Malaysia, roughly 68MW installed capacity of biogas plants have been installed. 226 GWh
of renewable energy was generated from biogas in 2018 resulting in 464 kilotons of avoided
CO2 emissions. Since 2014, the biogas industry has grown by up to 400%. There are 2 biogas
upgrading facilities in which they convert biogas to vehicle fuel. All these improvements
were pushed by several key factors (Jain, 2019).

Malaysia ratified the Paris Agreement and under its Intended Nationally Determined
Contribution (INDC) has committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions intensity of
Gross Domestic Product by 45% by 2030 as compared to intensity in 2005. Malaysia aims
promote development of biogas facilities at palm oil mills across the country to improve its
economy. Malaysia proposes to have biogas plants on all operating palm oil mills by 2020.
Currently, only mills with a biogas plant or with plans of biogas plants can extend their
licenses. Tax benefits set by the government have encouraged sectors that generate renewable
energy such as biogas. Abundant financial support in the form of Green Technology
Financing Scheme, Domestic Investment Strategic Fund and other technology acquisition
grants provide partial financing amount to qualifying projects. Feed-in tariffs allows biogas-
based electricity that feed into the grid gets a guaranteed price from the government with
bonus benefits for higher energy efficiency, use of locally manufactured or assembled
technology and use of landfill, sewage, or agricultural waste (Jain, 2019).

8 Biogas Uses List - How Biogas is Used to Make Lives Sustainably Better. (2018).
Retrieved 5 December 2020, from https://blog.anaerobic-digestion.com/biogas-uses-list/

Jain, S. (2019). Global Potential of Biogas. Retrieved 5 December 2020, from

https://www.worldbiogasassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/WBA-globalreport-
56ppa4_digital.pdf

Jain, S. (2019). Retrieved 5 December 2020, from

http://www.worldbiogasassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WBA-malaysia-
4ppa4_v1.pdf
Mengistu, M., Simane, B., Eshete, G., & Workneh, T. (2015). A review on biogas technology
and its contributions to sustainable rural livelihood in Ethiopia. Renewable And Sustainable
Energy Reviews, 48, 306-316. doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2015.04.026

Mohtar, A., Ho, W., Hashim, H., Lim, J., Abdul Muis, Z., & Liew, P. (2017). Palm Oil Mill
Effluent (POME) Biogas Off-site Utilization Malaysia Specification and
Legislation. CHEMICAL ENGINEERING TRANSACTIONS, 56, 637-641. doi:
10.3303/CET1756107

Muda, S. (2016). PRODUCTION OF BIOGAS THROUGH ANAEROBIC DIGESTION OF

Cabomba furcata IN DIGESTER BATCH SYSTEM. Retrieved 5 December 2020, from

Mustafa, M., Calay, R., & Román, E. (2016). Biogas from Organic Waste - A Case
Study. Procedia Engineering, 146, 310-317. doi: 10.1016/j.proeng.2016.06.397

Narula, K. (2019). Global Energy System and Sustainable Energy Security. The Maritime
Dimension of Sustainable Energy Security (pp. 23-49). Springer: Singapore.

Octopus Energy (n.d.) Retrieved 29 November 2020, from https://octopus.energy/blog/when-

will-fossil-fuels-run-out/#:~:text=When%20will%20we%20run%20out%20of%20coal
%20and%20natural%20gas,gas%20will%20last%20until%202060.

Passos, F., Bressani-Ribeiro, T., Rezende, S., & Chernicharo, C. (2020). Potential
Applications of Biogas Produced in Small-Scale UASB-Based Sewage Treatment Plants in
Brazil. Energies, 13(13), 3356. doi: 10.3390/en13133356

Perera, F. (2017). Pollution from Fossil-Fuel Combustion is the Leading Environmental

Threat to Global Pediatric Health and Equity: Solutions Exist. International Journal Of
Environmental Research And Public Health, 15(1), 16. doi: 10.3390/ijerph15010016

Sawyerr, Nathaniel., Trois, Cristina., Seyoum Workneh, Tilahun & Okudoh, Vincent. (2019).
An Overview of Biogas Production: Fundamentals, Applications and Future Research.
International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy. 9. 105-115. 10.32479/ijeep.7375.