Latest in RNG Industry Arla Foods, which operates a cooperative of 10,000 farms across Europe, has targeted a carbon net zero goal by 2050. With 85% of its total emissions generated from the farms, one of the avenues the company is looking at is the vast amounts of manure produced from its dairy cattle. Arla is in the middle of a three-month trial evaluating the viability of using RNG, produced through anaerobic digestion, as a fuel for its fleet of delivery trucks at two farms in the U.K. This pilot follows a 2019 trial in Sweden, which showed that running a truck on biofuel is cheaper than using diesel while providing a GHG emission reduction benefit.
A university report for the Danish Energy Agency has concluded that the climate benefits of biogas in the agricultural sector are greater than previously assumed. The research, from Aarhus University, examined the climate and environmental benefits of degassing different biomass compositions and revealed that there is a greater reduction in methane released into the environment from degassing cow manure. Subsequent production of biogas in the agricultural sector was shown to have a greater effect on the climate than previously thought.
A coalition of 57 companies and national associations has called on the EU to commit to gas to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 by positioning the fuel as a bridge to clean energy systems. The coalition supports “ambitious and pragmatic policy tools” that will support gas as a replacement for coal and oil that will realize immediate CO2emission reductions. Renewable and decarbonized gases are highlighted by the coalition, which includes the European Biogas Association and the NGVA Europe, as a central pillar of the economic recovery plan from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded a $10 million grant this year to C-CHANGE, which is a partnership of organizations working together to develop new methods of turning biomass and manure into fuel. The focus of the consortium’s work will center on the “Grass to Gas” value chain, which includes the anaerobic digestion of herbaceous feedstocks combined with manure to produce biogas and biomethane. New economic development in rural communities, reduced GHG emissions and improved soil health are a few of the outcomes that C-CHANGE will be researching.