Biogas and biorefining for the agriculture of the future

By creating more value from the same raw material, the goal is to contribute to fossil-free food production, increased self-sufficiency and a more climate-neutral society.

Increased biogas production and fossil-free food production

The project explores how agricultural residual streams and arable land can be used more efficiently and sustainably. By combining biogas production with further processing of biomass, resources can be used more effectively while strengthening the production of renewable energy and sustainable food.

Sweden aims to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045, while agriculture needs to become largely fossil-free by 2030. At the same time, demand for biogas is expected to increase significantly in the coming years. Agricultural residual streams and biomass therefore have an important role to play in the transition to a sustainable and fossil-free society.

Increased resource efficiency through biorefining

The project examines how the concept can increase environmental benefits and resource efficiency. The focus includes protein extraction from grass and clover leys, as well as upgrading and further processing of biogas and digestate. By extracting more value from the same raw material, agricultural resources can be used more efficiently and contribute to a stronger circular economy.

From potential to implementation

The project maps available biomass and residual streams in Västra Götaland. Different scenarios are analysed to assess environmental impact, resource efficiency and economic feasibility. The project also examines how the solution can be implemented in practice by identifying key actors, opportunities and barriers, and by developing business models for future establishment.

Funded by Mistra Utmana

The project is carried out by RISE in collaboration with the Natural Resources Administration of Region Västra Götaland and is funded by Mistra Utmana.

The Mistra Co-creating Better Blue (C2B2) research program covers a broad spectrum where academia, business, authorities and civil society are involved. Within C2B2, different stakeholders will jointly formulate what a sustainable marine environment that benefits everyone can look like – and where the result depends on each being able to put aside a more narrow-minded focus on their own advantages

The work is based on relevant research and is carried out interdisciplinary in a number of work packages: 1) ecosystems and climate, 2) data-driven innovation and new technology, and 3) governance and adaptive management.

In addition, there are three LivingLabs, focusing on the Gulf of Bothnia, the Baltic Sea Proper and the Kattegat-Skagerrak. Those with interests in the Swedish sea basins who choose to participate in LivingLabs, do it to share their different perspectives on a sustainable blue economy in discussions and workshops.

C2B2 also runs its own communications activities with both internal and external focus. The work in the different packages takes place closely together with eleven different partners who all contribute expertise in research and technology.

In addition, there are the stakeholders, more than 20 organizations from different sectors, who all have at least one foot in the blue economy.

The research program lasts four years and has funding of SEK 50 million from the Mistra research foundation.

The goal of Bio-FlexCLC is to establish an efficient, and scalable process to convert low-value biogenic residues and organic waste to heat and power with negative or zero emission through CLC-CFB coupled with gas cleaning and CO₂ liquefaction. 

The idea is to combine the break-through chemical-looping combustion (CLC) technology with conventional circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boilers, a technology widely used in Scandinavia and Europe for combined heat and power production. Bio-FlexCLC concept operating in CLC mode enables CHP production with negative emissions at low-cost while the concept is flexible to switch to CFB boiler mode to produce CHP with net-zero emissions.

The concept has the main features of 

1. Low cost and energy for CO₂ capture, as there is no gas separation equipment needed, 
2. 100% CO₂ capture possible while having low emissions of NOx, SOx and other harmful components,
3. low corrosion with improved steam data for improved electrical efficiency, 
4. flexible system with respect to the heat/power ratio and 
5. flexibility to operate the system as a normal circulating fluidized bed without CO₂ capture if conditions are not amiable for this. With such a flexible system we believe that end-users would be more willing to invest in CHP systems with BECCS even without current policy instruments in place.

Investing in CHP technologies utilizing biogenic and waste fuels, as developed in the Bio-FlexCLC project, offers a range of enduring advantages:

• A fuel combustion facility which can achieve negative emissions with CO₂ capture.
• Facilitating the utilization of challenging-to-exploit or low-value bio resources like organic wastes.
• Creating new employment opportunities, particularly in biomass or residue-rich regions, such as rural areas.
• Reducing reliance on fossil fuels and mitigating the need for oil imports.
• Enhancing local and regional production autonomy and supply security.

They provide tailored knowledge sharing, capacity building and replication of project results. These groups meet regularly though online discussion sessions that provide a platform for stakeholders to exchange around how to replicate the solutions provided.

Finding solutions together

This approach also facilitates the timely sharing of project milestones and learnings, enabling interested parties to begin replication promptly and tailor the insights to their needs.

Each discussion session focuses on different topics and begins with a presentation by a guest expert involved in the project, followed by an interactive dialogue with the participants. These sessions will not only allow engaged stakeholders to directly exchange with each-other with a peer-to-peer approach, but also learn about the latest project breakthroughs and create a network for crowd-sourcing solutions to challenges we will eventually face throughout the development of the project. 

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Biomass is often seen jointly with carbon capture in influential studies and IPCC publications. However, uncertainties regarding biomass availability affect the potential of negative emissions and carbon storage or usage availability affects cost-effective biomass usage strategies. 

We assessed biomass usage in the state-of-the-art sector-integrated energy systems model PyPSA-Eur with a high spatio-temporal resolution, with up-to-date data on bioenergy and carbon capture processes. 

We analysed how biomass in combination with CCUS changes the resource- and cost-efficient use of biomass to achieve climate targets across all energy systems (electricity, heat, transport, industry), under which conditions the captured carbon is used instead of stored, how various uncertainties affect these aspects and how this in turn may affect the energy system as a whole.

CESTAP is funded by the Swedish Energy Agency, with contributions from about 28 industrial partners and the three academic partners Lund University (coordinating partner), Luleå University of Technology and RISE. The vision of CESTAP is to transform the aviation and power generation sectors to run continuous combustion engines on 100% sustainable turbine fuels. CESTAP aims to establish a leading centre for research related to sustainable turbine fuels in Europe, with a specific focus on the Swedish prerequisites in terms of feedstock for future fuels. 

Sustainable future energy use rely on a shift away from fossil fuels, which in some sectors can be done with new non-combustion technologies like batteries or fuel-cells. Still, in some sectors like aviation, maritime transport, and peak-load and back-up power generation, combustion will be difficult to replace. These sectors rely relatively heavy on continuous combustion engines like gas turbines and jet engines, and they together currently contribute with close to 10% of the global anthropogenic CO₂ release.

To meet the needs of aviation and power production industries, the aim of the competence centre is to develop knowledge and technologies to produces efficient, sustainable, and cost-effective turbine fuels that ultimately can be used as true mono-fuels – completely replacing fossil fuels.

The most efficient use of resources requires a focus on sustainable turbine fuels, that can be used as mono-fuels. Compared to the present efforts spent on drop-in fuels this will be a comparatively large, but necessary, undertaking. To achieve success the development must include the full range of activities from feedstock characterization and chemical conversion process development, via fuel development and production, to engine modifications to facilitate the use of fuels with wider specifications. In this respect it is important to have a holistic techno-economic framework to evaluate concepts against. All these aspects are included in the scope of CESTAP.