DOE, EPA, and USDA release progress report on biogas opportunities

The “Biogas Opportunities Roadmap Progress Report” was released on 08-DEC-2015. The report highlights activities and accomplishments undertaken since the release of the “Biogas Opportunities Roadmap” in 2014. In response to the White House directive to reduce methane emissions as part of the Climate Action Plan, an interagency working group is working to expand the biogas industry. The report cites that the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) Multi-Year Program Plan (MYPP) expanded the definition of “biomass” to “call out wet waste (e.g., biosolids), municipal solid waste, urban wood waste, and food waste, which are key resources in biogas production.” Additionally, DOE noted the completion of the Biogas Resource Assessment Study findings that includes “total potential and net availability of methane in raw biogas from wastewater treatment plants; landfills; animal manure; and industrial, institutional, and commercial sources, estimating the potential bio-methane annual production at 16 million metric tons, and the net annual production at 6 million metric tons. It also estimates that these bio-methane streams have the potential to produce 4.0 million and 1.6 million metric tons of renewable hydrogen per year.” EPA’s biogas activity website provides links to additional trends and data regarding anaerobic digestion, and can be found at http://www.epa.gov/agstar/agstar-data-and-trends. The interagency effort continues to promote biogas activities integration into broader strategic planning to attain reduced GHG emissions goals and provide greater energy independence.

View the report at http://www.rd.usda.gov/files/Biogas-Roadmap-Progress-Report-v12.pdf.

Also, see http://www.biogasdata.org or http://www.resourcerecoverydata.org.