I was watching a video about New York sewage water systems and how they extract biogas from the waste to power nearby buildings? If we would invest more money on to that kind of system, could it replace natural gas demand that there is (example in Germany)?
Sorry my English, not a native speaker.
In: 2
Theoretically yes. Practically probably…
I am danish and in Denmark we are currently building more and more facilities for biogas production of food waste and farm waste.
In a country like Denmark you can build 1 facility in circles of 20km radius (except around the cities) and supply them with farm waste (mainly animal manure but also straws etc). This will produce a large over capacity for Denmark on biogas, to be sold to other countries in need (Norway and Sweden have much less farmland and much more forest)
The biogas typically contains methane (the gas we need), 20-40% CO2 and small traces of sulfor. But less sulfor than fossil natural gas. And the CO2 can be fused with hydrogen (produced ie by excess wind/solar power and seawater) to make methane and a very clean gas for burning and storage. In Denmark we already have great pipe transport system and underground storage facilities for natural gas. And power and heat production from gas engines and boilers, meaning it could be a smooth transition.
For the general green energy needed for year round supply including what is needed for hydrogen production, different output due to wind/sun etc you would probably need around 400% capacity compared to peak usage. But then when there is no sun and wind, the biogas can be burned in already existing or retrofitted facilities for stable power supply
I am just a laiman and have most of my info from a keynote with a professor from the southern university of Denmark
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