Helen Roush, Executive Vice President of Paperitalo Publications

In a recent article, Bioenergy Insight, announced that a new paper released by the European Biogas Association, highlights potential of biogas from industrial wastewater.

The article states: "The results show that biogas has huge potential to mitigate methane emissions from wastewater while generating renewable energy. This will reduce energy consumption at wastewater treatment (WWT) installations, provide a solution for the management of sludge, and create additional green jobs.

The findings of this EBA paper show it is possible to recover around 14 Mtoe (142 TWh) of biogas per year by valorising industrial wastewater from the spirits, biodiesel, pulp and paper, beer, vegetable oils, ethanol, meat, and cheese sectors. However, the large potential of biogas production from industrial wastewater is not yet considered in most studies evaluating biogas production potential in Europe in 2050 between 87-114 Mtoe (1,008-1,326 TWh). Therefore, this potential can be higher than currently estimated.

Currently, the applied purification treatment of industrial wastewater has a high greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint. When producing renewable gas from industrial wastewater, GHG emissions are saved in different ways; firstly, due to the reduced energy consumption in WWT installations, secondly by the replacement of fossil energy sources, and finally, by bringing the wastewater into a closed, controlled environment, prevent methane emissions from being released into the atmosphere."

You can read the full article by clicking here.