A survey system to present the status of anaerobic digestion in Europe in different sectors – Agriculture, industrial, urban waste and waste water sector

Abstract

The RAMIRAN Anaerobic Digestion (AD) Task Group has completed a second survey of the status of European biogas for the years 2010/12. The survey has been split into agricultural, industrial, urban waste and wastewater sectors and data has been collected from eleven countries for at least one of these sectors. The questions included driving forces, the number, type and size of plants, substrates, utilisation of digestate and energy production. AD was found to be well established in most participating countries. GE still remains predominant regarding the number of AD units. Feed-in tariffs remain the strongest driving force, and energy production the dominant goal. AD in GE is still dominated by maize digestion in small plants, whereas the opposite is true in DK and IT. There relatively large plants are preferred and manure is the dominant feedstock. Based on the findings of the first two surveys, the questionnaire is considered suitably short and concise.