The Eurecat technology centre is taking part in the European Life Chandelier project which is to test using agri-food waste to produce biomethane for vehicles and make headway in the sustainability of the transport industry and rural development.
Specifically, the project seeks to “develop a cost-competitive and feedstock-flexible solution anchored in innovative, modular technologies which will help cut greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 percent and enable cost-effective production of biomethane in rural areas for sustainable transport,” says Frederic Clarens, director of Eurecat’s Waste, Energy and Environmental Impact Unit.
The European Commission estimates that 350 TWh of biomethane will be produced by 2030, meaning a saving of around 110 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions, some six percent of the total effort needed to achieve a 55 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Biomethane is a renewable fuel gas which “can make a significant contribution to mitigating climate change in the European Union,” points out Víctor Ortiz, a researcher in Eurecat’s Waste, Energy and Environmental Impact Unit.
The project will demonstrate optimised and traceable production of biogas and vehicle biomethane leveraging blockchain technology performed cost-effectively in small-to-medium scale plants by simultaneous extrusion pre-treatment of complex lignocellulosic agri-food waste, in particular olive pomace, almond shells, vine shoots and cereal straw, plus anaerobic co-digestion with other organic agri-food waste.
The solution will be coupled with an innovative biogas cleaning system harnessing hydrophobic membrane technology, a more cost-effective and environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional methods such as water scrubbing and chemical absorption.
The quality of the biomethane will be validated as Bio-CNG in a heavy-duty vehicle (HDV) that will cover 120,000 km over the duration of the project. Life Chandelier will also include digital modelling of the processes built into the proposed solution to streamline biomethane production and enable scale-up and replicability in other ecosystems, regions or feedstock types.
Case study in the rural region of Matarraña, Aragon
Matarraña in Aragon province will be the case study area for the Life Chandelier project. It is a rural region hosting intensive agricultural and livestock farming activity and one of the largest producers of olive, wine and almond products in Europe. The project results will be tested and validated using a demonstrator to be rolled out at the Valderrobres biogas plant, currently operated by project partners GUCO and Genia Bioenergy.
The Life Chandelier project is co-financed by the European Union and coordinated by the Aragon Food and Nutrition Cluster. It involves a consortium made up of a leading meat sector enterprise, innovative businesses in the renewable gas industry and technology centres specialising in bioenergy production and agri-food waste management: GUCO (Arcoiris Group), Genia Bioenergy, Inderen, the Technological Institute of Aragon and the Eurecat technology centre.
