Agricultural biogas plants as a hub to foster circular economy and bioenergy: An assessment using substance and energy flow analysis

•Material, substance, energy flows of the agricultural biogas system are quantified.•Today the system provides about 1300 TJ/a biogas and could reach 15,500 TJ/a by 2050.•Nutrient coefficients transfers through AD to fertilizers are over 80%.•Biowaste anaerobic digestion could spare over 10 kt/a DM...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Resources, conservation and recycling Vol. 190; p. 106770
Main Authors:	Burg, V., Rolli, C., Schnorf, V., Scharfy, D., Anspach, V., Bowman, G.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Elsevier B.V 01-03-2023
Subjects:	Biomass Energy flow analysis Material flow analysis Substance flow analysis Sustainability Switzerland Material flow analysis Biomass Switzerland Sustainability Energy flow analysis Substance flow analysis
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	•Material, substance, energy flows of the agricultural biogas system are quantified.•Today the system provides about 1300 TJ/a biogas and could reach 15,500 TJ/a by 2050.•Nutrient coefficients transfers through AD to fertilizers are over 80%.•Biowaste anaerobic digestion could spare over 10 kt/a DM nutrients (38 kt/a CO2-eq).•Agricultural biogas cannot rely on co-substrate to use the full manure potential. Today's agro-food system is typically based on linear fluxes (e.g., mineral fertilizers importation) when a circular approach should be privileged. The production of biogas as a renewable energy source and digestate as an organic fertilizer is essential for the circular economy in agriculture. This study investigates the current utilization of biomass in agricultural anaerobic digestion plants in Switzerland in terms of mass, nutrients, and energy flows to assess its contribution to the circular economy and climate change mitigation through the substitution of mineral fertilizers and fossil fuels. We quantify the system and its benefits in detail and examine potential future developments using different scenarios. Today, agricultural anaerobic digestion provides 1300 TJ/a of biogas. Our results demonstrate that the system could be largely expanded and provide ten times more biogas by 2050 while saving significant mineral fertilizer amounts (over 10 kt/a of dry mass nutrients yielding 38 kt/a of CO2 equivalent). [Display omitted]
ISSN:	0921-3449 1879-0658
DOI:	10.1016/j.resconrec.2022.106770