Innovative biomethane to support Europe’s energy independence
Europe’s energy security is under pressure from rising costs, climate change, domestic and international energy policy, and conflict. Biomethane – natural gas produced from renewable sources such as municipal and agricultural waste – offers a reliable, drop-in fuel that can meet the energy needs of citizens. The new Projects Info Pack from CORDIS showcases the research being carried out to grow Europe’s biomethane industry, boosting energy security and helping to deliver on the EU’s ambitions for a competitive, low-carbon economy. REPowerEU is the European Commission's plan to erase Europe’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels by 2030 by increasing European biomethane production tenfold, to 35 billion cubic metres annually of a sustainable, cheaper and locally produced renewable alternative. The projects in this Pack showcase the advanced technologies that will help deliver on this objective. For more than a decade, the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation has been supporting projects working towards this goal of increased biomethane production, funded through the Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe programmes. This research includes coordination support actions that focus on market uptake measures – addressing the barriers to a larger biomethane industry. Projects include Bin2Grid, BiogasAction, BIOSURF and ISABEL, as well as REGATRACE, which built an efficient and trusted system to accelerate cross-border biomethane trading. The Pack also features projects that focus on sustainability through circular, net zero carbon emissions production of renewable gas. The NET-Fuels project turns agricultural residues into drop-in renewable gas, while FlexSNG is helping broaden the various feedstocks that such gasification technology can accept. PRODIGIO aims to make industrial microalgae production more reliable. Both CRONUS and DESIRED examine the potential to create synthetic fuels from atmospheric carbon, and CarbonNeutralLNG examines how to efficiently convert biomethane into liquified gas for the transport sector. Also highlighted are projects demonstrating and scaling up technologies for sustainable, secure and competitive production of renewable gas. These include HYFUELUP work on gasifying wood waste, work by METHAREN converting intermittent renewable electricity into reliable fuel, and new biomethane technologies developed by SEMPRE-BIO and BIOMETHAVERSE. The Projects Info Pack is complemented by the publication of the Results Pack on Renewable Fuels, which presents the results of 15 EU-funded projects that are further supporting the clean energy transition through innovation in the transport sector. Together, these projects reflect the broad coalition of researchers across Europe contributing to the implementation of REPowerEU’s biomethane action plan, and to Europe’s continued climate and energy security. For more information, please see: Projects Info Pack on Innovative biomethane for REPowerEU
Keywords
biomethane, biogas, natural gas, sustainability, renewable fuels, clean energy transition, REPowerEU, Research and Innovation, clean energy technologies, low-carbon energy technologies, solar gas