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. This Projects Info Pack 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.

Transport and Mobility

Climate Change and Environment

Energy

© European Union, 2023

Events in the past year affecting the supply of Europe’s gas imports have made clear the need for the EU to diversify its energy portfolio.

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.

In Chapter I, you will find some of the earliest projects featured in this Pack. They are coordination support actions that focus on market uptake measures – addressing the barriers to a larger biomethane industry. These include the Bin2Grid, BiogasAction, BIOSURF and ISABEL projects, as well as REGATRACE which built an efficient and trusted system to accelerate cross-border biomethane trading.

Chapter II focuses on innovation for sustainability, circularity and the future, 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. The PRODIGIO project 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.

In Chapter III, you will find projects dedicated to upscaling innovative production, demonstrating a portfolio of technologies for sustainable, secure and competitive production of renewable gas. These include the HYFUELUP project’s 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.

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.

Market uptake measures

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Delivering the future

Increasing biomethane production in the EU is not solely a technological challenge.

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Opening the portal to Europe’s biomethane trade

Through the creation of an efficient and trusted trade system, an EU-funded project has increased uptake in Europe’s growing biomethane market.

Innovation for sustainability, circularity and the future

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Turning biomass wastes into a viable carbon-negative fuel

Can agricultural waste be transformed into biofuel at scale, via a carbon-negative process? The NET-Fuels project aims to find out.

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Generating high-quality biomethane from low-quality residues

A flexible, cost-effective means of producing biomethane, biochar and heat from a wide array of feedstock could help Europe to transition away from fossil fuels and increase its energy autonomy.

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Growing sustainable biogas in Europe with microalgae

Large-scale biogas production from microscopic organisms is challenging, particularly as living systems can become unstable and die off. The EU-funded PRODIGIO project seeks tools to predict these breakdowns.

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Towards carbon-negative, sustainable, secure and competitive biofuels

Using a process called carbon capture, utilisation and storage, the EU-funded CRONUS project aims to achieve an annual production rate of over 10 million litres of carbon-negative biofuels.

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Making solar-based liquid fuels a reality

The EU-funded DESIRED project aims to use solar energy to turn carbon dioxide and water recovered from the atmosphere into sustainable fuel.

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Turning biomass into green liquid natural gas

The EU-funded CarbonNeutralLNG project aims to position liquid natural gas as a sustainable, carbon-neutral alternative to fossil fuels.

Upscaling innovative production

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Greening transport through locally sourced plant waste

Adapting gasification technology to utilise a wide range of woody wastes could lower the cost of biomethane, helping Europe to decarbonise the energy and transport sectors and cut reliance on fossil fuel imports.

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Turning renewable electricity into reliable fuel

Researchers are developing an innovative, circular biomethane production system that could help unleash the full potential of renewable energy.

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Boosting Europe’s biomethane production

New biomethane technologies will help Europe wean itself off Russia’s fossil fuels. An EU-funded project is helping transform these ideas into reality through European Biomethane Innovation Ecosystems.

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New technologies for cost-efficient biomethane production

The coordinator of the BIOMETHAVERSE project is confident innovative developments can reduce the cost of producing biomethane by almost half.