The Official Information Portal on Anaerobic Digestion

Networks

Below are a list and description of active networks and international project activities relevant to AD and biogas.

ADNet (Anaerobic Digestion Network) is one of 13 unique collaborative Networks in Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy (BBSRC NIBB), funded by BBSRC and EPSRC. The Network addresses scientific and technical challenges in the development of anaerobic biotechnology, drawing on the expertise of leading academics underpinned by new tools and concepts. As well as enhancing the performance of anaerobic digestion (AD) as a second generation bioenergy process, these open up new areas of application in the creation of value-added bio-based products, widening the process scope to a biorefinery. Bio-molecular tools open up the possibility of improved diagnostics and advanced on-line process control, topics of immediate interest to industry.

AgSTAR is a United States outreach program designed to reduce methane emissions from livestock waste management operations by promoting the use of biogas recovery systems. AgSTAR is a collaborative effort of EPA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Energy. Since the establishment of the program in 1994, the number of operational digester systems has grown to 176 systems across the United States.

Biofuel Cities is a European partnership that supports broad-scale application of liquid and gaseous biofuels including biomethane.  Participants benefit from: up-to-date information on, and easy access to, biofuel projects and actors in the EU; access to tested know-how and good practice; tools for finding funding, investment, and project partners; links to market information, e.g. fuel prices, feedstock, vehicles; exchanges of experience with peers as well as with other stakeholders; opportunities to influence policies and criteria, especially at the EU level.

BIOMASTER aimed to prove that biomethane is an operational and viable option for transport

Over the period 2011-2014, the project involved seventeen partners with the ambition of exploiting the potential of biomethane production and use in transport, bringing the key actors of the biomethane chain into a joint initiative, stimulating investments and removing non-technological barriers.

BioMethane Regions sought to stimulate the market in ways that are appropriate to the current state of development of AD, biogas and bio-methane in the regions concerned. Analysing the reasons for take-off in some countries, and best practice examples from wherever they exist, the barriers to development and market conditions across the EU will give insights into the requirements to facilitate new developments. Armed with this information, each region developed a strategy for moving forward. The project finished in April 2014.

BIOSURF is an EU-funded project under the Horizon 2020 programme for research, technological development and demonstration. The objective of BIOSURF (Biomethane as Sustainable and Renewable Fuel) is to increase the production and use of biomethane (from animal waste, other waste materials, garden hoses and sustainable biomass), for grid injection and as transport fuel, by removing non-technical barriers and by paving the way towards a European biomethane market.

Geronimo II- Biogas was funded by the European Commission's "Intelligent Energy Europe Programme". 13 organizations from 11 European countries worked closely with dairy and pig farmers to determine the viability of biogas as a feasible investment for their farms, through to supporting them in getting promising biogas business plans off the ground.

The Global Methane Initiative was launched in October 2010 by thirty-eight governments, the European Commission, the Asian Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank to urge stronger international action to fight climate change while developing clean energy and stronger economies. The initiative built on the existing structure and success of the Methane to Markets Partnership to reduce emissions of methane, while enhancing and expanding these efforts and encouraging new resource commitments from country partners.

Green Gas Grids supported the upgrading of biogas to biomethane for injection into the natural gas grid at the national and the EU-level. For both levels, it worked on the most pressing issues regarding biomethane market development: sustainability; technical standards; trade; and policy targets.

 International Energy Agency (IEA) Bioenergy Task 37 is a working group which covers the biological treatment of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste as well as the anaerobic treatment of organic rich industrial wastewater. The main interests of the group are the production of biogas and a digestate of a high quality, collection, sorting, gas upgrading and gas utilization and accompanying technologies.