This report presents an assessment of the state of the art of key technologies for bioenergy production. Several biomass technologies are available for heat and power production from biomass, namely combustion, anaerobic digestion, as well as intermediate energy carriers produced by torrefaction, pyrolysis, hydrothermal processing and gasification. Anaerobic digestion is a relatively established, commercial technology, with minimal environmental impacts hen using manure, food and agricultural waste or sewage sludge, around TRL 8 - 9. There were 18,774 biogas plants and 1,067 biomethane-producing facilities in Europe at the end of 2021, It means an additional 184 biomethane plants compared to 2020, the year 2021 registered the biggest increase in biomethane plants to date. GWe. Biomass combustion is a mature, commercial technology for heat and power production (TRL 8 - 9). In the EU the total bioenergy produced from solid biomass was 69.4 Mtoe in 2021, representing around 75% of all biomass use for energy, but with an environmental impact (air pollution, biodiversity), especially when not based on non-recyclable waste and residues. Hydrothermal processing is now advancing from lab-pilot scale (TRL 4-5) to pilot-industrial scale (TRL of 5-6) with some projects closer to demonstration. Gasification is still at demonstration stage, reaching TRL 6-7. Further technology development requires demonstration at scale and proof of reliable, continuous and long-term operation.
MOTOLA Vincenzo;
SCARLAT Nicolae;
HURTIG Oliver;
BUFFI Marco;
GEORGAKAKI Aliki;
LETOUT Simon;
MOUNTRAKI Aikaterini;
SALVUCCI Raffaele;
SCHMITZ Andreas;
2023-10-24
Publications Office of the European Union
JRC135079
978-92-68-08449-6 (online),
1831-9424 (online),
EUR 31709 EN,
OP KJ-NA-31-709-EN-N (online),
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC135079,
10.2760/327569 (online),
