The expansion of biogas in the Brazilian energy matrix

Biogas has what it takes to take off in the coming years and reach the goal we set for 2030, of 30 million m³/day of biogas. If before it was considered the younger brother of renewables, today, our perspective is that renewable natural gas can have an expansion as large as that which occurred with solar and wind energy.

Firstly, because Brazil has the greatest potential in the world for the production of biogas. When we talk about potential, we are referring to all available organic waste, in other words, those from agribusiness and sanitation that today do not have energy use or are improperly disposed of in nature. All these inputs are distributed throughout the country, which favors decentralized energy generation.

Currently, only 5% of Brazilian municipalities receive piped gas, due to lack of infrastructure for distribution. Despite its continental dimensions, Brazil has a gas pipeline network of only 9,400 km, concentrated on the coast. To give you an idea, our network is 3.1 times smaller than that of Argentina, and 52 times smaller than that of the United States.

The interior of the country lacks energy to supply the agricultural and industrial sectors in addition to residential consumption, which is still dependent on LPG. Our industries need cleaner and more economical fuel in order to foster economic and social development. If natural gas is seen as the fuel of the energy transition, biogas is the arrival point for a low carbon economy. 

While there is a lack of gas pipelines, there are still inputs. If all these residues were used, we could replace 70% of diesel consumption or 34.5% of electricity demand in Brazil. In the interior of the country, with its high agricultural potential, biogas is the most efficient way to generate clean energy and renewable fuel, ensuring the complete sustainability of production, by generating energy and fuel within the gate itself.

In terms of logistics, as it is a storable fuel, biogas can be liquefied, generating BioLNG that is transported in containers to supply large industrial customers or be marketed as fuel for vehicles. Such infrastructure ensures the delivery of fuel quickly and efficiently, while the construction of new gas pipelines requires high investments and a long construction time, from four to five years.

It is also worth noting the high potential of the sugar-energy sector, which reaches 57.6 million m³/day of biogas (ANP standard). New production technologies, with the use of residues such as vinasse and filter cake, promise to bring self-sufficiency to ethanol plants. One example is the Raízen Geo Energética biogas plant, inaugurated last year, one of the largest in the world, with an installed capacity of 21 MW. With the crushing of more than 5 million tons of sugarcane per year, which generate a high volume of waste for a project on a commercial scale, the vinasse will be operated in the harvest, and the pie throughout the year. This combination will generate a production of 138,000 MWh.

The expectation is that the 381 ethanol plants that currently exist in Brazil, concentrated mainly in the Southeast, will invest in this potential, ensuring sustainability throughout the entire production chain. RenovaBio, the national policy for biofuels, will greatly encourage this movement, by rewarding fuels with lower carbon intensity through CBios, which are carbon credits traded on the stock exchange.

In developing an energy policy for the country, the positive externalities of biogas must be correctly priced. Among its benefits are the reduction of greenhouse gases and the fact that it is a storable and flexible source – it serves both as a source of electricity and fuel. In addition, it is a non-intermittent renewable energy source, with decentralized generation, which can promote the internalization of methane. Another important feature in economic terms is the fact that biomethane has a cost structure in reais, which guarantees price predictability, unlike fossil fuels linked to the international price of oil and the dollar, with high price volatility.

For all these reasons, we reaffirm that biogas has all the conditions to increase its participation in the Brazilian energy matrix. We still occupy a small space, given its enormous potential, however, analyzing its growth curve, we see a vertiginous expansion.

Important milestones in the sector, such as the opening of the gas market, RenovaBio, the legal framework for sanitation and the modernization of the electricity sector will encourage the promotion of biogas, in addition to improvements in state legislation. Since the competence for regulating natural gas is state, it is up to these governments to legislate on the subject. A movement that has been taking place since 2012 has already established consolidated legal milestones in Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul and Goiânia.

We have several important projects that reinforce the reliability and efficiency of technologies for both the production and use of biogas and biomethane. In addition to the Raízen plant, there are examples in the fuel sector, such as Scania, which already has a production unit for trucks powered by natural gas or biomethane at its plant in São Bernardo do Campo, with more than 50 vehicles already sold.

In the sugar-energy sector, we have the Cocal project with Gás Brasiliano, called Sustainable Cities, which will implement a dedicated gas pipeline benefiting 230 thousand people in the cities of Narandiba, Pirapozinho and Presidente Prudente, to transport the production of biomethane from vinasse, sugarcane bagasse and straw, scheduled to start in 2021.

And still in the generation from sanitation, we have the successful examples of Ceará and Rio de Janeiro. In the Northeast, biogas production from the Caucaia landfill already supplies 40% of the volume of gas distributed by Cegás, with the advantage of being a renewable gas. In Rio, the company Gás Verde has plants in the landfills of Seropédica, São Gonçalo and Nova Iguaçu. In Seropédica, the largest of them, the production capacity is 200 thousand m³/day, which corresponds to 1% of the natural gas market in Rio de Janeiro. A part of the production is destined to CNG stations and another part is supplied to the Ternium steel industry.

From the universalization of sanitation, the expectation is that the sewage treatment plants will also carry out the energy use of biogas. We already have some cases across the country, such as Copasa ETE Arrudas (MG), which, since 2009, has produced 29,000 m³/day of biogas, with a capacity of 2.4 MW of electricity generation, 3.6 MW of hot water and produces almost 50% of the total electrical demand of the ETE.

 For all these reasons, we believe that the future of biogas has already begun and, by 2030, it will occupy a significant share of the Brazilian energy matrix. The winners are all of us, with a cleaner environment, economic and social development and job creation. 

Alessandro Gardemann He has a degree in Business Administration from EAESP-FGV, working in the financial market. In 2008, he founded Geo Energética and since then has been dedicated to Biogas. He was one of the founders of the Brazilian Association of Biogas (ABiogás), where he is currently the president.