In recent years prices for biomass have steadily increased. This affects bioenergy production since increased prices for biogas substrates from agriculture lead to significant higher production costs. Additionally, it is desired that biogas plants will be economically independent from federal subsidies in the future. Given the high number of existing biogas plants, it is a main objective of biogas research to guarantee more efficient and thus cost effective and sustainable biogas production.
Therefore we investigate concepts for developing competitive, efficient, and ecologically friendly technologies in biogas production as well as examples of biogas value chains in Baden-Württemberg.
This includes the use of biogas to balance energy (e.g., compensate fluctuations in alternative renewable energy), the material use of biogas, the utilization of alternative plant systems to serve as substrates, the utilization of residual and waste materials, and the integration of the fermentation residues produced from biogas in a closed-loop economy. Moreover, our research considers economic, ecological, and social implications of biogas production and recycling.
