Determining the biogas potential of agricultural by‐products in a Hungarian subregion

There are huge possibilities in using agricultural by‐products for power or heat generation CHP, but this is still underdeveloped in Hungary. As the assessment of available capacities is an essential criterion of increased utilization, a method is provided to determine the biogas potential. The amount of available agricultural by‐products to be used as substrate for biogas production in a Hungarian subregion is investigated as an example. The amount of biogas to be produced gives the theoretical potential from which the economic potential can also be estimated, taking into account the feasibility of certain types of biogas plants. The possibilities are shown through the example of a Central‐Eastern European subregion with typical agricultural production. The biogas potential is calculated from the by‐product generation of the agriculture, including both the farmers and large companies and unused arable lands as well. Although there are other possible biogas substrates available, such as sewage and communal waste, the goal is to determine how agriculture could participate in the energy production of the region, so these were not included in the calculation of biogas potential. The biogas could replace more than 35 million m3 of natural gas, which is about 70% of the subregion's annual consumption or could be used to generate 123,692 MWh/a of electricity, which corresponds to 56% of the area's annual electricity consumption. WIREs Energy Environ 2017, 6:e219. doi: 10.1002/wene.219 This article is categorized under: Bioenergy > Economics and Policy Bioenergy > Systems and Infrastructure Energy and Development > Systems and Infrastructure