Biomethane is a renewable and environmentally sustainable substitute of natural gas able to provide energy storage capacity and perform as a flexible renewable energy carrier and fuel. As such, biomethane is a powerful ally to counter climate change given that its production and use has a very low total carbon footprint compared to fossil fuels.

Biomethane is produced by ‘cleaning up’ the biogas obtained through the biological degradation of biomass coming from different sources (agricultural by-products, organic wastes, by-products of the food industry, etc.) and leaving just the methane. The latter process, which produces biomethane ready to act as natural gas, is, at present, a costly one. Making sure biomethane reaches gas grid quality standards at affordable production prices is crucial to allow for an upscaling of the biomethane production in Europe, also in light of the current decarbonisation mission tied to the Green Deal objectives and of the SET Plan Action 8 goals for bioenergy and renewable fuels for sustainable transport.

This scenario is BIOMETHAVERSE’s cue, sparking an ambitious 5-year project that aims to diversify the technology basis for biomethane production in Europe, to increase its cost-effectiveness, and to contribute to the uptake of biomethane technologies.

To this aim five innovative biomethane production pathways will be demonstrated in five European countries: France, Greece, Italy, Sweden and Ukraine.

BIOMETHAVERSE’s research and pilot technologies set out to boost the production of biomethane in Europe, thus contributing to energy independence and competitive sustainable growth, whilst creating green jobs.

All demonstrated production routes go beyond conventional technologies, with a circular approach for the use of energy and materials, while aiming to reduce the overall biomethane production costs and increase biomethane production.

Special attention will go to the sustainability assessment of the demonstrated pathways of biomethane production in terms of economic, social and environmental impacts.

In order to maximise the impact of BIOMETHAVERSE’s innovations, all partners are committed to ensure the replicability and upscaling of the demonstrated production pathways whilst guaranteeing swift market access to the technologies.

The project production routes cover one or a combination of the following production pathways: thermochemical, biochemical, electrochemical, and biological. As a starting point, four demonstration plants use conventional anaerobic digestion (AD), and one uses conventional gasification.

In the BIOMETHAVERSE demonstrators,CO₂ effluents from AD or gasification and other intermediate products are combined with renewable hydrogen or renewable electricity to increase the overall biomethane yield.

Vist the Demo sites section for an in-depth explanation of each innovative biomethane demonstrator in France, Greece, Italy, Sweden and Ukraine.