agricultural sector,
biomethane
The Ukrainian agricultural sector can produce 7.8 billion m3 of biomethane per year
The leading Polish biofuel platform, Biomass Media Group, published the expert opinion of Andriy Dykun, president of the Association of Milk Producers and founder of the #SAVEUA charitable foundation, regarding the prospects for biomethane production in Ukraine. Ukraine is already developing legislative regulation of biomethane production, in which the agricultural sector has a key role. So powerful agricultural producers of Ukraine are preparing for the start of production.
The raw material for biogas can be a wide range of by-products and agricultural waste, in particular one of the most valuable — cattle manure. The Association of Milk Producers notes that there are currently 73 biogas stations operating in Ukraine, of which about 40 operate on agricultural raw materials, the rest collect biogas at landfills for solid household waste.
Today, only a few dairy farms in Ukraine have biogas plants (in particular, LLC «Ukrainska molochna kompaniya», TDV «Terezyne»). However, even in the conditions of war and energy crisis, interest in investments in biogas plants for generating own electricity or biomethane among dairy farms is actively growing. Raw materials from the dairy farms, which holds 10,000 cattle, are enough to produce 2−3 megawatts of electricity per day.
Experts Biomass Media Group Sp. z o. o. note that currently the EU produces 3.6 billion m3 of biomethane per year. Ukraine can increase this volume by another 1 billion m3 by 2030. «The total potential of biomethane in Ukraine is estimated at 9.7 billion m3/year. Of which the agro-industrial complex can produce 7.8 billion m3/year. In the overall structure of biomethane production in the EU, the agricultural sector accounts for 38%. In some countries, this indicator exceeds 80% (e.g. France) and even 90% (e.g. Denmark)», Biomass Media Group emphasizes.
About 70% of the territory of Ukraine is agricultural land. And this means that we can become one of the leading countries in the production of biomethane", says Andrii Dykun, president of the Association of Milk Producers.
Calculation of the potential of biomethane production by the agro-industrial complex of Ukraine (7.8 billion m3 per year):
- The potential includes biomethane from waste and agricultural by-products — 3.8 billion m3. From corn silage — 2.7 billion m3, from other animal husbandry and processing industry waste — 1.3 billion m3.
- According to the estimates of Biomass Media Group experts, the total cost of commercial biomethane, taking into account the type of raw material for biogas production, the efficiency of the installation and the cost of logistics for the end user, can be from 300 to 1200 euros-1000 m3. At the same time, the cost of natural gas in European hubs sometimes reaches 3,400 euros/1,000 m3.
The development of the biomethane production market in Ukraine will contribute to the decarbonization of the gas sector, reducing dependence on the import of fossil energy resources and will become an additional factor in increasing exports to the European Union.
The development of the sector is affected by the Russian invasion of the territory of Ukraine. However, despite the difficulties, the Ukrainian government has prepared the necessary legislative framework, and since October 30, potential market participants have already submitted applications for the technical conditions of connection to the gas system, among them several agricultural enterprises.