Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Market potential of biomethane as alternative transportation fuel in South Korea

  • ORIGINAL ARTICLE
  • Published:
Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study estimated domestically available energy amount of biomethane including landfill gas (LFG) as a transportation fuel by 2035. The amount of available energy that could be supplied was predicted through four stages of ‘theoretical-’, ‘geographical-’, ‘technical-’, and ‘market potential’ by considering geographical, technical, economic conditions, etc. Energy efficiency and added value of biomethane are largely influenced by the site conditions and the neighboring infrastructures. So, how much of the natural gas used in transportation could be substituted with biomethane was examined by setting limits to the amount of organic wastes generated within urban areas. As a result, the market potential of biomethane including landfill gas was approximately 331 × 106 Nm3/year, corresponding to 25% of the natural gas supply for transportation, which could be replaced by biomethane. Assuming that 2% of natural gas for transportation is replaced by biomethane, it corresponds to 29 × 106 Nm3/year (approximately 9% of market potential of biomethane). However, RFS annual mixing rate may be increased upon introduction and the growth rate of the natural gas supply for transport would be higher than that of market potential of biomethane calculated in this study.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Center for New and Renewable Energy KEA. http://www.knrec.or.kr/knrec/12/KNREC121914.asp. Accessed 1 July 2017

  2. Shin SC, Jo JH (2012) A feasibility study on economic and environmental aspects for promoting resource recovery from industrial organic wastes. KEI Res Br Res Br 1:2–5

    Google Scholar 

  3. So JY (2013) The potential analysis and securing methods of domestic and overseas biomass and waste energy sources for RPS. Korea Energy Economics Institute, Uiwang, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

  4. No N, Cho S, So JY, Kim K, Kim Y, Kim H, Kang YH (2013) Analysis on the internal waste energy potential. New Renew Energy 12:59–64

    Google Scholar 

  5. Ministry of Environment (2009) Act on the promotion of resource conservation and recycling. Seoul, South Korea

  6. Rönsch S, Kaltschmitt M (2012) Bio-SNG production—concepts and their assessment. Biomass Convers Biorefin 2:285–296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Environment Protection Agency (2005) Landfill gas emissions model (LandGEM) version 3.02 user’s guide. USA

  8. Ministry of Environment (2015) Status of waste generation and treatment. Seoul, South Korea

  9. National Institute of Environment Research (2012) Technical guidelines for water pollution management. Seoul, South Korea

  10. Wien TU (2012) Biogas to biomethane technology review. In: Technology VUo (ed) Intelligent Energy Europe, Austria, pp 1–15

  11. Ministry of Environment (2015) Status of installation and operation of food waste treatment facilities. Seoul, South Korea

  12. Gupta AK, Cichonski W (2007) Ultra-high temperature steam gasification of biomass and solid wastes. Environ Eng Sci 24:1179–1189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Ministry of Environment (2014) Nationwide treatment status and food wastewater. Seoul, South Korea

  14. Ministry of Environment (2014) Research on integrated sewage sludge digestion for manure and sewage sludge. Seoul, South Korea

  15. Korea Rural Economic Institute (2015) Agricultural outlook 2014

  16. Ky H (2011) The establishment of new and renewable energy resource map & utilization system. In: Institute K (ed) Daejeon, South Korea

  17. National Institute of Environmental Research (2004) Integrated management of organic waste technology (I): survey of organic wastes treatment and characteristics. Seoul, South Korea

  18. International Energy Agency (2014) Biomethane: status and factors affecting market development and trade. p 21–22

  19. Lee JP (2011) Biogas industry status and future activation plan. In: The 9th biogas forum Seoul, South Korea

  20. Ministry of Environment (2016) Environmental white paper. Seoul, South Korea

  21. Ministry of Environment (2012) A study on policy direction and improvement of food waste management policy. Seoul, South Korea

  22. Environmental Management Corporation (2005) A plan on treatment and resource recycling of sewage sludge. Incheon, South Korea

  23. Jo JH, Lee CH, Lee HS, Kim GG (2014) Proper allocation of waste and bio-energy. In: Institute KE (ed) Sejong, South Korea

  24. Ministry of Agriculture FaRA (2013) Medium and long-term recycling measures of livestock manure. Seoul, South Korea

  25. Korea Environment Corporation (2010) Feasibility study on biogasification project using organic waste resource from industrial field. Seoul, South Korea

  26. Environment Protection Agency (1996) A landfill gas-to-energy project development handbook

  27. Kang JG, Rhee S, Kim K, Jeon A, Kim K, Oh G (2012) A study on the optimal operation condition of bio-gasification with organic waste. In: Research NIoE, (ed) Seoul, South Korea

  28. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2006) IPCC guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories

  29. Korea National Statistical Office (2015) Population and housing census. Daejeon, South Korea

  30. Korea National Statistical Office (2015) Household survey data

  31. Bissett A, Brown MV, Siciliano SD, Thrall PH (2013) Microbial community responses to anthropogenically induced environmental change: towards a systems approach. Ecol Lett 16:128–139

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported and funded by Korea Environment Institute (ISBN 978-89-8464-898-2), South Korea, and also supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant funded by the Korea Government (MSIP) (No. 2017R1A4A1015628).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Resource Circulation, Korea Environment Institute, 370 Sicheong-daero, Sejong, 30147, Republic of Korea

    Ji Hye Jo

  2. Department of Environmental Engineering, Kyungpook National University, 80 Daehak-ro, Buk-gu, Daegu, 41566, Republic of Korea

    Woong Kim

  3. Advanced Institute of Water Industry, Kyungpook National University, 80 Daehak-ro, Buk-gu, Daegu, 41566, Republic of Korea

    Woong Kim

Authors
  1. Ji Hye Jo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Woong Kim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Woong Kim.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 43 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Jo, J.H., Kim, W. Market potential of biomethane as alternative transportation fuel in South Korea. J Mater Cycles Waste Manag 20, 864–876 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-017-0646-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-017-0646-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation