EEA-M14A-1903

Renewable Energy Technologies –

Fundamentals

Report:

Analysis of the potential of Anaerobic Digestion in

developing countries

Mohamed LAHJIBI

S224878

MSc in Energy Supply For Low Carbon Futures

November 2014

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Abstract Nowadays, energy supply remains one of the main issues governments and industries try to address. Because

of the notable decline of their reserves, and above all the harmful effects of their exploitation on climate

change, fossil fuels tend to be less and less solicited in order to ensure a sustainable supply of energy. Recently,

renewable energy technologies have achieved remarkable progresses in developing countries. Among these,

anaerobic digestion (AD) appears as a promising option which can allow developing nations to produce biogas

and biofertiliser from multiple biomass resources. The purpose of this report is to give some information about

AD current status, potential benefits and the barriers that need to be overcome in order to facilitate AD

integration into the energy landscape.

1) Introduction Based on the observation that almost 3 billion people in developing countries are still burning charcoal,

woodfire and other high contaminant fuels to produce heat and electricity (Surendra et al., 2014), AD as an

affordable renewable energy has become a credible solution for developing nations so as to modernise their

energy supply. The wealth of potential biomass resources in these areas is likely to meet local population needs

in terms of heating, cooking and lighting. However, although benefits are certain, there are still some barriers

and constraints which prevent AD’s dissemination across these regions. What are these barriers that hinder the

spreading of AD throughout developing countries? What opportunities emerge from the appropriate usage of

AD there? What developments are needed in order to ensure the viability and sustainability of AD plants?

In order to address the problem, this report will first present an overview of AD, its benefits and current status,

then provide the reader with an analysis of the barriers and constraints to AD’s wide spread implementation.

Finally, a discussion will give insights on AD’s development needs and the solutions available to fill in the gaps

in the current knowledge.

2) Overview of AD in developing countries

AD concept

Anaerobic Digestion is an innovative process in the extent that it converts different types of biowaste and

biological feedstock (animal manure, crop residues, food waste, etc.) into biogas (Al Seadi et al., 2009). Usually,

a mixed culture of microorganisms confined in an oxygen-free atmosphere actively contributes to the

decomposition of organic matter injected in the digester. Through a series of complex chemical reactions

comprising hydrolysis, acetogenesis and methanogenesis, the bio-degradable waste is converted into biogas

which then feeds Combined Heat and Power installations. Otherwise, the output may be cleaned and upgraded

to biomethane (natural gas) in order to be utilised as biofuel for vehicles (DECC, 2011). In addition, the residual

organic matter which has not been treated efficiently enough to produce biogas can be used for other

purposes. Thanks to a post-treatment, the by-product named digestate is recycled as a biofertiliser.

Why place emphasis on developing countries

The objective of this report is to give information about AD’s current status, barriers and prospects in

developing countries. Why this focus? Contrary to many developed countries which have already undertaken

serious initiatives in order to improve renewable energies’ contribution (including AD; DECC, 2011), developing

countries are still powerless to implement large-scale effective measures, policies and technologies aiming to

decrease their reliance on solid fuels and polluting energy production processes. Hence, affordable renewable

solutions have to be outlined so as to stimulate and involve all stakeholders.

Dramatic potential benefits

Many opportunities arise out of developing countries. In terms of environmental issues, mitigating the

contribution of firewood and charcoal for traditional cooking use could have significant impacts. Indeed, in

developing countries, solid fuels account for almost 90% of households’ energy consumption, principally for

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cooking and lighting purposes (Surendra et al., 2014). Their combustion in old-fashioned stoves is relatively

ineffective with, on average, only 20% of thermal efficiency (Feng et al., 2010). Moreover, this reliance on

firewood is hold responsible for 54% of global deforestation which therefore massively contributes to more

than one quarter of the total release of Greenhouse gases (GHG; Surendra et al., 2014). Figure 1 emphasises

the potential of AD of animal waste and its positive effects on GHG emission. Overall, thanks to adequate use

of AD, about 1700 million metric tons CO2 per year could be saved. Besides, AD participates in the crusade of

waste volume reduction which raises serious sanitary problems in these regions. Therefore, landfills are less

and less solicited that acts in favour of an extension of their lifespan and a shrinking of their multiplication

across the area (SWIAST, 2014).

Figure 1: Potential of animal waste’s AD and positive impacts on GHG emission (Surendra et al., 2014)

Furthermore, the trivialisation of AD is likely to provide developing countries with clean fuels which can

significantly increase their energy security supply (Parawira, 2009). Considering their ongoing development,

characterised by huge amounts of treatable waste generated, developing countries could take advantage of

these unexpected resources to decrease their imports of fossil fuels. Unlike other renewable energy

technologies such as wind or solar, AD does not suffer from intermittency and can ensure a continuous supply

of energy (Helsen et al., 2011).

Finally, in economic terms, one cannot overlook the possible benefits spawned by AD plants’ spreading. The

implementation of different types of AD plants, from small-scale agricultural digesters to large-scale

commercial plants, could drive to numerous jobs creation. For instance, large-scale plants need manual

workers to collect waste and feedstock, technicians and engineers to support the running of the plants,

monitor the development and good performances of processes involved (KADA, 2013). Otherwise, for small-

scale farm, the local production of biofertiliser via the digestate is a bargain in the extent that it enhances

dramatically biological attributes of the soil driving to better crop yields (Surendra et al., 2014). Increasing

productivity while saving money from fertilisers’ use, farmers have everything to gain from cleverer allocation

of their resources.

Current status Owing to few statistics available in developing countries, the proportion of biogas effectively produced from AD

is complex to estimate. Thus, analysing global investments provides valuable information. Developing countries

are progressively investing in renewable energy technologies but the part of AD and waste treatment is still

minimal. FSFM (2014) reports that biomass only accounted for 2.5% of developing nations’ investments in

renewable energy in 2013. Meanwhile, solar and wind with respectively $38.9 and $44 billion represented 42

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and 48 % of the total amount. Hence, at the moment, AD is underutilised and underexploited in developing

countries. On the note, it is worth to lay emphasis on the most powerful one which contributed to 26% of

world renewable energies’ investments in 2013 (FSFM, 2014): China. Feng et al. (2010) underlines that only

19% of the Chinese potential resources of biogas were effectively exploited. Table 1 summarises animal waste

availability and biogas production potential in developing countries.

Approximately estimated at 1300 PJ per year, the energy production potential of biogas in China is remarkable.

China’s annual energy consumption is evaluated at 2173 MTCE, equivalent to almost 63,000 PJ (EIA, 2014).

Even though this low proportion (about 2% of China’s needs) seems to be tiny, globally the potential

environmental savings are significant. Overall, the opportunities are concrete and should incite decision makers

to take appropriate measures to expand more effectively AD.

3) The barriers to AD’s dissemination As touched upon above, a wealth of potentialities arise out of AD’s exploitation across developing countries.

However, few of these are committed to increasing substantially their production of biogas. Actually, different

types of barriers and constraints prevent AD’s dissemination across these regions. Technical, environmental,

political, social, financial, the plurality of barriers to overcome makes the transition even more difficult to

happen.

Technical

Developing countries face many problems in terms of technical knowledge. Indeed, one of the main obstacles

that preclude the development of AD is indisputably the poor familiarity of people with efficient processes and

adequate practices (Smith et al., 2014). Most of the time, AD plants does not meet the requirements in terms

of design, equipment reliability and selection of raw materials (Tetratech, 2010). For instance, farm-scale AD

plants are mainly inspired by two traditional Indian and Chinese technologies which have already proved their

relative success (Li et al., 2013). However, these wide-spread installations do not comprise essential tools such

as temperature monitoring to ensure biogas production is conducted under the best auspices and optimal

conditions. Thus, problems might be encountered when, for example, the plant operates in cold regions where

minimum temperature need for the process is not achieved. According to Feng et al. (2010), only 60% out of

26.5 million Chinese rural AD plants were processed in satisfactory conditions. Considering that, among all

developing countries, China is the most forward-thinking and advanced in AD production (REN21, 2014), one

can figure out the progresses needed.

Environmental Globally, thanks to its positive impacts on waste treatment and GHG mitigation, AD is not seen as an

environmental alarming process and do not raise many concerns. Nevertheless, in order to run properly the

digester, a sufficient supply of water is needed (Panawira, 2009). Considering the water shortage in dry areas

Table 1: Synthesis of the potential of AD in developing countries by region (Surendra et al., 2014)

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such as Sub-Saharan Africa, it is thereby more complex and challenging to ensure digesters’ adequate

functioning. Moreover, biofertilisers’ quality is not systematically controlled so as to identify potential

dangerous effects of the mixture generated on agricultural lands (Naik et al., 2014).

Social

Similarly to the technical issue, the socio-cultural aspect is likely to play a major role in AD’s hurdles to

development. How can a technology pretend to be spread out without the support and the awareness of

people? Frequently, developing countries’ inhabitants show lack of knowledge about AD’s use, benefits and

potential. Traditional solid and fossil fuels are still praised because of their convenience and affordability,

regardless of their harmful impacts and their increasing scarcity (Surendra et al., 2014). Populations also suffer

from deficient even absence of training infrastructure in order to educate and give guidance about how to run

properly a digester. Thereby classical maintenance and operational tasks end up with failure and closing down

of plants which does not stimulate the sector (Feng et al., 2010).

Financial

Financial purposes may be the most prohibitive and deterring barriers to a wider implementation of AD. ADBA

(2012) highlights the fact that biogas industry is a relatively recent one compared to other types of renewable

energies. As any new market, high risks arise out of the exploitation of biogas. Because of this uncertain

atmosphere and the absence of standardised model of funding for these types of plant, banks are reluctant to

provide local farmers and large commercial companies with loans making possible the realisation of such

projects (Naik et al., 2014).

Installation and operational costs (CAPEX and OPEX) are likely to hamper the development of AD plants

projects at any scale (Lohri et al., 2013). Indeed, the digester which is the central element of the plant needs to

be implemented in strict conditions with an accurate selection of raw materials that will increase its efficiency

and life expectancy. However, the costs involved in the construction process are relatively high and are not

affordable for the majority of aspirant owners, reaching on average 500-6,500 USD/kW (REN21, 2014). This is

even more penalising for industrial plants where, for instance, biogas might be cleaned in order to isolate

methane which could be injected into the national gas grid. Pipelines and other facilities to ensure grid

interconnection are expensive which leads to inhibition of breakthrough initiative (Tetratech, 2010).

Political As outlined above, the financial analysis underlined the lack of sufficient support from banks. But, we can

wonder if governments and political institutions are irreproachable. They have been unable to incentivise

plans, actions and subsidies in favour of AD’s development across these regions, in particular in sub-Saharan

Africa and Latin America (Surendra et al., 2014). While banks show concerns about funding AD plants projects,

governments and decision makers do not incite investment in the sector, contributing to the distrust climate.

For instance, Tetratech (2010) highlights that the Philippine government and aid agencies were incapable of

stimulating the promotion of AD in the country, mainly due to a lack of coordination between all stakeholders

involved. Policy makers did not instigate researches to improve AD technologies and applications, train people

to harness rudiments of digesters management and give them basic knowledge. Communication strategy was a

disastrous failure and showed the deep structural problems that used to face developing countries regarding

innovative technologies implementation.

4) Bankability and development needs

The benefits and potentialities of AD do not correspond to the current trend in developing countries. The

identification of the hurdles to the development of AD has underlined dramatic gaps in the current knowledge.

Thus, in order to increase the trivialisation of biogas and its technologies related, it is mandatory to initiate and

bring up ambitious and affordable strategies.

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Developed vs developing

Looking out for the best solutions to improve AD’s acceptance and fulfilment comes to take example from

previous successes. Although developed countries have still efforts to accomplish and a long way to go before

claiming any triumph, they are much more advanced and experienced than developing countries. Renewable

energy policies have been clearly defined including quantitative targets and consequently appropriate

allocation of means to achieve so (DECC, 2011; REN21, 2014). Therefore, considering developing countries’

struggle to handle AD’s development, a better and more performing collaboration with countries such as

Germany, the UK or Netherlands could drive to encouraging outcomes in terms of technical and policy issues.

Bankability assessment

The decision to build an AD plant must be the result of a deep and exhaustive assessment. Indeed, as outlined

above, financial constraints and lack of technical knowledge are likely to inhibit AD’s success. Depending on the

area, plant’s type (farm or large scale), climatic conditions, human resources, available technologies, obtainable

feedstock, the intrinsic costs will not be the same. That is why, in order to ensure the viability of any AD

project, bankability study is compulsory (Lohri et al., 2013).

Thus, as Karellas (2010) suggests, investors who seem to be interested in funding large AD plants will have an

overview of the projected supply chain’s characteristics, total plant costs (TPC), total development and

contingency costs (CAPEX) and operational costs (OPEX). In addition, an estimate of the payback period could

also facilitate and improve the confidence of potential investors. At the moment, payback periods are

estimated at 5-10 years for large scale plants while more efficient farm ones need 2-5 years (SWIAST, 2014).

These are indicative figures and obviously, each estimate depends on several variable factors which are difficult

to quantify (location, technology used, continuous feedstock supply, etc.). Overall, the notion of risk

management has to be part of the AD’s plan so as to ensure the project is bankable enough to incite banks

institutions and private companies to support it. Following this path, several decisional tools related to AD

plants have been developed and are accessible to any person or company eager to assess the feasibility and

bankability of his project (Prins et al., 2010; Lohri et al., 2013).

Micro-financing for farm plants

Allowing rural populations to benefit from micro-financing schemes is a promising option. Surendra et al.

(2014) highlights the fact that, thanks to their proximity, micro-finance institutions could ease poor farmers’

access to soft loans and then stimulate the adoption of AD in isolated locations. For instance, Nepal’s Biogas

support programme fostered the development of more than 260 microfinance agencies and credit

cooperatives driving the country to possess the most important number of digesters per capita amongst all

developing ones (Surendra et al., 2014; SWIAST, 2014). On the note, village and rural community plants are

seen to be more bankable and successful than isolated single household ones. Comprising lower payback

periods and initial costs, investments are seen less risky by bank institutions (Parawira, 2009).

Governments and local authorities’ actions

Governments and local authorities have to learn lessons from previous failures and consequently undertake

appropriate measures to durably develop AD systems. Through awareness campaigns, subsidies incentives and

generally more focussed energy policy, developing countries will be able to make the most of AD and involve all

rural and industrial stakeholders (Parawira, 2009). Countries like China or India have already shown the way

with impressive progresses and ambitious plans to support AD’s adoption including subsidies and feed in tariffs

(REN21, 2014). As outlined above, the lack of knowledge and acceptance are hindrances to AD’s dissemination.

Thus, encouraging pilot studies and full-scale experience could help people to become more familiar with AD’s

benefits and potential (Parawira, 2009). Besides, local scale organisations operating closer to rural households

and promoting dialogue and training schemes will also raise people’s awareness. Otherwise, the diffusion of

national standards providing certifications is likely to increase the sector’s confidence and thereby, facilitate

future projects’ funding (Lohri et al., 2013).

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Technological improvements

Technical aspects have to be considered so as to increase AD efficiency. Actually, co-digestion of different types

of feedstock is wide-spread. Even though developing countries benefit from important feedstock resources,

digesters need a minimum supply of specific fermentation materials to run properly (Feng et al., 2010). The

quality of the biogas produced depends on the feedstock input. Therefore, a better selection and combination

of feedstock is suitable to enhance biogas outcomes. Moreover, pre-treatment of the organic matter and post-

treatment of the digestate need to be optimised in order to diminish the operational costs of the plant while

improving the quality and fertility of the biofertiliser (Al Seadi et al., 2009).

Furthermore, Research and Development has to be fostered to adapt current knowledge with local

potentialities. Chinese fixed dome and Indian floating drum digesters are remarkable and ingenuous but still

perfectible. In this respect, brand new prefabricated biogas digesters technologies are very promising, more

efficient than the last two ones and hence represent interesting alternatives (Li et al., 2014). Otherwise, many

solutions have been recently developed in order to enrich and store effectively the excess of biogas produced

within the scope to use later or sell it directly on the market (Oyewola et al. (2014).

As a summary, Table 2 recaps the main barriers and constraints which are currently faced by developing

countries with regard to AD development and the possible solutions and strategies.

Table 2: Synthesis of barriers to overcome with envisioned solutions

Barriers and constraints Solutions and strategies

Financial

- High CAPEX & OPEX of digesters - New industry and uncertainty leading to

banks’ reluctance

- Thorough risk management analysis to assess large projects bankability and give confidence to investors

- Micro-financing for farms

Technical

- Lack of knowledge - Poor quality of plants’ layout and

equipment reliability - Availability of fermentation materials,

safety of the digestate - Ineffective waste management

- Training and education - Support of experienced nations and

companies experts in the sector - R&D to improve technologies and plants’

lifespan and affordability

Political

- Absence of framework - Unavailability of information - Lack of AD’s promotion - Limited means allocated

- Financial incentives and subsidies - Pilot studies, full-scale experience - Implementation of standards and

certifications - Targets and laws to promote AD’s use

(Feed in Tariffs, etc.)

Social - Ignorance of potential benefits - People’s disinclination to innovation

- Awareness campaigns - Dialogue with local authorities

5) Conclusion This report highlighted the potential and opportunities that are likely to emerge from appropriate usage of AD

in developing countries. The possibility to significantly mitigate GHG emissions, optimise waste management,

strengthen energy security supply and finally boost biogas market makes AD even more attractive. However,

lack of technical knowledge about efficient processes and technologies, inefficient governmental initiatives and

struggle to access and assess funding installations hamper large-scale adoption of AD.

Thus, solutions and breakdown strategies have to be fostered. Easing access to financial schemes while

assisting people to manage the transition through education and training programs could lead to significant

results. Developing countries’ governments have to take example from and cooperate with developed nations

which have already reappraised their incentivising energy policies in order to drive broader change and

therefore ensure the integration and viability of AD.

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