The Bois d’Arnelle Biomethane site, symbol of a promising sector in Wallonia

A story brought to you by

This new, renewable energy production site supplies energy to 3.000 households, using local organic matter – proof again that biomethanisation is a promising alternative to fossil fuels.

The Bon Villers commune, south of the city of Charleroi, was buzzing with excitement on 25 November 2022. Representatives from the European Commission, the Walloon Government and the Belgian and European energy sectors were present to inaugurate the Bois d’Arnelle (BBA) Biomethane unit and to discuss the future of biomethanisation in Europe, nationally and regionally.

Carbon neutral and circular

Biomethane is a gas of renewable origin, produced from the fermentation of household, agricultural and catering waste, as well as sludge from wastewater treatment plants. This purified biogas has the same properties as natural gas, and therefore the same uses: cooking, heating, industry, etc. At Bons Villers, the organic matter needed for the site’s production comes from nearby farms.

Great potential

In 2019, a study conducted by Valbiom evaluated the potential of biogas in Belgium: 15.6 TWh, of which 53% comes from Wallonia (thanks to the widespread agricultural land). Today, these energy deposits are waiting to be exploited.

However, market demand does exist, particularly from industrial companies seeking alternatives to fossil fuels and for whom electrification is not possible or sufficient.

Jérôme Breton, Managing Director of the BBA site, took 12 years to complete his project. This is far too long a period of time, at a moment when the development of alternatives to fossil fuels is a priority in Wallonia and in Europe. “The regulatory framework today is too rigid and too complex. The European Commission has set the objective of producing 35 billion m³ of biomethane by 2030. We need to simplify the administrative procedures and review the support mechanisms. We are not only producing sustainable energy, but we are also contributing to Wallonia’s and Europe’s energy autonomy, a crucial need in the current geopolitical and socio-economic context.”

BBA supplies gas to 3.000 households

The Bois d’Arnelle Biomethane unit is the culmination of a sustainable, local and value-creating project: “Today, thanks to our production, about 3.000 households in the communes of Bons Villers, Pont-à-Celles, Fleurus and Courcelles are heated with renewable gas produced close to home. In the current context, this is an approach that deserves our attention”, continues Jérôme Breton.

Double economic benefit

We must also underline the double economic benefit of this project: BBA today has created ten direct jobs and about thirty indirect jobs. It is also a source of additional income for more than a hundred local suppliers, mainly farmers. They can use waste that has no other economic purpose and they have diversified their plant production.

The Bois d’Arnelle biomethane site is the third to be connected to the distribution network in Belgium. However, it is the first and only current site designed and developed for biomethane injection. Today, about 10.000 households heat themselves with Walloon gas of renewable origin – often without even knowing it. A beautiful story that deserves to be replicated across Europe!

About the campaign

The campaign is powered by Bioenergy Europe and relayed across Europe by both national and international partners supporting the belief that bioenergy is more than a renewable energy source, it is also a reliable path that will lead Europe to achieve its renewable energy transition in the shortest span of time.

Solid Biomass Conversion Processes

Logging, grinding, screening and drying operations are mechanical processes for enhancing solid biomass fuels. These operations help transform biomass into homogeneous fuel that is easy to handle, with a higher energy recovery (eg. woodchips, wood logs, agrofuel). In general, moisture content in woodchips used for energy generation in municipal or industrial plants ranges between 20-30%.

Densification is another popular way to transform woody material into an advanced fuel with high calorific value. This process involves compressing biomass and lowering moisture levels to a range of 8-10%, allowing for an homogenous fuel – either in the form of pellets or briquettes. The heat during compression fuses the lignin in the biomass, naturally binding the biomass together in a new, enhanced shape. Thanks to densification, the homogenous biomass fuel is easier to transport and can be used in automated biomass installations, such as pellet stoves and boilers.

Thermo-chemical conversions are now used to produce fuel with even higher calorific value, utilising torrefaction or steam explosion technologies. During the torrefaction process, wood is subjected to temperatures of 230°C-300°C at atmospheric pressure without oxygen. Comparable to some extent to coffee torrefaction, this method creates a fuel with unique characteristics. As compared to conventional wood, torrefied wood has very low (>5%) moisture content, is easily grindable and is relatively hydrophobic.

Thanks to advanced technologies, woody biomass can also produce liquid and gaseous fuels. Pyrolysis, for instance, is a thermal-chemical conversion that requires a high temperature (>400°C) and little oxygen to convert solid biomass into gas, liquid fuels (pyrolysis oil) and/or biochar. Gasification is another thermo-chemical conversion that takes place at high temperatures (>800°C), with limited oxygen and/or steam, and converts solid biomass into synthesis gas, known as syngas – which contains carbon and hydrogen and can be used to produce liquid fuels such as biodiesel.

Wet Biomass Conversion Processes

Wet biomass is present in high volume across Europe (manure, agricultural waste and by-products). As it contains too much moisture to be converted efficiently into energy via a direct combustion process, other conversion pathways and energy outputs have been developed by the biogas (eg. anaerobic digestion) and biofuel sectors (eg. fermentation). Anaerobic digestion and fermentation are the two main conversion pathways used for converting wet biomass feedstock into advanced fuel.

Anaerobic digestion is the microbiological process of decomposition of organic matter, in the absence of oxygen, and is common to many natural environments; it is largely applied today in order to produce biogas in airproof reactor tanks, commonly referred to as digesters. A wide range of micro-organisms are involved in the anaerobic process which has two main end products: biogas and digestate. Biogas is a combustible gas consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and small amounts of other gases and trace elements. Biogas can be used in direct combustion to produce heat, but also power if converted within a cogeneration plant or in adapted gas motors. Biogas can also be upgraded via purification processes to a biomethane that can be injected into the existing natural gas networks, used as a chemical product and/or vehicle fuel. Digestate is the decomposed substrate, rich in macro- and micro-nutrients and therefore suitable for use as plant fertiliser.

Fermentation is a biochemical conversion whereby microorganisms, including yeast and bacteria, convert matter into products such as ethanol and liquid transport fuel (biodiesel). This process is done in several stages. First, sugary and starchy feedstock such as corn must be crushed and combined with water, allowing enzymes to convert this starch into sugar. This ferments along with the addition of yeast and is distilled into bioethanol. Bioethanol can also be produced from cellulosic biomass, such as grass, wood and stalks, via fermentation; however, this process is more complex and involves a mechanical pre-treatment and the addition of enzymes, or the breakdown of the lignocellulose into sugar through hydrolysis, followed by the same procedure.

Solid bioenergy feedstock

Renewables represent 8,0% of EU-27 total energy consumption (22.473 kilotonnes of oil equivalent) in transportation, of which 68% is provided by biofuels in 2018. It is rather challenging to foresee how biofuels (in particular first-generation biofuels) will continue to develop, since recent EU legislation established a quota for these biofuels. EU statistics on renewables in transportation can also be misleading regarding the actual level of production, because multiple counting rules are applied in accordance with the EU renewable energy directive. Looking at it in more detail, the biofuel market is driven by biodiesel and bioethanol. Biodiesel was the first biofuel developed and used in the EU in the transport sector in the 1990s. EU-27 remains the world’s largest biodiesel producer and it consumed 13,303 Ktoe in 2018. By comparison, bioethanol consumption in 2018 reached 2,620 Ktoe for an actual production of 2,365 Ktoe (Biofuels Report, 2020).

Bioenergy comes in all shapes and sizes

Within our close environment, a great source of organic materials such as plants, algae, or organic wastes, can be valuable fuels as soon as a technology makes it possible to efficiently extract all of its energy potential. Bioenergy players traditionally refer to biomass to describe those usable feedstocks. Biomass currently used in Europe includes wood from forests, agricultural crops and residues, by-products from the wood and agricultural industry, herbaceous and woody energy crops, municipal organic wastes and manure, and could potentially integrate algae and marine biomass in the future.

Cookie	Duration	Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.