Paving the Way to a Sustainable Future

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The Northern Ireland (NI) economy operates within the United Kingdom (UK) and European envelope of economies with similar net-zero decarbonization targets for achievement by 2030 and 2050. The current Northern Ireland Energy Strategy — “The Path to Net Zero Energy,” published in December 2021, outlines a roadmap to 2030 aiming to deliver a 56% reduction in our energy-related emissions on the pathway to the 2050 vision of net-zero carbon and affordable energy. Transforming the energy system to make it more responsive, resilient, and efficient is part of accelerating the energy transition through investing in clean power generation and transition-enabling solutions to become carbon-neutral. While a range of activities is occurring across the economic spectrum, this project is on decarbonizing the gas grid in line with national and European Union (EU) policy.

The island of Ireland has the greatest potential per capita for developing biomethane (also known as renewable natural gas) in the EU, but it is behind in terms of industry development. During this project, a spatial mapping exercise of biomethane feedstock has revealed that Northern Ireland has significantly greater volumes of renewable gas available than previously thought — over 6000GWh worth or over 80% of NI’s Gas Distribution Network demand. The research also found that feeding Northern Ireland’s livestock waste into anaerobic digestors could lead to a significant Greenhouse Gas emission reduction of c.845,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent and simultaneously offer new opportunities for agricultural nutrient redistribution.

Over the past year, Queen’s University Belfast researchers, supported by the Centre for Advanced Sustainable Energy Research and industry contributors, studied the environmental benefits that can be achieved by taking advantage of Northern Ireland’s livestock manure and underutilized grassland to produce biomethane. This development builds on the initial steps towards a hydrogen economy, but it also assists the transition to full hydrogen deployment in the future by providing a bridging solution that will enable NI to deal with timescale difficulties in meeting the net-zero target. Arising from this project, a unique and innovative production process is currently at the pilot stage for investment funding.

Innovation: The project arising from the research is deemed innovative, being the first in Europe and possibly globally, with the ability to revolutionize farming in Ireland by combining multiple proven technologies and by joining them together, they provide a solution for multiple issues.

Resilience: Initiating a small step now has the potential to lead to significant gains, enhancing the reputation of NI while being complementary to the existing agriculture sector, which is a major contributor to the NI economy. Furthermore, by utilizing bio-methane, this gas has the same compatibility as fossilized natural gas, so it will be compliant with pre-existing gas boilers in homes and will not induce a cost on homeowners to upgrade. Resilience on the global stage is achieved by producing self-sufficient green decarbonized gas, protecting the agricultural system that has taken years to develop. It is recognized on a global stage for its food security and traceability standards.

End Product: While renewable natural gas is the main product under consideration, by-products from the process have also been captured, providing a sustainable circular economy, bringing two problems into a combined solution, and generating a truly sustainable industrial symbiosis.

These are:

a) Biocarbon/Biochar Enhanced Soil Amendment/Fertilizer

Biocarbon has an abundance of macro-and micro-nutrients, which are suitable for blending as an input material for fertilizers. Benefits of adding biochar to compost include shorter compost times, reduced greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions rates, increased aeration, and reduced odor. Along with the increased nutrient content, soils amended with biochar typically experience an increased pH, cation exchange capacity, water retention, and beneficial microbial growth, resulting in increased plant production.

Biochar can be used;

1) locally by farmers and reducing the reliance on imported fossil fuel-derived fertilizers which create and add to the nutrient overload, or

2) can be exported as a nutrient-rich material outside NI.

b) Activated Carbon Substitute

This works by removing the toxic H2S from biogas in the same way that a Brita water filter removes contaminants from tap water. Once H2S is removed, the clean biogas can be used for multiple energy applications. Unlike other gas cleaning technologies, this is completely zero-waste. When H2S is adsorbed onto the char, the contaminant is converted into beneficial forms of sulfur, and the spent material can be used as a sulfur-rich biochar fertilizer.

Competitive Advantage- NI is a small country in terms of population and geographical size but one that can feed eight times its population based on the agri-food outputs; therefore, it is critical that this is maintained to save the NI environment and economy. The cost of gas can be reduced for firms and, thus, their operating costs while giving the equipment provider the potential for exporting the system and solutions to external markets.