A Geographical Information System (GIS) based approach for assessing the spatial distribution and seasonal variation of biogas production potential from agricultural residues and municipal biowaste

Bioenergy can be produced from a wide range of feedstocks and can be utilised for production of renewable electricity, thermal energy, chemicals or transportation fuels. Anaerobic digestion technology (AD) for biogas production has an important role in achieving circular economy goals, as it may not only recover the energy contained in the biomass but also contribute to nutrient recovery and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The expansion of biogas production promotes the need for assessment of the technical potential of biomass, which is available for biogas production and is not in the competition with other purposes. This research work presents a Geographical Information System (GIS) based approach for the assessment of the spatial distribution of the biogas production potential by taking into consideration seasonal variation of biomass production, in order to assess the influence of biomass seasonality. The method developed in this research work is based on a combination of statistical and spatial explicit methods. The presented approach was tested in a case study of Croatia and the final results are representing the seasonal and spatial distribution of biogas potential at the spatial level of 1 km x 1 km. The results show that there is a strong need to include the influence of seasonality in assessment of biogas potential for lignocellulosic agricultural residues. The benefits are demonstrated in two examples that resulted in 12% and 40% lower storage facility capacity by using the proposed approach, compared to currently used approaches.