The progress and prospects of rural biogas production in China

Biogas production is an important aspect of China's energy strategy. After decades' application and research, China biogas has achieved considerable accomplishments. This study presents the progress and prospect of biogas technologies and industry in China. Two biogas patterns exist in China, that is, household-scaled digester for scattered farmers and biogas plant for centralized biogas production. Household-scaled digester which is simple and practical has been widely used and fully developed. Biogas plants have being sprung up with different materials, process and biogas utilization technologies. By the end of 2010, 38.51 million household-scaled digesters, and 27,436 large- and medium-scaled biogas plants for agricultural wastes were built. The calculation result of biogas potential from agricultural wastes shows that those used raw materials account for only 1.90% of the total availability. Chinese government promulgated several laws and policies, and gave financial supports to promote the development of biogas. However, some problems such as inferior equipment technology, imperfect policy incentive hamper its wide application and promotion. With the rapid development of economy and the improvement of rural living condition, China biogas industry is expected to advance toward orientation of scalization, industrialization and commercialization. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.