The Sapio Group, one of the Italian leaders in the production and distribution of technical gases, and the Canadian Xebec Adsorption Inc., a global supplier of solutions for the generation, purification and filtration of gas, announce the signing of a collaboration agreement for the development on the national territory of upgrading infrastructures for the production of biomethane from biogas, both of agricultural origin and from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste.
The agreement is part of the growth strategy of the Sapio Group, which aims to become a key player in the clean and renewable energy sector and a protagonist of the energy transition underway.
“Sapio is strongly committed to becoming a point of reference for all players in the gaseous and cryogenic liquid biomethane supply chain, from biogas production to end users – commented Andrea Dossi, Vice President of the Group – proposing itself as a single interlocutor with flexible, safe and reliable long-term solutions. Our goal is to be an active part in the growth of its use and to make biofuel and clean and renewable energy more accessible to future generations".
Sapio, which will collaborate with Xebec in the development of the supply chain throughout the national market, will thus make its contribution to the sustainable growth of the country, strongly committed to the decarbonisation of the energy system in accordance with the provisions of the European Renewable Energy Directive.
Meanwhile, the Italian biogas and biomethane supply chain in agriculture, the second largest in Europe and the fourth in the world, is meeting today in Rome at the Nazionale Spazio Eventi – Rome Life Hotel for the second and last day of the annual Biogas Italy summit. The event - sponsored by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, MiSE, MiPAAF and MATTM - involved the top international experts in the sector to take stock of the role of the renewable gas sector from agriculture in the pressing environmental challenges facing our country.
Italian farms producing biogas are among the most advanced in the world in the sector. The excellence of the "Italian model" is also recognized by the international research group coordinated by Professor Bruce Dale of Michigan University, former consultant to the US government, and including professors Jorge Hilbert of INTA Argentina, Jeremy Woods of Imperial College London, Tom Richard of Penn State University and Kurt Thelen of Michigan State University. The group of Prof. Dale decreed the possibility and the opportunity to "export" the Italian model of Biogasdoneright® to other latitudes, to respond already today to the pressing needs of reducing emissions, renewable energy production and economic valorisation of farms. According to the work group's estimates, Argentina could completely replace natural gas imports with biogas produced with the Biogasdoneright® method; in the USA the potential of Biogasdoneright® could exceed those of gas of fossil origin by 20%.
“Biogas is not a bioenergy like the others – declares Piero Gattoni, President of the CIB – Italian Biogas Consortium – since, if “done right”, it not only produces renewable and programmable energy, but also becomes an essential tool for decarbonising practices agricultural currents, making concrete the prospect of an agriculture carbon-negative. All this can be achieved thanks to the greater productive capacity of the soil and to agronomic practices which favor the storage of carbon in the soil”.
Renewable gas can play a fundamental role in allowing our country to achieve the objectives set by the Paris Agreements and to reach the goal of a zero-emission economy by 2050. According to CIB estimates, Italy would be in a position to reach production of 10 billion m3 of biomethane by 2030, of which at least 8 from agricultural sources, equal to approximately 15% of the current annual requirement for natural gas and two thirds of the storage potential of the national network. A study presented today by the environmental consultancy company Althesis starts from this estimate to define a scenario for 2050, where an increase in biomethane production could avoid CO2 emissions for 197 million tons. The development of the supply chain would also make it possible, already by 2030, to create over 21 jobs and generate tax revenue of €16 billion between corporate taxes and wage and salary taxes. The overall economic impact in 2030 would amount to €85,8 billion, of which €17,7 billion in electricity use, €15 billion in the transport sector and €53,1 billion thanks to injection into the grid.
A study commissioned by Gas for Climate - a consortium formed by the main European gas transport companies (Enagas, Fluxys, Gasunie, GRTgaz, Open Grid Europe, SNAM, TIGF) and by CIB and EBA - and presented today by Ecofys, a energy and climate leader at an international level, recognizes the fundamental role of renewable gas in the decarbonisation process of the European economy.
“A biogas plant – adds Gattoni -, if connected to both the gas network and the electricity network, becomes a small, flexible and decentralized biorefinery capable of producing biomethane, electricity, heat, organic fertilizers. The greening of the gas network makes the network itself an infrastructure that collects renewable energy from the area, concentrates it, accumulates it and transports it at competitive costs. Energy can be used where and when it is most convenient and in the most suitable form, such as electricity, fuel, fuel for the heat needs of industry”.
"It is evident that our country has a green resource of inestimable value - concludes the CIB President Gattoni - for this reason we ask that it be adequately supported: our companies need a clear and defined regulatory framework in order to make the necessary investments to introduce the best performing and most sustainable technologies available on the market into their activities. The launch of the biomethane decree, currently still being evaluated by the EU Commission, could lay the foundations for strong growth in our sector and allow our companies to speed up the decarbonisation process of the national economy, in compliance with the commitments taken with the Paris Accords”.
