Biogas and Landfill Gas as Sources of Renewable Energy in the Republic of Belarus

The energy policy of the Republic of Belarus is aimed in reducing the consumption of hydrocarbon raw materials and strengthening the national energy security. The strategic aim is to maximally involve in the fuel and energy balance, in addition to nuclear energy, our own fuel and energy resources, including renewable energy sources (RES). The development of RES contributes to the decarbonization of economic activity. The resource potential for biogas production in the Republic of Belarus, taking into account the dynamics of organic raw material formation, is about 3.265 million tons of equivalent fuel per year, which is much higher than similar indicators for other local types of fuel. In the country, biogas is produced by wet and dry fermentation. Wet fermentation is used to produce biogas from organic livestock waste (secondary biomass), which contains a high moisture fraction – up to 90 %. The equipment used is bioreactors and cogeneration units. Dry fermentation is used to produce landfill gas from solid organic waste of housing and communal services, using gas piston units (organic waste degassing units). Currently, the production of biogas by wet and dry (semi-wet) fermentation is approximately 50% each. Modern co-fermentation technologies allow to model the composition of the organic waste used for preparing co-substrates. Moreover, the composition of the substrates used can be extremely diverse, without fundamental limitations. This innovative technique regulates the stability of the microbiological process, ensures uniform loading of biogas equipment during the calendar year, increases the economic efficiency of biogas plants, without high investment costs. This approach to the application of biogas technologies gives a new qualitative impetus to their development, while simultaneously reducing the volume of organic waste storage and reducing the national carbon footprint. The use of co-substrates provides technological, economic and environmental advantages, since the methane output under these conditions is quite stable and guaranteed. Currently, specific conditions have developed for the functioning of “green” energy. Taking into account the new economic conditions, it is advisable to partially reorient the economic activities of large biogas plants to the production of heat energy, the production of organic fertili-zers and other valuable products with added value.

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