[Natalia]

What is the volume of biomethane/RNG currently produced in Brazil and what are the main challenges the market faces?

Discussion

[Felipe]

Data from December 2022 presented from the Biogas Panorama, produced by CIBiogás, indicate that 22% of the 2.9 billion m3 of biogas produced annually are refined into biomethane. Compared to 2021, growth in the biomethane sector was 82%.

The biomethane demmand is growing. Four of the Piped gas distribution state companies made public calls for the acquisition of biomethane.

One of the main challenges is regulation, as it is highly demanding on biomethane flow and quality verification systems, this is a barrier for medium-sized producers from participating in this market.

Another important challenge is distribution, since natural gas consumers are far from biomethane producers. Therefore, the difficulty in finding viable alternatives for distributing biomethane distances decision makers from this technological route. However, in this sense, there is enormous energy demand close to biomethane units and they disregard gas as an alternative. Raising awareness among these consumers can generate important market opening close to sources of biogas and biomethane.

The biomethane market tends to grow a lot. ABIOGAS prospects that the production of biomethane will be 2.2 billion m3/day in 2027, the majority of which will come from 27 new biogas plants mapped by the entity, with 60% of this volume coming from biogas in landfills. The application of this biogas should be directed to transport and industry. The possibility of interstate SWAP is very relevant.

There are public policies such as Zero Methane and Fuel for the Future that will further boost the production chain for this biofuel.

In the interior of the country and connected with agribusiness, we have the possibility of forming clusters of substrates or biogas producers, integrating by gas or waste to expand the scale of the project and consequently increase the chances of viability. These arrangements are complex, but of high value for the decentralized biofuel production strategy. Large agribusiness integrators and cooperatives are key players in achieving good results.