Biogas is a fast-growing energy source for TotalEnergies in Europe, for which it aims to become a major player. The Company is already the market leader in France with nearly 700 GWh of biogas production capacity.
Watch this video in which we meet the operators of the BioPommeria site in western France and its local stakeholders and travel to the Netherlands, where we operate a network of public and private bioNGV refueling stations.
Video: Inside the biogas sector In Europe with TotalEnergies
From production to distribution to users, biogas is a fast-growing energy source for our Company in Europe.
Inside the biogas sector In Europe with TotalEnergies
TotalEnergies
Arnaud Pélabon, Northwestern France Regional Director TotalEnergies Biogas France
We’re on the BioPommeria site, a regional methanation unit in TotalEnergies Biogas France.
Jimmy Ryder, BioPommeria Site Manager TotalEnergies Biogas France
This plant processes 67,000 tons of farming waste (slurry, manure) and the rest, mostly from the agri-food industry. We take that waste and process it to produce biogas. We’ve got a digester where we deposit the feedstock. We leave it for about 40 days in theory, at a temperature of about 40°C. We create the conditions to digest the organic waste and produce gas, like a stomach processing food. Then we recover the gas, purify it and treat it to produce biomethane. From there we inject it into the municipal gas network, run by GRDF, for the local population.
Arnaud Pélabon
There are two main purposes to methanation: energy, obviously, producing bio-based energy, but also overcoming problems faced by the regions.
Jean-Baptiste Rotureau, Livestock farmer and Chairman of The Val de Sèvre cooperative
My main business is duck, for foie gras. And I also have a small cattle herd. Managing slurry and manure has become a problem for farmers. So a unit like BioPommeria backed by TotalEnergies makes things more efficient and simpler.
Arnaud Pélabon
The farmers provide the organic waste (slurry and manure) and use the digestate, which is left over from anaerobic digestion to fertilize the soil.
Michel Fruchet, General Manager of the Delpeyrat site, La Pommeraie-sur-Sèvre and General Manager of the Val de Sèvre cooperative
It’s an extra advantage for our farmers, measurable, of course, which replaces tons of chemical fertilizer. This green fertilizer is green gold!
Claude Roy, Deputy Mayor, La Pommeraie-sur-Sèvre
BioPommeria is a modern industrial facility. It creates jobs for the local population as well as producing biogas for some 10,000 people in the region.
Arnaud Pélabon
There are currently eight biomethane production units in France. Added to our ten biogas units, that’s 700 GWh of annual production.
We are France’s number one biogas producer. Biogas users are people like you and me, using the gas in their homes and in the transport network.
Gijs Custers, Program Lead, Consult & Support for Gas Mobility Customised Transport Solutions TotalEnergies
We are here in the Netherlands at the premises of our customer EBS. EBS is a public transportation operator in the Netherlands. We, as TotalEnergies, have a bioCNG installation on the premises of EBS, right here, where they fuel about 30 buses a day. There are benefits of bioCNG for the B2B clients. First of all, air pollution is less compared to conventional fuels. Secondly, the buses are quieter, which is a great advantage for EBS since they use these buses in public areas, in city centers. It’s a mature technology, available for both heavy and light vehicles. And thereby, it can really reduce the emissions for our clients.
Arnaud Pélabon
Looking at our worldwide development ambitions for 2030, that’s over 20 TWh/year, saving the equivalent of 4 million tons of CO2.
We’re happy to support sustainable development. We feel as if we’re working on concrete solutions, which are pushing society forward. And that’s what fuels us.
From biomass, biogas, biomethane to bioCNG
Biogas is produced by fermentation of biomass, raw materials such as organic waste, sewage sludge or animal manure, through anaerobic digestion. After purification, biogas becomes biomethane, which consists mainly of the same molecule as natural gas, namely CH4 or methane.
When biomethane is compressed by means of a CNG installation, it is used as transportation fuel. This bioCNG is available as a blend (of natural gas and biomethane) or in pure (100% biomethane) form, depending on availability and customer requirements.
A private bioCNG station for public transportation operator EBS
Part 2 of the video (from 2 mins 36 secs) shows the private bioCNG refueling station of our Dutch B2B customer EBS. EBS is a public transport company that uses TotalEnergies' bioCNG installation on its premises to refuel about 30 of its buses per day.
Benefits of bioCNG as renewable gas for B2B mobility
The video highlights several benefits of running a fleet of vehicles on bioCNG for B2B customers such as EBS, including:
- Less local air pollution compared to conventional fuels, and thus less impact on people's health.
- NGV engines make less noise than diesel engines, which is advantageous for city distribution.
- bioCNG is a reliable and mature fuel technology, available for both heavy and light vehicles.
As such, bioCNG can provide an optimal alternative fuel solution to help our B2B customers reduce their vehicle emissions while ensuring maximum fleet availability and uptime. TotalEnergies offers bioCNG through its public and private refueling stations.