Biomass digestion in agriculture: A successful pathway for the energy production and waste treatment in Germany

Microbial conversion of energy crops and organic wastes to biogas has become one of the most attractive technologies for energy production, resource recovery, and waste treatment. It creates a wide breadth of positive environmental impacts because it reduces emissions of greenhouse gases, improves the management of manure and organic wastes, and replaces mineral fertilizer. Biogas is used today mainly for electricity and heat production, but it can also be applied as a vehicle fuel or for the production of hydrogen which is necessary for fuel cells. Biogas production in the agricultural sector is a very fast growing market in many European countries. This paper presents the current situation in Germany which has the highest number of agricultural biogas plants in Europe.