SUEZ and biogas
Biogas, which is produced by the fermentation of organic waste matter in the absence of air, is primarily made up of methane gas, whose greenhouse impact is 21 times greater than that of CO2. But methane is also characterized by a robust energy potential, which can be converted into heat or electricity. Accordingly, significant efforts have been made to capture and recover biogas. The SUEZ Group, thanks to the expertise developed in its various subsidiaries, boasts many assets capable of capturing and recovering biogas, whether the latter comes from waste being stored on controlled landfill sites or sludge from urban wastewater treatment centers. Biogas, whose production grew by 13.6% between 2005 and 2006, responds perfectly to the current challenges regarding renewable energy, since its use simultaneously helps combat global warming, saves fossil resources and finally, diversifies energy supply sources, while still recovering as much as possible from waste.
The SUEZ Group?s know-how
The SUEZ Group, through its SUEZ Environment Division, harnesses 90% of its biogas recovery system discharges, with a methane gas collection efficiency rate of about 65%. In this respect, FAIRTEC, which is one of 10 specialized subsidiaries of SITA (SUEZ Environment), is developing and implementing innovative techniques in waste management and recovery of products at the end of their useful life. In the urban wastewater sector, the SUEZ Group ensures that most of the treatment plants that it manages employ processes that use biogas from sewage sludge digestion.
Green electricity in Aix-en-Provence
The Urban Community of the Aix-en-Provence region commissioned Elyo and Fairtec to convert into energy the biogas produced by the Center for Storage of Final Waste (CSDU) located on the Arbois plateau. This undertaking, which will be operational by January 2009, simultaneously showcases the expertise of the Group?s two subsidiaries and their cross-sectoral synergy. Its production will supply electricity to the equivalent of 12,000 homes, thus averting, over the next 15 years, the release of some 39,000 metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. This is the second largest biogas-powered recovery project in France after Biovale, a project that was successfully carried out by Elyo in 2000 at Roche-la-Molière, in the Loire region.
Key Figures
As of December 31, 2007, the installed production capacity of the SUEZ Group using biogas was 15.5 MWe. Methanizing household waste and sludge from treatment plants can reduce volume by about one-third. One metric ton of such waste generates up to 175 m3 of biogas (which contains an average of 100 m3 of methane gas). In Europe, the primary energy production from biogas increased by 13.6% between 2005 and 2006 (64% from landfill, 18.8% from treatment plants and 17.2% from other types of deposits, e.g. agricultural sludge and agro-food industry effluents).