Spatial analysis to assist in the planning of collective anaerobic digestion projects

Abstract

Anaerobic digestion is a biological process offering many advantages: (i) energy production from local resources (ii) reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (iii) substitution of fossil energy. In the context of the potential development of collective biogas plants in France, the use of GIS (Geographic Information systems) geolocate the bio-resources appears to be a very interesting and useful tool. Such investigations have already been carried out at both national and regional scales but need to be adapted for local diagnosis. For this purpose, a research project was devoted to the development of such methodologies, then applied to the "Pays de Fougères", a 1000 km² rural area located in north-eastern Brittany, France. Mapping the potential energy of the territory was established by carrying out an inventory of available resources (livestock manure, crop residues, sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants, garden waste from drop-off centers, waste from agro-food industries and food wastes waste from school canteens and hospitals). For this purpose, GIS methods have been developed. This study initiates the construction of a GIS model to determine optimal sites for collective biogas plants.