BioLNG: Is It the Future of Road Transport in Europe?
The transport sector in Europe must strive to meet ambitious environmental goals set by EU regulations. The need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is a challenge that logistics companies can address on a broader scale by using zero-emission electric vehicles or hydrogen fuel cell trucks. Limitations in access to these solutions (high costs, lack of sufficiently developed infrastructure, still limited, though steadily increasing, range) mean that “transitional fuels”are gaining more interest.
These can reduce emissions from road transport before BEV and FCEV trucks become fully mainstream. We have already written about HVO biodiesel on our blog. Today we will take a closer look at the renewable version of liquefied natural gas, or BioLNG.
What is BioLNG?
BioLNG is – as mentioned above – a renewable version of liquefied natural gas produced from organic materials, such as agricultural waste, food waste, or sewage. The liquefied gas produced from these bio-wastes is cleaner and thus more environmentally friendly than natural gas. When traditional LNG is burned, about 2.75 kg of carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere for every kilogram of gas burned. In the case of BioLNG, this value can be reduced by 50 to 80% (depending on the production process, biogas source, and the technologies used in transport and combustion).
How can BioLNG impact the European road transport sector?
One of the reasons why the logistics industry can greatly benefit from BioLNG is that, as mentioned above, the use of biomass-based gas can contribute to the decarbonization of the sector. As mentioned, road transport has a large share in CO2 emissions, and renewable fuels, including BioLNG, can help reduce them. Moreover, BioLNG aligns with the EU’s climate neutrality strategy. As emission regulations become stricter, carriers will seek ways to reduce emissions, and BioLNG, along with HVO100 biodiesel, may serve as transitional fuels until a full shift to zero-emission vehicles is possible.
In Europe, the LNG refueling network is well-developed (750 stations in the EU alone, all of which can supply BioLNG), and adapting vehicles for gas refueling is not very costly, so this could be another reason to treat biomass-derived gas as an important step toward fully sustainable road transport. Barriers to the widespread use of BioLNG in road transport could include the higher cost of its production, due to the need to establish production infrastructure, as well as limitations in the availability of biomass necessary to produce renewable LNG (the same bio-waste is used to produce HVO100, and there is simply not enough waste biomass to meet the full demand for biofuels;importing it by ship from Asia contradicts the sustainability idea, as it involves deforestation of palm forests and high-emission maritime transport). However, it is worth noting that scaling up BioLNG production may drive its price down. For example, in Germany, BioLNG is cheaper than conventional LNG. Of course, in countries without production and liquefaction plants, where BioLNG must be imported, its price is higher than LNG.
Another advantage of BioLNG is that it helps reduce another type of pollution – noise. Trucks running on biogas operate more quietly than those powered by combustion engines, making them ideal for work in noise-restricted areas or for night operations.
In conclusion: BioLNG has great potential to significantly reduce CO2 emissions in European road transport, contributing to the achievement of EU climate goals. The well-developed LNG infrastructure and relatively low cost of vehicle adaptation make BioLNG an attractive transitional fuel before the full implementation of zero-emission technologies.