Sustainable agriculture: Assessing the feasibility of biogas derived energy generation on a UK mixed-model farm

William Shorrocks; Yaodong Wang; Y Huang

doi:10.1016/j.egyr.2025.01.018

Sustainable agriculture: Assessing the feasibility of biogas derived energy generation on a UK mixed-model farm

William Shorrocks
, Yaodong Wang
, Y Huang

Durham University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

83 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This paper investigates the technical, economic and environmental feasibility of implementing a combined energy generation system powered by anaerobic digestion on a UK mixed-model farm. Initially a case study farm was selected, followed by a research visit in which primary data collection was conducted. Characteristic data was then processed giving the technical and operational criteria to be met. Both CHP and Trigeneration systems were modelled and evaluated for three types of bio-waste feedstock input, consisting of farmyard cow manure (FYM) only, FYM with a low quantity of wheat straw (414.7 tonnes/year), and FYM and a high quantity of wheat straw (679.3 tonnes/year). Theoretical energy outputs were computed, and the financial characteristics of each configuration were found, consisting of capital costs and operational savings achieved and the resulting payback period (PP). The CHP configuration was recommended producing 41 kW electricity alongside 66 kW thermal energy at an overall efficiency of 87.8 % from FYM only. This case yielded a capital cost of £ 331,055 with a PP of 8.5 years.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1537-1547
Number of pages	11
Journal	Energy Reports
Volume	13
Early online date	18 Jan 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2025.01.018
Publication status	Published (in print/issue) - 30 Jun 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Authors

Data Availability Statement

Data will be made available on request

Funding

This research is partly supported by the Innovate UK funded project \u2018Energy Catalyst Round 9\u2014GAS-SCRIPt (10046865)\u2019. The author would like to thank the Innovate UK; and the owners of the farm for their research contributions and support.

Funders	Funder number
Innovate UK	10046865
Innovate UK

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy
SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production
SDG 13 Climate Action

Keywords

Sustainable agriculture
Farmyard manure
Straw
Biogas
CHP
Trigeneration
net-zero
Net-zero

Access to Document

10.1016/j.egyr.2025.01.018

1-s2.0-S2352484725000186-mainFinal published version, 5.23 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Sustainable agriculture: Assessing the feasibility of biogas derived energy generation on a UK mixed-model farm",

abstract = "This paper investigates the technical, economic and environmental feasibility of implementing a combined energy generation system powered by anaerobic digestion on a UK mixed-model farm. Initially a case study farm was selected, followed by a research visit in which primary data collection was conducted. Characteristic data was then processed giving the technical and operational criteria to be met. Both CHP and Trigeneration systems were modelled and evaluated for three types of bio-waste feedstock input, consisting of farmyard cow manure (FYM) only, FYM with a low quantity of wheat straw (414.7 tonnes/year), and FYM and a high quantity of wheat straw (679.3 tonnes/year). Theoretical energy outputs were computed, and the financial characteristics of each configuration were found, consisting of capital costs and operational savings achieved and the resulting payback period (PP). The CHP configuration was recommended producing 41 kW electricity alongside 66 kW thermal energy at an overall efficiency of 87.8 \% from FYM only. This case yielded a capital cost of £ 331,055 with a PP of 8.5 years.",

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author = "William Shorrocks and Yaodong Wang and Y Huang",

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Y1 - 2025/6/30

N2 - This paper investigates the technical, economic and environmental feasibility of implementing a combined energy generation system powered by anaerobic digestion on a UK mixed-model farm. Initially a case study farm was selected, followed by a research visit in which primary data collection was conducted. Characteristic data was then processed giving the technical and operational criteria to be met. Both CHP and Trigeneration systems were modelled and evaluated for three types of bio-waste feedstock input, consisting of farmyard cow manure (FYM) only, FYM with a low quantity of wheat straw (414.7 tonnes/year), and FYM and a high quantity of wheat straw (679.3 tonnes/year). Theoretical energy outputs were computed, and the financial characteristics of each configuration were found, consisting of capital costs and operational savings achieved and the resulting payback period (PP). The CHP configuration was recommended producing 41 kW electricity alongside 66 kW thermal energy at an overall efficiency of 87.8 % from FYM only. This case yielded a capital cost of £ 331,055 with a PP of 8.5 years.

AB - This paper investigates the technical, economic and environmental feasibility of implementing a combined energy generation system powered by anaerobic digestion on a UK mixed-model farm. Initially a case study farm was selected, followed by a research visit in which primary data collection was conducted. Characteristic data was then processed giving the technical and operational criteria to be met. Both CHP and Trigeneration systems were modelled and evaluated for three types of bio-waste feedstock input, consisting of farmyard cow manure (FYM) only, FYM with a low quantity of wheat straw (414.7 tonnes/year), and FYM and a high quantity of wheat straw (679.3 tonnes/year). Theoretical energy outputs were computed, and the financial characteristics of each configuration were found, consisting of capital costs and operational savings achieved and the resulting payback period (PP). The CHP configuration was recommended producing 41 kW electricity alongside 66 kW thermal energy at an overall efficiency of 87.8 % from FYM only. This case yielded a capital cost of £ 331,055 with a PP of 8.5 years.

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KW - Farmyard manure

KW - Straw

KW - Biogas

KW - CHP

KW - Trigeneration

KW - net-zero

KW - Net-zero

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DO - 10.1016/j.egyr.2025.01.018

M3 - Article

SN - 2352-4847

VL - 13

SP - 1537

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JO - Energy Reports

JF - Energy Reports

ER -

Sustainable agriculture: Assessing the feasibility of biogas derived energy generation on a UK mixed-model farm

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Availability Statement

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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Cite this