Episode 5 – From Waste to Watts

Cecilia Sambusiti, Biogas R&D Project Manager, TotalEnergies

Try and leave this world a little better than you found it. I was taught this when I was just a child, and ever since it's been a guiding principle for me. I grew up horseriding and connected with the natural world. I see waste as resources. Today, my team in France use this sort of waste from farms and stables to produce energy. Here we are demonstrating that biogas can help us to achieve our global net zero goals.

This part of France has a long history with natural gas. Since 1950, it's produced about 90% of the total French natural gas demand. We rely on natural gas for a quarter of our electricity needs. But to lower our emissions, we need to move toward less carbon intensive solutions.

Biogas is a renewable energy source produced from the breakdown of organic waste like waste from food, agricultural and animals. This year we launched the Biobéarn site. This is the eighteenth unit from TotalEnergies biogas site and is the largest in France. This unit is fed with organic waste from local farms that we call biomass. This biomass is then converted into biomethane, these biomethane taps straight into the existing local gas infrastructure, powering homes and farms that produce biomass for the biogas unit.

Promoting a circular economy. First, we grind the biomass and mix it. Then it is heated to 70 degrees to pasteurize. We store it in the digester with no oxygen and keep it to a temperature of 40 degrees. After 45 days, we are left with the two products, the biogas that will be purified to make biomethane and digestate which is a natural fertilizer. This circularity makes the process more sustainable, benefiting the farms and us.

PERL is focused on biogas, research and development for TotalEnergies. This strong partnership aims to provide a more affordable, cleaner, reliable, and accessible energy for as many people as possible. It's an exciting and experimental platform here. We created a database of around 3000 different biomass samples characterized in terms of chemical composition and biomethane potential. This has proved vital for maximizing the methane production across our sites.

Florian Monlau, Head of Biogas lab, PERL TotalEnergies

Liquid digestate can be restricted in some countries. Here we are performing some tests of microalgae on liquid digestate and this microalgae after can be used in different sectors like the energetic sector, biomaterials and also animal feed application.

Cecilia Sambusiti, Biogas R&D Project Manager, TotalEnergies

Every year over 100 billion tons of organic waste is produced worldwide, contaminating the environment. Biogas is an emerging market but it is straightforward and low tech, so we can deploy it expansively in the next few years. In 2030, it will be equivalent to the annual gas needs of almost 2 million homes. Biogas is a vital step towards a net zero future.