Ali Jalalzadeh-Azar

Renewable Biogas: 

An Opportunity for 

Commercialization of 

Fuel Cells

A Panel Discussion at 

2009 Fuel Cell Seminar

Palm Springs, CA

November 19, 2009

NREL/PR-560-47113

Overview of An Analysis Project for Renewable Biogas / 

Fuel Cell Technologies

NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.
 Geospatial evaluation of sources of biogas, distribution 

infrastructure, and demand centers.

 Analysis of various scenarios for biomethane production and 

distribution for fuel cell technologies in stand-alone and CHP 

modes from economic, energy, and environmental standpoints.

 Assessment of the market potential for renewable biogas/fuel 

cells in conjunction with the available financial incentives.

Fuel cells operating with renewable biogas can play a critical role in 

mitigating energy and environmental issues.

Objectives of Analysis Project
Biogas Systems Integration

Project Concept

Production & Cleanup 

Water Treat. Plant

Animal Waste

Landfills

Dairy Waste

Anaerobic Digester

Clean-Up System Injection in NG 

Pipelines

Source Distribution & Utilization

Power Grid

Reformation / Fuel 

Cell Systems

Vehicle Fueling Station

Hydrogen

Electricity

Heat Stationary 

End-Use 

Biomethane

Biogas
Approach

 Gather data on sources of biogas, costs of biogas 

production, clean-up, and fuel cell technologies. 

 Evaluate technical and economic feasibility of injecting 

biomethane into NG pipelines. 

 Use NREL GIS capabilities to map stranded biogas 

resources in select states / regions and overlay infrastructure 

information for analysis of deployment scenarios

 Identify critical technical and cost parameters for various 

scenarios, including central and distributed models.

 Identify relevant federal and state incentives and integrate 

into cost analysis.

Providing valuable results to the stakeholders, including 

municipalities, industry, and policy makers, is an important 

consideration in the project.
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Analysis Tools

 Fuel Cell Power Model*: Cost analysis of Combined Heat, Hydrogen, 

and Power (CHHP) Systems. 

 H2A Production: Cost analysis of hydrogen production technologies

 SERA: An optimization tool for hydrogen

infrastructure

* The Fuel Cell Power Model can also be used for FC power generation systems

without heat recovery and CHP systems without hydrogen production.
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SERA—Scenario Evaluation, Regionalization & Analysis

Optimization of Hydrogen Infrastructure

Features:

 Treatment of production, transmission, and distribution

- Easy to add new technologies

- Consistent physical and economic computations

 Cost, cash flow, and price estimates

 Spatial & temporal resolution of

hydrogen infrastructure networks

 Regional specificity

 Exogenous, urban H2 demands
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Initial GIS Analyses

 Data Analysis: Distances to distribution infrastructure, load centers, ...

 Data Visualization: Regional and detailed maps

Dairy farm cow density with relation to Gas 

pipelines

Dairy farm cow density with relation to Gas 

transmission lines
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Dairy farm cow density 3D

visualization

Methane emissions from 

landfills

Initial GIS Analyses (cont.)
International Perspectives 

 Unlike incineration, anaerobic digestion (AD) coupled with clean-up 

process can lend itself to both transportation and stationary 

applications. 

 Biogas market in parts of Europe (e.g., Germany) is rapidly expanding.

 Biomethane has a potential to drastically reduce Europe’s dependence 

on conventional natural gas (with waste-to-energy conversion and 

energy crop).

 Biogas plants can be quite profitable in Europe (depending on factors 

such as climate, financial incentives, availability of energy crops, etc.)

 Gasification is environmentally friendly and can take a wide range of 

waste materials (e.g., MSW and MBT residues) but is still viewed as an 

emerging technology. 

 Energy from waste still plays a small role in governments’ commitments 

to energy and environmental solutions. 
International Perspectives (cont.)

 Forecasting waste availability must be an important 

consideration in the planning and design phase due to the 

evolving waste minimization initiatives and increase in 

recycling. 

 Promoting waste-to-energy must not diminish the importance 

of waste minimization and cost-effective recycling. 

 Minimizing stranded investment is imperative for profitability 

and financing of waste-to-energy facilities, necessitating 

consideration of various factors such as seasonality and 

energy demand dynamics. 

Emphasis on principle-based strategies is critical to resolving the 

energy and environmental issues. 
Remarks

 The analysis is complex and requires feedbacks from the 

stakeholders for simplification / prioritization.

 Participation of the stakeholders (e.g., industry, utilities, and 

municipalities) in providing system performance / cost data 

and regulatory constraints is critical to the success of this 

analysis project. 
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Questions / Comments ?

Thank you!

Ali.Jalalzadeh@nrel.gov

National Renewable Energy Laboratory Innovation for Our Energy Future