Biogas as alternative fuel for the road transportation sector in Algeria by 2050: a case study Ouargla

This study aims to integrate the biogas road transport sector in the Ouargla region of Algeria by 2050. The alternative biogas is derived from livestock animals (goats, cows, sheep, and camels), municipal waste, and palm waste. Anaerobic digestion is the process used for producing biogas. Our study adopts a prospective method that integrates two modules: energy modeling and the Geographic Information System (GIS) to evaluate the biogas demand potential in the Algeria’s road transportation sector between 2020 and 2050. We proposed two scenarios to estimate the avoided CO2 emissions by 2050: a voluntary biogas vehicle (VB) and a reference conventional fuel vehicle (CFV) to calculate the environmental impacts both before and after the implementation of biogas as a substitute fuel in the transportation sector. As a result, the total amount of biogas demand would be 488.46 thousand tons until 2050. A significant CO2 reduction is achievable in 2050; the amount of CO2 saving is estimated at 285.78 thousand tons, or 43%. The results of this study showed that the use of biogas in road transport as a substitute fuel serves to protect the environment by reducing carbon dioxide emissions while decreasing energy usage.