Theoretical georeferenced potential for biomethane production in Brazil from organic waste, including logistics and cost aspects

Abstract One of the challenges for biomethane production in Brazil, as well as its use, is related to transportation logistics, owing to the lack of detailed studies of the entire supply chain at a national level, which includes all the stages from waste collection to transportation for its final use. In addition, the lack of adequate logistics and infrastructure for biomethane can make its production economically unfeasible. Given this, this article aims to present a study of the potential for producing biomethane from animal manure, sewage sludge, and vinasse from sugar cane and corn, considering its end use, biogas production costs, and purification technologies, using the Geographic Information Systems method for georeferencing. ArcGIS Pro 3.7 software was used to study logistics and create biomethane potential and cost maps. Amine scrubbing was the most efficient technology, at around 97.02%. With this technology, a biomethane production potential of 1.101 billion m 3 per year was estimated from the total waste studied in Brazil. However, water scrubbing had the lowest specific production cost for plants with capacities greater than 500 m 3 h −1 , around 29.97 US$ MWh −1 for a 2000 m 3 h −1 plant, considering transportation by truck and 33.97 US$ MWh −1 considering the same size plant and direct injection into the natural gas network. Considering the average price of natural gas in Brazil in 2024 of 68.87 US$ MWh −1 , biomethane proved to be economically viable from a capacity of 500 m 3 h −1 using water scrubbing, pressure swing adsorption, and membrane separation technologies, and from 700 m 3 h −1 with amine scrubbing technology. This shows that it is economically possible to produce biomethane in some regions of Brazil when the logistics are adequately exploited.