| 1. |
- Cordova, Stephanie S., 1988-
(författare)
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Utilizing CO2 from biomethane production : Sustainability and climate performance
- 2023
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Biogas solutions offer many benefits for the environment and society, including organic waste treatment as well as being an enabler for energy and nutrient recovery. The products of anaerobic digestion are a biogas, which contains a share of 30 to 50% carbon dioxide (CO2) and 50 to 70% methane, and a liquid remanent, rich in nutrients. The biogas can be upgraded by removing the CO2 to increase the energy content, producing biomethane. At present, CO2 is considered a waste in biomethane production systems, and hence it is emitted into the atmosphere. Nevertheless, biogas upgrading technologies separate a pure-grade CO2 and, likewise, carbon capture processes, providing a pure CO2 flow that can be stored or utilized. Compared to storage, carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies deliver valuable carbon-based products required to sustain human activities. The valorization of green CO2 could aid the transition towards defossilization of the economy. Indeed, several CO2 utilization technologies could be incorporated into biomethane production systems, but there is still a limited understanding of the available alternatives and their potential impacts on biomethane systems.This thesis aims to investigate the integration of CO2 utilization technologies in biomethane production systems by revealing its potential, identifying alternatives, and assessing the impacts of the integration. Using Sweden as an example, scenarios of future biomethane production were employed to estimate the potential CO2 available for utilization. To complement the analysis, a qualitative approach made possible the identification of aspects that could affect CO2 utilization in biomethane production. Moreover, a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) framework was developed to identify relevant indicators for assessment and available alternatives for CO2 utilization. The research also includes a life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the climate performance of relevant CCU alternatives in the biomethane production system.Results show that 160 kt of CO2 could be obtained from biomethane production in Sweden, which could potentially increase threefold from 2020 to 2030. The evaluation of alternatives for CO2 utilization includes environmental, technical, economic, and social criteria with sound indicators within an MCA framework. Indicators to evaluate each criterion provide valuable information to identify feasible and sustainable alternatives that can be integrated into biomethane plants. The identified alternatives with a high readiness level are additional methane through methanation, horticulture, mineral carbonates, fuels, pH control, bulk chemicals, and liquefied CO2 for direct use. The results provide information to decision-makers in relation to considerations to take before implementation, like energy requirements, the existence of regulations and standards, and uncertainty. In terms of the climate performance of biomethane with the inclusion of CCU alternatives, the results show a possible reduction of CO2 emissions that depends on the possibility of substituting fossil-based products. The investigated alternatives all result in lower emissions, but concrete curing and methanation using renewable hydrogen produce the best results.To conclude, the potential future increase of green CO2 from biomethane in Sweden creates opportunities to substitute fossil carbon in current applications and mature conversion pathways. Moreover, the inclusion of CCU in biomethane production contributes to reducing biomethane system emissions and diversifying its products. Possible alternatives of CCU that can be integrated into biomethane production systems in the short term include methanation and concrete curing. Other alternatives could be possible but present lower performance and higher uncertainties at the moment.
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| 2. |
- Lindfors, Axel, 1993-
(författare)
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Sustainability Solutions : Lessons on Assessment and Facilitation
- 2020
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Sustainable development is one of the most influential visions guiding future societies. Encompassed within its vision are various domains where improvements are desirable such as, social equity, environmental degradation, climate change. In the work towards sustainable development firms, government authorities and individuals face various practical challenges tied to these sustainability domains. When facing these challenges, they may implement sustainability solutions, that is, solutions that are framed in the context of contributing to sustainable development. This thesis deals with a particular sub-set of such sustainability solutions, namely integrative and multi-functional solutions. These solutions are characterized by the ability to provide different functions through value creation within several different sustainability domains and require organisations, or units of organisations, to further integrate material, energy and informational flows in order to implement the solution. Integrative and multi-functional solutions may play an important part in the transition towards sustainable societies since the integration of material, energy and informational flows may bring with it synergistic benefits. Furthermore, the contribution of these solutions to several different sustainability domains reduces the risk of problem shifting, and it may be more cost-efficient to have one multi-functional sustainability solution than to have one for each sustainability- related challenge.However, if integration and multi-functionality are desirable characteristics of future socio-technological systems, we need ways to systematically assess them and facilitate their implementation. When it comes to the assessment, there is a need to find an assessment methodology that can handle capturing the synergistic benefits and multiple functions of such solutions. Furthermore, the methodology also has to conform to the value pluralism inherent to sustainable development. Dealing with this value pluralism when trying to assess which solution, among many, to implement can be challenging as comparative judgements have to handle potentially conflicting value orientations, goals, empirics and ontologies. As for the facilitation of their implementation, integrative and multi-functional solutions tend to be more difficult—or at least different—to implement than traditional single-minded solutions since they require traditionally separate organisations to cooperate Therefore, this thesis aims to contribute to understanding the process of implementing integrative and multi-functional solutions. Specifically the thesis explores how to select indicators for assessment, how assessments may aid decision-makers to deal with the value pluralism of sustainable development when making comparative judgements and how to strengthen the internal capacity of groups of actors to engage in collective action.Regarding the selection of indicators, the thesis suggests two different pathways. Either one may base indicator selections on stakeholder discussions, where stakeholders come to a consensus around which indicators are important to assess, or one may base indicators on operationalising pre-defined sustainability objectives: namely, sorting, contextualising and reformulating pre-defined sustainability objectives so that they fit the purpose of the assessment. A mix of both pathways is also possible, in other words, using both stakeholder discussions and the operationalisation of pre-defined sustainability objectives to motivate and justify the selection of indicators. As for how assessments may aid decision-makers, the thesis advocates for a discursive approach based on the primacy of decision support tools over decision-making tools. Meaning that the tools should support informed decisions but not make them for the decisionmaker. Here, contributions are made in the form of motivations for the discursive, qualitative approach to decision-making and exemplify how decision support tools may be designed, and a method is presented and developed that enables this kind of informed comparative judgements. This method builds on multicriteria decision analysis methodology but makes a few key contributions to the selection of indicators (mentioned previously) and to how to compare different alternatives and judge which of the alternatives is the preferred. Finally, contributions are made to the practice of facilitating integrative and multi-functional solutions through showing how the theory of institutional capacity building can be used to guide design, development and evaluation of interventions aimed at facilitating such solutions. Institutional capacity building represents the ability of groups of actors to engage in collective action, something that seems to be often needed to implement integrative and multi-functional solutions. Historically, this theory has been used to study how different events influenced the capacity of actors to engage in collective action. However, in research performed within the bounds of this thesis, the theory is expanded for use in a proactive manner, thereby contributing with insights and inspiration to others that may seek to facilitate the implementation process of integrative and multi-functional solutions.
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| 3. |
- Gunaratne, Tharaka, et al.
(författare)
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Guiding future research on the valorisation of shredder fine residues : A review of four decades of research
- 2020
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Ingår i: Detritus. - Padova, Italy : CISA Publisher. - 2611-4135. ; 09, s. 150-164
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Millions of tonnes of shredder fines are generated and disposed of globally, despite compelling reasons for its recovery. The absence of a review of previous literature, however, makes it difficult to understand the underlying reasons for this. Thus, this study attempts to investigate and assess what, to what extent, and in what ways shredder fines have been addressed in previous research. In doing so, guidelines are drawn for future research to facilitate the valorisation (upgrading and recovery) of shredder fines. Previous research concerning shredder fines was identified with respect to three main research topics. The material characterisation studies are predominantly confined to the occurrence of metals due to their recovery and contamination potential. The process development studies have often undertaken narrowly conceived objectives of addressing one resource opportunity or contamination problem at a time. Consequently, the full recovery (the retrieval of valuable resources and the bulk-utilisation as substitute material) potential of shredder fines has been largely overlooked. The main limitation of policy and regulation studies is the absence of in-depth knowledge on the implications of governmental waste- and resource-policies (macro-level) on actors’ incentives and capacities (micro-level) for fines valorisation, which is necessary to understand the marketability of fines-derived resources. Undertaking a systems perspective is the key to recognising not only the different aspects within the individual research topics but also the inter-relations between them. It also facilitates the internalisation of the inter-relations into topical research.
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| 4. |
- Gunaratne, Tharaka, et al.
(författare)
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Potential valorisation of shredder fines : Towards integrated processes formaterial upgrading and resource recovery
- 2020
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Ingår i: Resources, Conservation and Recycling. - : Elsevier. - 0921-3449 .- 1879-0658. ; 154
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The lack of process development based on a comprehensive understanding of the material characteristics and the marketability of recoverables is the primary reason why the valorisation of shredder fines has not been realised in practice. In response, a systematic approach was undertaken consisting of 1) strategic sampling and material characterisation, 2) establishing gate and regulatory requirements of potential valorisation applications, and 3) initial feasibility assessment of the selected applications, to guide future research.The material was sampled over ten weeks in order to obtain both average values and variations of the physical and chemical composition. Thus weekly, primary fractions and sieved fractions ZA (7.10–5.00 mm), ZB (5.00–3.35 mm), ZC (3.35–2.00 mm), ZD (2.00–0.25 mm), and ZE (0.25–0.063 mm) were prepared, and analysed, and benchmarked against the requirements pertaining to five potential applications. The mercury and aluminium concentrations are the biggest challenge in copper smelting and only ZA and ZB show significant potential. Energy recovery is limited to ZA, ZB, and ZC, provided the chlorine and metals concentrations are decreased. Regarding the recovery as bulk-material in construction, the reduction of the metal content would likely be a pre-requisite.The utilisation of fines in the individual applications would either leave a significant amount of fines un-valorised or overlook the recovery of valuable resources. The upgrading of the material to suit the different applications would also require addressing multiple material constraints simultaneously. Therefore, realising the full resource potential of shredder fines would require the integration of different upgrading and recovery processes.
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| 5. |
- Lindfors, Axel, 1993-
(författare)
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In what way is it sustainable? : Developing a multi-criteria method for sustainability assessment of socio-technical systems
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Due to increasing environmental degradation, decreasing resource stocks, and growing inequality there is an urgent need for sustainable development. Many of these societal challenges are interlinked and interconnected and sustainable development represents a multi-dimensional and integrative concept to overcome them. To achieve sustainable development, system changes and the implementation of new technologies will be necessary— technologies that contribute toward solving several sustainability challenges in an integrated manner. The identification and implementation of more sustainable sociotechnical systems will require assessment methods that can encompass the meaning of sustainable development. Sustainable development is a dynamic and relative concept where what constitutes sustainability changes depending on the temporal, cultural, and technical context in which the system is introduced and on the reference used for comparison. Because of this, it is impossible to define specific technologies as universally sustainable; instead, each technology must be assessed concerning how the socio-technical systems that encompasses the technology contributes toward overcoming sustainability challenges in the context in which it is implemented. This assessment requires a method capable of encompassing the complexity, context-dependency, and value pluralism of sustainable development. In addition, the assessment method should contribute to the implementation of the most sustainable alternative to accelerate the societal transformation to sustainable development. Based on this, the thesis aimed to develop a method for sustainability assessment that could encompass the complexity, context-dependency, and value pluralism of sustainable development and which includes features that explicitly aim to facilitate the implementation of the most sustainable alternative(s). The method developed in the thesis is based on participatory multicriteria assessment. It differs from other participatory multi-criteria assessments in several ways because of its theoretical basis in soft system thinking and value pluralism. These theories have several implications for the assessment method. Some examples include: that quantitative relations between sustainability challenges in different moral value domains cannot be constructed, that there is no rigorous or dependable way to find the most sustainable alternative, and that multiple alternatives can be viewed as the most sustainable alternative because this is dependent on the values and norms of the decisionmakers. The sustainability assessment method developed in the thesis is a sixstep iterative method. The method is flexible and need not be strictly adhered to; instead, it should be adapted to the decision context it is used within. It provides decision-makers with a systematic overview of knowledge on how different relevant alternatives contribute to, or counteract, overcoming various sustainability challenges. This enables informed and rational decision-making concerning what alternatives are perceived as the most sustainable and, therefore, should be implemented. This implementation process is one that the assessment method contributes toward by, for example, including criteria for assessing feasibility in the assessment framework and recommending what type of actors to involve in the assessment process. The method builds on the idea that the purpose of sustainability assessments can never be to state if a system is sustainable or not; rather, the purpose is to state in what way a system is sustainable or not.
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| 6. |
- Ammenberg, Jonas, 1973-, et al.
(författare)
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Perspectives on biomethane as a transport fuel within acircular economy, energy, and environmental system
- 2021
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The literature indicates that the life cycle costs of biomethane fueled light vehicles may be 15 to 20% highe rthan for similar petrol and diesel fueled vehicles, while liquid biomethane fueled heavy duty trucks may have similar life cycle costs to diesel. However, such an analysis can be two dimensional and limited in the message it conveys. On one hand the acceptance of diesel fueled trucks and buses will be limited due to the climate emergency and air pollution and after 2030 diesel may not be the competition for biomethane anymore. On the otherhand, biomethane production is part of a larger circular economy, energy, and environmental system. It is verydifficult to divorce the energy vector, biomethane, from the system through which it is produced. In essence biomethane can be considered as one of the products or services of a broad biogas system.An advantage of biogas is that it can be produced from most wet organic wastes or by-products, includingfor food waste, animal by-products, (such as manure), agricultural residues, sewage sludge, industrial biowaste (such as from slaughterhouses and food and beverage processing industries). Biogas production is an element in the environmental management of such wastes; biogas plants can also deliver digestate, which contains most ofthe nutrients in the feedstock and can be an excellent biofertilizer. In addition, it is possible to utilize the carbon dioxide removed in upgrading biogas to biomethane as a product with added value. The resource of biomethane is very significant in considering the vast amounts of organic wastes landfilled around the world each year, that instead could be used to produce biogas, biofertilizers and food grade CO2 while improving the environment through reduced fugitive methane emissions and improved water quality. Furthermore, the application of biogas systems in bio-industrial contexts (such as paper mills, food production facilities, or other types of biorefineries) has huge potential to decarbonize industry while significantly increasing the resource of biomethane. Due to the multifunctionality of biomethane solutions, broad assessment methods are needed to grasp thewide spectrum of relevant factors when comparing different technologies:• Biomethane has a competitive performance compared with fossil fuels and other biofuels on a whole lifecycle analysis and is particularly suited to long distance heavy vehicles.• Biomethane from manure, residues, waste & catch crops is estimated to have low GHG emissions ascompared to other renewable fuels.• Biomethane may contribute to reduced air pollution in comparison with diesel, petrol, and other biofuels.• Biomethane can contribute to a substantial reduction in acidification compared with fossil fuels.• Biomethane may contribute to significantly reduced noise levels in comparison with diesel heavy goodsvehicles.• Well-designed and applied biogas systems may be essential to transform conventional farming to moresustainable farming and to organic farming.• Common types of biogas solutions provide essential sociotechnical systems services as components ofsystems for waste and (waste) water management.• Biogas solutions may importantly contribute to improved energy supply/security and flexibility.Natural gas systems should be a facilitator of the introduction of biomethane for transport, but the sustainability problems associated with natural gas negatively impact the view of biomethane. This is where arguments amongst the renewable sector actors can hinder progress. Biomethane and (power to methane) can utilize the existing gas grid and accelerate progress to decarbonization of the overall energy sector beyond just electricity and also to decarbonize chemical (such as ammonia and methanol) and steel production. This should be advantageous especially when realizing that more energy is procured from the natural gas grid than the electricity gridin the EU and the US; however, suggestions that biomethane is only greenwashing the natural gas industry, and in doing so extending the lifetime of natural gas, greatly impedes this progress.This report provides exemplars of very good biomethane based transport solutions, with a high technologicalreadiness level for all elements of the chain from production to vehicles. Transport biomethane sits well in the broad circular economy, energy, and environmental system providing services across a range of sectors including reduction in fugitive methane emissions from slurries, treatment of residues, environmental protection, provision of biofertiliser, provision of food grade CO2 and a fuel readily available for long distance heavy haulage. What we do not have is time to postpone the sustainable implementation of such circular economy biomethane systems as the climate emergency will not wait for absolutely perfect zero emission solutions; should they exist.
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| 7. |
- Cordova, Stephanie, 1988-, et al.
(författare)
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What should we do with CO₂ from biogas upgrading?
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of CO2 Utilization. - : Elsevier. - 2212-9820 .- 2212-9839. ; 77
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Carbon capture and utilization has been proposed as an essential climate change mitigation strategy, but only a few implemented cases exist. During biomethane production from anaerobic digestion, CO₂ is commonly separated and emitted into the atmosphere, which can be utilized as raw material for various products. This research aims to identify and assess CO₂ utilization alternatives for possible integration with biogas upgrading from anaerobic digestion by developing a soft multi-criteria analysis (MCA). A literature review complemented with stakeholder participation enabled the identification of relevant alternatives and criteria for assessment. Potential alternatives for CO₂ utilization include methane, mineral carbonates, biomass production, fuels, chemicals, pH control, and liquefied CO₂. Results show that although no alternative performs well in all indicators, there is an opportunity for short-term implementation for methane, biomass production, mineral carbonates, liquefied CO₂, and pH control. Moreover, the uncertainty analysis reveals that even though the technologies have a high technological development, more information on critical aspects is still required. The soft MCA provides information to decision-makers, practitioners, and the academic community on learning opportunities of the alternatives and indicators to step from development into implementation. For instance, the method can be used to assess more specific systems with different locations and scales or to direct efforts to ease the implementation of CCU.
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| 8. |
- Eklund, Mats, Professor, 1962-
(författare)
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Industrisamhällets framväxt, struktur och miljöpåverkan
- 2023. - 2
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Ingår i: Miljöteknik. - Lund : Studentlitteratur AB. - 9789144159355 ; , s. 189-194
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Föregående kapitel bidrog med grundläggande kunskaper om stora tekniska system. Men den kunskapen som bas kan man närma sig frågan hur några av de system som finns i dag kommit till och utvecklats med tiden. Dessutom ges i detta kapitel en historisk introduktion, som på en övergripande nivå beskriver hur industrisamhället och industriella system utvecklats. Kapitlet avslutas med en utblick mot framtiden.
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| 9. |
- Eklund, Mats, Professor, 1962-
(författare)
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Introduktion till stora tekniska system
- 2023. - 2
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Ingår i: Miljöteknik. - Lund : Studentlitteratur AB. - 9789144159355 ; , s. 181-187
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Stora tekniska system fyller en viktig funktion i många människors vardag och de har också en stor miljömässig betydelse. Det gäller dels systemen själva, dels många delsystem i form av produkter och tjänster vars miljöpåverkan till stor del kan avgöras av de stora systemen. I kapitlet introduceras stora tekniska system. Fokus ligger på systemens framväxt och miljökoppling, viktiga komponenter och aktörer, och hur systemen kan utvecklas och förändras.
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| 10. |
- Gustafsson, Marcus, 1987-, et al.
(författare)
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Biogaslösningar i Norrköping : potential för produktion och marknad
- 2018
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Norrköpings kommun har i sin Energiplan för 2030 satt som mål att energieffektivisera med minst 30 % jämfört med 2005, samt att 100 % av de energislag och bränslen som används inom kommunens geografiska område (ej inräknat sjöfart och flyg) ska vara förnybara. Lokalt producerad biogas skulle kunna bidra till arbetet mot dessa mål och möjligheten att producera biogas har undersökts i tidigare förstudier på enskilda anläggningar i kommunen. Medan grannkommunen Linköping under många år har haft en kontinuerlig egen biogasproduktion i stor skala har Norrköping endast haft en mindre produktion av biogas, trots ett liknande invånarantal och flera stora industrier vars avfallsströmmar utgör potentiella biogassubstrat.I denna rapport redovisas resultaten från ett projekt med målsättning att kartlägga och kvantifiera potentialerna för produktion och användning av biogas i Norrköpings kommun, att utröna vad som krävs för att dessa ska kunna realiseras, samt vilken betydelse detta skulle ha för Norrköping. Projektet genomfördes i form av en workshopserie med deltagare från BRC:s partners samt Region Östergötland, Östgötautmaningen, Biogas Öst, Norrköping Vatten och Avfall, Holmen Paper och Kolmårdens djurpark. Frågeställningarna angreps med en så kallad ”bottom-up”-metodik, med utgångspunkt i de lokala förutsättningarna, och uppskattningar av den potentiella produktionen och användningen av biogas gjordes med fokus på olika substratströmmar respektive olika marknader.Resultaten visar på en stor outnyttjad potential för biogasproduktion i Norrköping, framförallt inom jordbrukssektorn samt lokala pappers- och massabruk. Samtidigt finns det en stor potentiell lokal marknad för biogas. Den beräknade produktionspotentialen kan, om den uppfylls, täcka i storleksordningen 10 – 15 % av energibehovet för vägtransporter och sjöfart samt det industriella energigasbehovet i Norrköping.Ett av de stora hindren för att utveckla produktionen av biogas i Norrköping är att substraten, förutom vid enskilda industrier, är spridda på ett stort antal anläggningar och aktörer. Många potentiella producenter saknar dessutom nödvändig kunskap om produktion och försäljning av biogas. Detta ställer krav på samverkan mellan olika aktörer, till exempel ägare av substrat och biogasproducenter. Samarbete mellan olika substratägare för storskalig samrötning och centraliserad uppgradering till fordonsgas skulle kunna ge ekonomiska fördelar jämfört med småskaliga anläggningar.Norrköpings kommun kan själva spela en viktig roll i utvecklingen mot ökad produktion och användning av biogas genom strategisk infrastrukturplanering, upphandling och förmedling av kunskap om biogas till potentiella producenter och användare. Ett sätt för kommunen att effektivare kunna bedriva arbete inom området kan vara att tillsätta en särskild biogas- eller biobränslesamordnare.
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