State of the art and prospects of Italian biogas production from animal sewage: Technical-economic considerations

In the last few years, the recent regulations of the Energy and Environment Policy of the European Union (EU) Energy Policy, together with the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) have been aiming to increase the integration of renewable resources, and in particular of biogas, into the EU energy system thanks to the adoption of new tools for their promotion. The production of biogas from animal waste, both on a European and national level, still represents only a small percentage of the total amount deriving from anaerobic digestion of organic matter. In this context, it was deemed opportune to evaluate the state of the art in the use of biogas in Italy and its production potential, with regard to animal sewage, in the light of the current technical-economic and legislative obstacles. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.