Biogas is produced after organic materials (plant and animal products) are broken

down by bacteria in an oxygen-free environment, a process called anaerobic digestion.

Biogas systems use anaerobic digestion to recycle these organic materials, turning them
into biogas, which contains both energy (gas), and valuable soil products (liquids and
solids). Anaerobic digestion already occurs in nature, landfills, and some livestock
manure management systems, but can be optimized, controlled, and contained using an
anaerobic digester. Biogas contains roughly 50-70 percent methane, 30-40 percent
carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of other gases.
On land, plants remove carbon from the atmosphere through photosynthesis.
Animals eat plants and either breath out the carbon, or it moves up the food chain.
When plants and animals die and decay, they transfer carbon back to the soil. Moving
offshore, the ocean takes up carbon through physical and biological processes. At the
ocean's surface, carbon dioxide from the atmosphere dissolves into the water. Tiny
marine plants called phytoplankton use this carbon dioxide for photosynthesis.
Phytoplankton are the base of the marine food web. After animals eat the plants, they
breathe out the carbon or pass it up the food chain. Sometimes phytoplankton die,
decompose, and are recycled in the surface waters. Phytoplankton can also sink to the
bottom of the ocean, where they become buried in marine sediment. Over long time
scales, this process has made the ocean floor the largest reservoir of carbon on the
planet. In a process called upwelling, currents bring cold water containing carbon up to
the surface. As the water warms, the carbon is then be released as a gas back into the
atmosphere, continuing the carbon cycle.
Biogas can be burned directly as a fuel or treated to remove the CO2 and other
gases for use just like natural gas. Treated biogas may be called renewable natural gas
or biomethane.
Anaerobic decomposition of biomass occurs when anaerobic bacteria—bacteria
that live without the presence of free oxygen—eat and break down, or digest, biomass
and produce biogas. Anaerobic bacteria occur naturally in soils, in water bodies such as
swamps and lakes, and in the digestive tracts of humans and animals. Biogas forms in
and can be collected from municipal solid waste landfills and livestock manure holding
ponds. Biogas can also be produced under controlled conditions in special tanks called
anaerobic digesters. Stored biogas can provide a clean, renewable, and reliable source of
baseload power in place of coal or natural gas. Baseload power is consistently produced
to meet minimum power demands; renewable baseload power can complement more
intermittent renewables. Similar to natural gas, biogas can also be used as a source of
peak power that can be rapidly ramped up. Using stored biogas limits the amount of
methane released into the atmosphere and reduces dependence on fossil fuels. The
reduction of methane emissions derived from tapping all the potential biogas in the
United States would be equal to the annual emissions of 800,000 to 11 million
passenger vehicles. Based on a waste-to-wheels assessment, compressed natural gas
derived from biogas reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 91 percent relative to
petroleum gasoline.
In addition to climate benefits, anaerobic digestion can lower costs associated
with waste remediation as well as benefit local economies. Building the 13,500
potential biogas systems in the United States could add over 335,000 temporary
construction jobs and 23,000 permanent jobs. Anaerobic digestion also reduces odors,
pathogens, and the risk of water pollution from livestock waste. Digestate, the material
remaining after the digestion process, can be used or sold as fertilizer, reducing the need
for chemical fertilizers. Digestate also can provide additional revenue when sold as
livestock bedding or soil amendments.
Landfills for municipal solid waste are a source of biogas. Biogas is produced
naturally by anaerobic bacteria in municipal solid waste landfills and is called landfill
gas. Landfill gas with a high methane content can be dangerous to people and the
environment because methane is flammable. Methane is also a strong greenhouse gas.
Biogas contains small amounts of hydrogen sulfide, a noxious and potentially toxic
compound when in high concentrations. Some landfills reduce landfill gas emissions by
capturing and burning—or flaring—the landfill gas. Burning the methane in landfill gas
produces CO2, but CO2 is not as strong a greenhouse gas as methane. Many landfills
collect and treat landfill gas to remove CO2, water vapor, and hydrogen sulfide and use
it to generate electricity or sell as it as a substitute for natural gas.
 Global distribution of biogas potential
Methane has a greenhouse gas (GHG) heating factor 21 times higher than CO2.
Combustion of biogas converts methane into CO2and reduces the GHG impact by over
20 times. By extracting methane out of waste and using it to produce heat and/or
electricity we ensure that the waste will not degrade in an open environment, therefore
we are reducing direct methane atmospheric emissions. Moreover, the energy provided
by the biogas is likely to displace fossil fuel which is the main contributor to GHG
emissions. Biogas energy is considered carbon neutral, since carbon emitted by its
combustion comes from carbon fixed by plants (natural carbon cycle).