Main R&D goals

The Gaya Project implements a research and development program that aims to remove the main technical and financial obstacles from the process of converting lignocellulose biomass into biomethane from dry biomass-to-gas, and to develop an innovative and sustainable industrial concept. It brings together the skills of 11 partners who have achieved international recognition, in order to perform works covering the entire technology chain, from biomass to feeding the gas into the network.

The scientific program covers the entire dry biomethane from dry biomass-to-gas sector. It involves:

• developing a biomethane production process that performs well from an environmental, energy and financial standpoint;

• removing the technological, financial and environmental obstacles to the industrial development of biomethane.

The program deals with fundamental scientific aspects, as well as applied research and technological validation aspects.

The research and development effort focuses on the two key stages for the biomethane from dry biomass-to-gas production process, namely gasification and methanation. The experiments conducted on the R&D platform are aimed at increasing the availability of the process, and its effectiveness, which is already high. The aim is to fine-tune its operation in order to reduce production costs and to increase the range of accessible biomasses.

The results of the experiments will be assessed using technical and environmental performance indicators. The life-cycle analysis (LCA) and the preparation of energy reports are a focal point of the R&D work. They guarantee the monitoring of breakthroughs made at each stage of the project.