Biogas is a product of converting organic matter into energy through decomposition, with a significant component being methane. This makes it suitable for power generation and gas fuel applications. The National Atomic Research Institute (NARI) is dedicated to develop biogas technology using local biomass resources, with a focus on agricultural waste for bioenergy, and then promote industrialization and the most effective utilization of this technology. In the near to medium term, the aim of this technology development is to support the government's net-zero emission policies and renewable energy initiatives. In the long term, it could serve as a foundation for bioenergy with carbon capture and use/storage (BECCUS) by carbon-negative characteristics.
Traditional biogas production relies solely on microorganisms to decompose organic matter, which has limited effectiveness with a prolonged reaction time, resulting in low biogas production efficiency. Although adding agricultural and forestry lignocellulose waste can increase biogas production, the efficiency of biogas production from untreated lignocellulosic biomass is still notably poor. Therefore, NARI is now focusing on integrating pre-treatment and anaerobic co-fermentation for biogas production to enhance biogas yield. Technological development is also conducted on the feasibility of diverse feedstocks, energy integration, and by-product utilization. The level of technology development has reached up to TRL6 and then promote its application at demonstration fields to establish competitive biogas production technology.

The alkaline pretreatment technology developed by NARI enables 75-80% of the lignocellulose feedstock for biogas production within 7 days, resulting in a high biogas generation rate compared to existing technologies. This approach also helps reduce the size of the digestion tank and initial investment costs. However, with the limited domestic experiences in using lignocellulose feedstocks for biogas production, it is recommended to promote this technology industrialization in two phases.
In the first phase, the lignocellulose solid residues resulting from alkaline pretreatment could be co-fermented with wastewater from pig, cattle, and poultry farms with increasing biogas production by 2.8 times, 2.0 times, and 1.5 times, respectively through synergistic effects. The high-efficiency biogas production technologies are unique in the country and expected to improve the economic benefits of biogas production from livestock wastewater as well as solving water pollution and environmental issues.
The second phase promotion will focus on using lignocellulose biomass as the main feedstock with the wet high-concentration anaerobic co-digestion technology. In addition, previous research achievements including the integration of steam explosion and enzyme hydrolysis for lignocellulose feedstock saccharification, along with fermentation and purification technologies, have enabled the conversion of forest waste into various biochemical products. This work won the 2023 Global RD100 Technology Award, demonstrating that the pretreatment technology developed by NARI is indeed at the world leading level.

Lignocellulosic biomass Pretreatment Technology for Enhancing Biogas Yields
Biogas Production Technology from Complex Feedstock
3E Benefits Assessment for Biogas Technology
Business Model Support for the Industrialization of Biogas Industry