“My grandfather produced meat, we produced biogas”: where does green gas come from?

Baptiste Morin 07:27, December 04, 2022

France has just passed the bar of 500 methanation sites: natural gas produced from vegetable waste, also called biogas.

And by 2050, 100% of our gas will have to be green.

Impossible ?

Not so sure.

France is ahead of its targets.

Each week, three natural gas production facilities are connected to the network, most often at agricultural producers.

Like at Louis Courtier, in Charny in Seine-et-Marne.

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That morning, tractors come to store corn residue.

"Storage is the plate. Then there is the hopper with which we incorporate 30 tonnes per day into the digesters", explains the 30-year-old farmer.

"We liken the hopper to the mouth and the digesters to the stomachs of the cow."

Because anaerobic digestion uses the principle of digestion.

Under large gray domes, manure, barley or even beet pulp macerate at 42 degrees.

"It is in the digester that the methanogenesis takes place, which will transform the material into biogas."

One million euros of additional turnover 

Two years ago, Louis Courtier joined forces with two other farmers to launch this methanisation site.

It took an investment of six million euros, but the process is already generating a good turnover.

"It's the equivalent of the turnover of a beautiful farm, around 1 million euros."

Not to mention the residue of methanization, a kind of soil, which serves as a natural fertilizer and which saves money by replacing 40% of chemical inputs.

On the other side, the green gas will irrigate the surrounding homes.

Louis Courtier is a farmer like his grandfather, but the job has changed.

"He produced meat when we produce biogas which will heat between 2,000 and 4,000 houses."

Louis Courtier dreams of one day achieving energy independence with gas-powered tractors.