The sole responsibility for the content of this report lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the

opinion of the European Union. Neither the EASME nor the European Commission are responsible for any

use that may be made of the information contained therein.

FRANCE - NATIONAL SITUATION

BIOGAS PRODUCTION AND BIOGAS POTENTIALS

FROM RESIDUES OF THE EUROPEAN

FOOD AND BEVERAGE INDUSTRY

IEE-Project

FABbiogas

Table of contents 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1

2 Methodology ................................................................................................................... 2

3 Task 1 ............................................................................................................................ 2

3.1 Map showing national biogas plants using FAB industry waste ............................... 2

3.2 Basic characteristics of existing biogas installations ................................................ 6

4 TASK 2 ........................................................................................................................... 7

4.1 Maps showing national waste streams of different FAB industry branches .............. 7

5 TASK 3 ..........................................................................................................................13

5.1 Description of the barriers ......................................................................................13

5.1.1 For biogas plant operators...............................................................................13

5.1.2 For food and beverage producers ...................................................................14

5.1.3 General observations and conclusions ............................................................15

6 References ....................................................................................................................17

1 /19

National report of France

This report was written in the frame of the IEE project FABbiogas, which is supported

by the Intelligent Energy Europe. The aim of this report is to give an overview of the

biogas market in France, to evaluate the potential of renewable energy sources from

waste in the food and beverage industry (FAB), including the identification of the

production of biogas from organic waste, and the untapped potential of organic waste

in various industries of food and beverages and to identify non-technological barriers

that hinder development and use of renewable energy potential.

1 Introduction

The French Republic is located in Western Europe, bordered by Belgium,

Luxemburg, Germany, Switzerland and Italy to the East, by the Mediterranean Sea

and Spain to the South, by the Bay of Biscay to the West and by the English channel

to the North. The total area of France is around 641,000 km2 with a population of over

66 million people.

For administrative purposes France is divided into 27 administrative “régions”, of

which 22 are in metropolitan France (21 are on the continental part of metropolitan

France; 1 is the territorial collectivity of Corsica), and 5 are overseas regions. The 27

regions are further subdivided into 101 “départements”, and over 36 000

municipalities, called “communes”.

Europe recently engaged in increasing the use of renewable resources for producing

energy. These orientations as regards energy policy are determining for the

development of biogas production and recovery of biogas. At the European level,

directive 2009/28/CE set the mandatory national targets concerning the share of

renewable energy in the final energy consumption in 2020. In particular, the

European Commission set a target of 23% share of energy produced from renewable

sources in 2020 for France. This target has been transposed into French legislation

in the planning law n° 2009-967 relating to the implementation of the Grenelle de

2 /19

l’environnement roundtables, and in the bylaws / orders which stem from it, i.e. PPI

chaleur du 15 décembre 2009 and PPI électricité du 15 décembre 2009 :

-the objective to develop the production of heat from biogas (global

production) was 60ktep for 31 December 2012 and 555 ktep for 31

December 2020.

-the objective for developing the production of electricity is not specific to

biogas but rather applies to biomass in general (520MW to be in service by 31

December 2012 and 2300MW before 31 December 2020).

2 Methodology

Existing literature and studies were used to compile this report. Some internet

sources were also used, and some interviews were conducted with national and local

authorities. General sources mapping out waste streams and biogas plants are

relatively abundant, and work is currently in progress in France, in particular by the

regional offices of ADEME, the French Environment and Energy Management

Agency, to map these out even more precisely, and in particular as regards food and

beverage waste. The results of these ongoing studies should be available within the

timeframe of the FABBIOGAS project. For this reason, it was decided not to

unnecessarily duplicate the work already underway, and thus supplementary

interviews with biogas plants and food and beverage companies were not conducted

for this report. Moreover, there is a relatively large number of biogas plants and food

and beverage companies in France, and due to the fact that these same companies

are already solicited by the instances currently carrying out the aforementioned

studies on the waste streams and on the biogas market, low response rates to the

model questionnaires were to be expected. For this reason also, it was deemed most

efficient to wait for these studies to be published and then use them for the purposes

of the FABBIOGAS project.

3 Task 1

3.1 Map showing national biogas plants using FAB industry waste

In 2011, there were 80 plants linked to an industrial plant, of which 58 plants for the

Food and Beverage industry. The exact locations are available, along with the

3 /19

installed electrical power for some of these plants [kW] on an interactive website

(http://www.atee.fr/biogaz/carte-des-installations-biogaz-en-france or

https://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?docid=1MoVjyodttW6MfzLJJ3Jz2t

T0MwGimt5525_Tn0o#map:id=3) It was therefore deemed unnecessary to remap all

the installations in Google Maps, as the source cited above will moreover be updated

regularly. Work is still under way to map out the plants more precisely. The figure

below shows the user interface for surfing on the database on Google Maps to locate

the industrial installations linked to anaerobic digestion plants.

Figure 1: Biogas Plants linked to an industrial installation in France in an interactive map / database

4 /19

Figure 2: Example to illustrate the type of user interface on the interactive map / database of French biogas plants

5 /19

The information on the industrial plants is also available per region, as follows:

Figure 3: Biogas Plants linked to an industrial installation in France (58 of 80 plants use food and beverage waste)

Table 1: Biogas plants using industrial waste in France, classified by regions (80 plants, of which 58 using food and beverage waste)

Region Number of installations Biogas produced

(Nm3/year)

Nord Pas de Calais 12 + 1 under

construction

12 270 000

Haute Normandie 4 5 490 000

Picardie 3 4 540 000

Basse Normandie - -

Ile de France 1 30 000

Champagne 2 1 580 000

Lorraine - -

Alsace 5 + 1 under

construction

3 490 000

6 /19

Bretagne 3 2 040 000

Pays de la Loire 6 2 190 000

Centre 1 2 800 000

Bourgogne 3 1 320 000

Franche Comté 3 2 550 000

Poitou-Charentes 1 3 350 000

Limousin 1 2 180 000

Auvergne - -

Rhône-Alpes 6 1 170 000

Aquitaine 9 7 370 000

Midi-Pyrenées 9 + 1 under

construction

1 350 000

Languedoc-Roussillon 2 + 1 under

construction

1 100 000

Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur 6 + 1 under

construction

340 000

Outre Mer 2 4 360 000

Corse - -

TOTAL 80 + 5 under

construction

59 520 000

3.2 Basic characteristics of existing biogas installations

The French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME) was contacted

for more precise information concerning the plants using food and beverage waste.

They communicated the following figures:

Table 2: Biogas plants using food and beverage waste in France according to type of waste

Food and Beverage Sector Number of plants

Meat products 2

Dairy products (cheese, whey, yogurts, ice cream) 11

Sweets/Sugar 6

Drinks/alcohol (breweries) 7

Drinks/alcohol (wineries) 18

Drinks/alcohol (distilleries) 4

Drinks/alcohol (soft drink) 1

Fruits and vegetables 7

Starch and food additives 2

7 /19

4 TASK 2

4.1 Maps showing national waste streams of different FAB industry

branches

In France no specific maps exist as regards the type of waste streams and the

characteristics of the plant (other than the installed electrical power) according to

food and beverage industry branches for reasons related to competition between

companies. Food and beverage businesses are reluctant to communicate specific

data on the waste they produce and on how and at what price they manage this

organic waste. However, the information on the type of waste and the physical

characteristics is available in numerical format. Identified waste resources from the

food and beverage industry that could be used for the production of biogas include:

-waste from production processes

-effluents from the canning industries, distilleries, and wash water

-marc and stillage from wine cooperatives

-slurries and effluents from slaughterhouses (other than beef), stercoral

matter, sieve residue, greases, blood from slaughterhouses, animal

byproducts from the slaughter process, and more generally animal by-

products of category 2 and 3 (according to Regulation EC/1069/2009)

-grease from the processing industry and swill

In this way, the types of food and beverage industry waste are quite diverse, as are

their characteristics. For example, organic content of effluents are generally low,

contrarily to animal byproducts from the slaughter process and greases of animal

origin, which have a high methanogenic potential. The following table maps out the

waste resources from the food and beverage industry according to the NAF (French

statistical nomenclature for activities).

8 /19

Table 3. Characteristics of potential food and beverage waste resources

Activity

Code

Activity description Number

of firms

Type of

waste

Solid

Waste

(%

Organic

Matter /

Brut

Matter)

Solid

Waste

(Dry

Matter)

m3CH4/ t

Organic

Matter

%

Organic

Matter/

% Dry

Matter

1011Z Processing and

preserving meat

for butchers‘

shops

1257

Category

1, 2, 3

animal by-

products,

stercoral

matter,

greases

16 % 18 % 350 87 %

1012Z Processing and

preserving

poultry meat

393 Category

1, 2, 3

animal by-

products,

stercoral

matter,

greases

21 % 25 % 350 84 %

1013A Industrially

processed meat

products

1092 Cutting

fat, meat

scraps

35 % 38 % 350 91 %

1020 Fish industry 360 Fish waste 16 % 18 % 300 87 %

1031Z Processing and

preserving

potatoes

273 Potato

peels,

potato

waste

8 % 10 % 600 80 %

1032Z Preparation of

fruit and

vegetable juice

159 Fruit and

vegetable

waste

13 % 16 % 400 84 %

1039A Other Processing

and preserving of

vegetables

282 Vegetable

waste,

grade-outs

during

sorting

11 % 14 % 400 81 %

9 /19

1039B Processing and

preserving fruit

542 Fruit

waste,

grade-outs

during

sorting

27 % 35 % 400 78 %

1040 Manufacture of

vegetable and

animal oils and

fats

154 Oil cakes,

seed

sorting

residues,

filtration

residues

81 % 87 % 300 93 %

1051C Cheese

production

776 Cheese

waste

56 % 59 % 500 94 %

1051

autres

Fabrication of

liquid milk and

fresh milk

products

618 Whey,

milk, fresh

cheese

waste

14 % 15 % 400 95 %

1061A_B Manufacture of

grain mill

products,

starches and

starch products,

536 Grain

dust, dried

wheat

grains

84 % 95 % 250 89 %

1070 Bakery and

pastry products,

production of

pasta

12 Baked

dough,

flour, non-

conform

bread

58 % 60 % 250 97 %

1081Z Sugar production 34 Beet-pulp,

molasses,

other

waste of

sugar

manufactu

re,

11 % 11 % 330 97 %

1082Z Manufacture of

cocoa, chocolate

and sugar

935 Cocoa 83 % 90 % 300 92 %

10 /19

confectionery

1085Z-

1086Z-

1089Z

Production of

ready-to-eat

meals

1847 Vegetable

waste,

grade-outs

during

sorting

8 % 10 % 400 80 %

1013A Petfood

production

1092 Meat

waste,

cutting fat,

meat

scraps

35 % 38 % 350 91 %

1101Z Manufacture of

distilled potable

alcoholic

beverages

845 Distillation

and

conversio

n residues

16 % 18 % 300 87 %

1102A Sparkling wine

production

389 Grape

pomace,

grape

skin, pulp

and seeds

38 % 45 % 350 84 %

1102B Winemaking 1097 Winemaki

nd

residues

20 % 75 % 350 27 %

1103Z Processing of

fruit wines and

ciders

145 Apple and

fruit marc

22 % 97 % 350 23 %

1104Z Production of

other fermented

non-distilled

beverages

36 Production

residues

16 % 18 % 300 87 %

1105Z Beer production 246 Brewing

dregs

20 % 22 % 350 93 %

1106Z Malt production 7 Malting

barley

dregs,

malt

seeds

11 % 14 % 350 80 %

11 /19

In a study conducted for the French Environment and Energy Management Agency

ADEME aiming at estimating the potential available, the stream which could be

mobilized for biogas production by 2030 was calculated. This study mapped out

average valorization rates (rate of matter valorized as byproducts) and mobilization

rates (percentage of matter oriented towards an organic treatment method such as

composting, application to farmland, anaerobic digestion) in France per general

activity codes.

Table 4 Food and beverage waste valorization rate (rate of matter valorized as byproducts) and mobilization rate (percentage of matter oriented towards an organic treatment method such as composting, application to farmland, anaerobic digestion) in France.

Activity Code

Activity description Valorisation rate Mobilisation rate

1010 Meat industry 45 % 25 %

1020 Fish industry 91 % 10 %

1030 Fruit and vegetable industry 83 % 80 %

1040 Manufacture of vegetable and

animal oils and fats

81 % 5 %

1050 Dairy industry 12 % 10 %

1060 Manufacture of grain mill

products, starches and starch

products,

55 % 50 %

1070 Bakery and pastry products,

production of pasta

94 % 50 %

1080 Other food industries 28 % 80 %

1090 Petfood production 23 % 50 %

1100 Beverage industry 13 % 90 %

The same study also made an estimation of net potential food and beverage waste streams

that could be available for valorization through the production of biogas by 2030. In the table

below, the potential food and beverage waste resources for production of biogas

according is detailed by major activity codes. Starting from structural data, a gross

waste stream is quantified. Taking into account the valorization rate, the available

gross waste stream is identified. A rate of mobilization is applied (based on technical

accessibility and economical and social feasibility) to obtain the net available waste

stream. In the study, a penetration rate of 20% is adopted for the biogas process as

12 /19

opposed to other available valorization methods, in order to obtain the mobilizable

waste stream. As such, the mobilisable waste stream at the 2030 horizon is

estimated at over 700GWh, and is located uniformly over the French territory.

Table 5. Food and beverage waste streams in France (gross waste stream, gross available waste stream, net available waste stream).

Activity

code

Activity

description

Gross waste

stream

(in tonnes of

raw material)

Gross

available

waste stream

/ Gross waste

stream

Gross

available

waste stream

(in tonnes of

raw material)

Net available

waste stream

/ Gross

available

waste stream

Net available

waste stream

(in tonnes of

raw material))

1010 Meat

industry

2 683 000 54 % 1 462 000 25 % 365 500

1020 Fish

industry

72 000 8 % 6 000 10 % 600

1030 Fruit and

vegetable

industry

388 000 17 % 67 000 80 % 53 900

1040 Manufacture

of vegetable

and animal

oils and fats

15 000 20 % 3 000 3 % 100

1050 Dairy

industry

121 000 88 % 106 000 10 % 10 600

1060 Manufacture

of grain mill

products,

starches

and starch

products,

9 000 44 % 4 000 53 % 2 100

1070 Bakery and

pastry

products,

production

of pasta

42 000 5 % 2 000 55 % 1 100

1080 Other food

industries

15 556

000

72 % 11 172

000

80 % 8 937 600

13 /19

1090 Petfood

production

88 000 77 % 68 000 50 % 33 900

1100 Beverage

industry

2 394 000 87 % 2 079 000 90 % 1 871 500

TOTAL 21 367

000

44 % 14 970

000

53 % 11 277

100

In terms of possible energy production, it is estimated that food and beverage industry waste

represent a mobilization potential of 700 GWh.

Table 6 Food and beverage waste streams in France (GigaWatt hours)

GBP (GWh) Gross available waste

stream (GWh)

Net available waste stream

(GWh)

Mobilisable waste

stream (GWh)

7 500 5 100 3 600 700

5 TASK 3

5.1 Description of the barriers

5.1.1 For biogas plant operators

In the industrial sector, there are four types of constructors. 1) The equipment constructors,

who are the current leaders on the market, have a diversified offer and on top of the

construction of the units, also propose maintenance and assistance services for the

exploitation of the units. 2) Major private industrial groups in the water sector have positioned

themselves on the market for large size installations and also propose services related to

exploitation of the units. 3) Specialized companies also exist, who propose construction

services in partnership with the major industrial groups. 4) Small companies are specialized

in the conception of small-size units for small and medium size enterprises. These

companies generally also propose maintenance and assistance services. The offer for SMEs

is nevertheless relatively underdeveloped.

Biogas plants linked to industrial plants are generally operated by the industry itself. Only

30% are operated by a third party. It is generally the major private industrial groups in the

water sector who are positioned on this market. There is a strong demand for services for the

exploitation of biogas units. There is a need for specific technical competences, because

operating an anaerobic digestion unit is much more complicated than operating an aerobic

process with activated slurries. The other sizeable actors are positioned on the centralized

14 /19

territorial units, which allows for a better management of seasonality problems. The digestion

process is technically “mature”, but a better homogenization and preparation of some

substrates could be helpful to avoid problems in the digestion process and would allow for a

more efficient process.

5.1.2 For food and beverage producers

Today many food and beverage producers have the possibility to valorize the majority of their

food and beverage waste as pet food or other ways of valorization, leaving less room for the

alternative to valorize the waste through the production of biogas. Although the food industry

dominates the industrial market, with 64% of the biogas production, and although biogas

plants are becoming more common in the sector (the market dynamic is starting to stabilize,

with the construction of 2-4 new installations per year on average), some problems

experienced by the industry are limiting the development of plants.

Since 1978, since the opening of the first biogas plant, 133 installations have been built, and

45 have since shut down. It is believed that the financial crisis is one limiting factor, but also

technical factors are to blame. The distilleries and vineyards sector has the largest number of

operational units. It is also the sector with the greatest number of plants that have been

closed. This is mainly due to technical reasons : problems with the conception of the plants,

decantation problems, and overly complex exploitation. The dairy sector is the second

industrial sector in terms of the number of installations. The plants are generally recent in the

dairy sector, on average less than 10 years old. Two plants have closed down in the dairy

sector, one because the industrial site was closed down, and the other because of technical

problems (the variability of the substrate was not compatible with the microbial flora of the

digestor). In the fruit and vegetable sector, 4 plants have closed since being built, 2 of them

because of the closing of the industrial plant itself. In the category “other food industries”, at

least 3 plants have shut down, for technical-economical reasons. In the brewery and drinks

sectors, 3 closures have been observed, because of the closing down of the site itself for 2 of

them, and one because of technical problems with the unit. In the meat sector, some plants

have closed because of the irregularity of the waste, but generally meat sector waste is

coveted in centralized multi-sector plants because of the quality of the waste. In the starch

and yeast sector, one plant is known to have been closed down for economic reasons

(closing of the plant).

In conclusion, two sectors stand out: the dairy sector and the slaughterhouse sector. The

dairy sector is the most dynamic, and is constituted mainly of SMEs, looking for a cheap way

to handle their effluents, which are voluminous and expensive to have taken away. The

slaughterhouse sector is starting to become interested in alternatives to petfood for valorizing

15 /19

their animal by-products. Considering that these sectors are closely linked to the agricultural

sector, it is easy for them to practice co-digestion with agricultural products and valorize the

digestate via application to farmland. However, considering the deep crisis currently affecting

the dairy sector, it is likely that this is going to negatively affect the development of biogas

plants in the food and beverage sector in the future.

5.1.3 General observations and conclusions

The majority of substances which end up in an anaerobic digestion plant are liquid effluents,

because releasing these substances into water is strongly regulated today. As regards some

solid wastes, such as greases and animal flour, anaerobic digestion and in particular

recovery of the energy can be a complementary way to valorize the food and beverage

industry waste, because pet food is also strictly regulated today. Certain food industry

sectors (such as alcohols, molasses, starch, whey and animal oils and greases have high

methanogenic potential, and are therefor of interest for developing anaerobic digestion.

Anaerobic digestion is also a viable alternative for liquid wastes, which can be onerous to

transport over longer distances, although energy recovery is not currently necessarily very

economically interesting.

The reasons for the uptake of anaerobic digestion are the following:

-anaerobic digestion is more efficient for treating the effluents in question

-anaerobic digestion takes less place

-the quantity of by-product slurries is lesser

-energy recovery is a source of supplementary income and is economically sensible as

regards the anterior logic for waste treatment

All new plants practice energy recovery as opposed to torching. In France, the energy

recovered is generally used directly by the industry, in the form of heat or electricity

(boiler or cogeneration) because the plants are generally of a modest size. In other

European countries where plants are bigger and the prices at which the energy is

purchased are higher, the industry sells the gas for injection in the public gas grid.

Biogas production is very slowly being taken up for treatment of effluents, but the pace is

very slow because of the economic crisis, which is hindering the industry to invest in

waste treatment.

Criteria which could speed up the creation of new plants in France (currently at 2-4 new

plants per year) are:

16 /19

-more lucrative installations (fixing more inciting buying prices)

-better access to loans (digestion is today considered to be more risky tan solar

energy or windpower, and banks are thus reluctant to invest

-lighter administrative procedures for new plants (in progress)

-developing co-digestion with other types of wastes (agricultural waste, other

industries, territorial collectivities…)

Codigestion is viewed as an interesting potential way of developing anaerobic digestion. This

brings about some questions regarding contract issues for waste streams with the digestion

plants, as well as the question of the valorization of the digestate itself.

It is expected that the share of biogas produced and torched without energy recovery will go

down in the future. Valorization via cogeneration is likely to take up a more important role as

well. It is also expected that injection in the grid will become more common. As regards

valorization in the form of carburants, there are only two sites in France which practice this.

This form of valorization might develop if purification techniques evolve.

When a project is launched, there will be an arbitrating between cogeneration and injection of

the biomethane, considering the cost of either a cogenerator or a purification unit. It is also

foreseen that the incitations provided via buying prices and obligations to purchase biogas

produced will take the upper hand over investment aids, because of the long duration of

buying-in contracts as opposed to the non-guaranteed permanence of state aids.

Finally, unless the aides for different types of valorization bring about market distortions, the

choice of the mode of valorization should be determined case-by-case as a function of the

site constraints (heat needs, geographical location vis-à-vis the gas grid or a factory, quality

of the biogas obtained, profitability).

In general and not only for the food and beverage industry, but for all sectors where

anaerobic digestion is observed, three main levers have been identified in France which

would allow biogas production to take off :

-Profitability of the facilities

-Positive experience feedback

-Reduction of administrative difficulties.

17 /19

6 References

ATEE, Association Technique Energie Environnement. Carte des installations biogaz

françaises - Club Biogaz. http://www.atee.fr/biogaz/carte-des-installations-biogaz-en-france

Bastide, G (coord). Estimation des gisements potentiels de substrats utilisables en

méthanisation. ADEME, 2013.

Interview, Sylvie Padilla, Chief of Service, Enterprises and Ecotechnologies, ADEME The

French Environment and Energy Management Agency. 2013.

Interview, Yvan Deloche, Expert in anaerobic digestion in the food industry. ACTIA/CRITT

PACA. 2013.

Théobald, O., Brecq, C. (coord), Ernst et Young. Etude de marché de la méthanisation et

des valorizations du biogas. ADEME et GrDF, 2010