What role could biomass play in the rural heating crisis?

The escalation in conflict in the Middle East has led to a significant rise in prices for heating fuels such as LPG and oil. This is a particular problem for homes and businesses in rural areas that are not connected to the gas grid. The Government has announced £50million in support for low-income families who heat their homes with oil to help tackle surging prices. But with uncertainty set to continue, we examine the situation for rural heating and the solutions biomass could offer.

People living in rural areas are heavily dependent upon traditional fuels such as heating oil and coal – over 1.1m UK homes use oil for heating, with 200,000 homes using solid fuel [1]. From an energy security perspective, maintaining back-up heating options are essential, and bioenergy and biofuels can play an important role in providing that resilience. These fuels also support system flexibility by providing dispatchable energy when renewable electricity output is low and storing energy when generation exceeds demands.

Renewable dimethyl ether (rDME) and other low-carbon fuels can be produced from sustainable biomass or through power to liquid pathways, resulting in a fuel with an 85% reduction in carbon emissions compared to heating oil. Current liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) appliances can operate with rDME as a drop-in fuel without modifications. A 100% rDME system would need specially designed equipment [2].

rDME can be produced from renewable resources and recyclable carbon (such as municipal solid waste) through an indirect pathway involving methanol synthesis followed by dehydration, or directly in a single conversion process. However, scaling up rDME production remains challenging, particularly in securing reliable feedstock supply and reducing costs of the production processes. At the same time, this presents a significant opportunity to investigate the use of available renewable feedstock such as wood waste residues. This would enable industry stakeholders to assess sustainable production pathways while providing evidence to support future policy and investment decisions.

Another bioenergy source of heating is biomethane, which currently provides a more sustainable alternative to fossil-derived natural gas. Currently, around 2% of the gas in the UK gas grid is biomethane, with potential for this to rise significantly to up to 50% of gas demand in 2050 [3]. The SGN-funded Biomethane Islands project, in collaboration with Supergen Bioenergy Hub researchers, has specifically explored the feasibility of converting selected areas of the UK gas network to self-sufficient systems [4]. This work demonstrates how locally-produced biomethane – derived from sustainable agricultural and industrial wastes – can reliably deliver 100% of the natural gas needs for regional networks in Scotland through innovative feedstock feeding and storage strategies and gas storage. By transitioning to a localised, circular energy system, biogas can provide stable, cost-effective heating solutions to rural communities while completely shielding them from international market volatility and contributing to the UK’s net zero targets. By adding carbon capture to these biogas facilities, there is potential for the Biomethane Islands to simultaneously deliver overall negative emissions, contributing even more to the UK’s net zero ambitions through carbon removals, offsetting other difficult-to-decarbonise areas of the UK economy.

[1] LGUK Pathway to Net Zero: Delivering Our 2040 Vision https://www.liquidgasuk.org/policy/2040-pathway or https://www.liquidgasuk.org/uploads/DOC62BED9462606B.pdf

[2] Dimeta, Oberon, Liquid Gas Europe, Meeting Europe’s decarbonisation challenge with Renewable and Recycled Carbon DME, https://www.liquidgaseurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Renewable_and_Recycled_Carbon_DME_brochure.pdf.

[3] https://adbioresources.org/newsroom/the-role-of-green-gas-in-net-zero/

[4] https://portal.futureenergynetworks.org.uk/content/projects/NIA2_SGN0072

Authors

Ruoyang Yuan, University of Sheffield
Jordan Walsh, University of Sheffield
Abdallah Abu Saleh, University of Sheffield
Michael Short, University of Surrey

Ruoyang Yuan leads the Supergen Bioenergy Hub project on System analysis and optimisation of rDME production and utilisation for the off-grid energy sector

Michael Short leads the Supergen Bioenergy Hub project on Rapid digitalisation of bioenergy for higher efficiency and profit

If you’re interested in hearing more about this work or would like to connect with our researchers, please email supergen-engagement@aston.ac.uk.