Outlook

Protecting the climate and peatlands by replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy carriers from biomass or by substituting peat with hardwood fibers in cross-sectoral use cascades is promising for the future.
The substrate spectrum for biogas/biomethane plants and growing media manufactures would be expanded or diversified by PaplGas fibers.
The current peat use of approx. 9 million m³/a (estimation IVG) for growing media and potting soils in Germany could possibly be covered 100% by poplar cultivation (short rotation coppice/agroforestry) on 320,000 ha (assumption: 20 t FM/ha).
The simultaneous production of up to 840 million m³ CH₄ with an energy content of 30 PJ (130 m³CH₄/t FM) would correspond to 0.9 % of Germany's natural gas demand (FNR).
Depending on the size of the plant or pooling of biogas streams from several plants, biogas can be upgraded to biomethane and fed into the natural gas grid. It is expected that a market will also develop for the captured green CO₂.