**9. Laws and guidelines concerning biogas plants**

Most countries are in the process of instituting legislation to regulate the biogas industry [12]. Mostly, all parts of the plant must be checked out and licensed by the authorities. This involves installations such as tanks for liquid manure, bioreactors, gasholders, ignition oil tanks, stores, and combined heat and power stations (CHP). In biogas plants, the formation of explosive gas mixtures can happen. Thus, a system for plant security has to be present relating to installation and operation of electrical instruments in regions with high risk of explosions [18].

In Africa and the Middle East, the alternative energy market is new, so there are few government regulations and formal incentives. With inexpensive and abundant energy sources—coal in South Africa and oil in the Middle East—interest on the part of the state sector in renewable energy has been minimal. Although there are few laws or regulations pertaining to the biogas sector—reflecting the undeveloped state of the industry, due primarily to abundant and inexpensive sources of traditional fossil fuels, which gives little or no incentive to look for alternative energy sources, South Africa is leading the way in the region.

The South African Minerals and Energy Department, for instance, published its energy efficiency and renewable strategy statement in 2006, which involved

### *Recent Advances of Biogas Production and Future Perspective DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93231*

statements and targets on biogas. These involved a "target requirement" to generate 4% nearly 10,000 GWh of the country's electric power from renewable sources in 2013. In some of African countries, involving Egypt, South Africa, and Morocco, there are disagreement of interest over who has the lawful right to utilize municipal and common, specially maize (corn), or tribal, land to cultivate biogas crops [12].

In Europe, legislation is well developed, reflecting the relatively high level of biogas production in many EU markets, such as Germany and the UK, where biogas is the fastest-growing segment of the renewable fuels industry [12]. Europe is the most advanced biogas market in the world and legislation is much more developed than in other regions, with laws and regulations that not only relate to requirements to treat organic waste in certain ways, but also reach an unusual level of detail regarding machine, plant, and process specifications [18]. The European Commission is proposing an increase in the use worldwide of renewable energy sources to 20% of the total demand, which would limit global temperature changes to no more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels. The Commission has stated, rather vaguely, that it seeks, via both voluntary and legal means, to improve the EU's energy efficiency by 20%, in order to "make the EU the most energy-efficient region in the world" [12].

In Germany, there are a lot of state laws, regulations, norms, and guidelines of branch institutions were released in order to preserve a secure and smooth biogas plants operation. These cover their waste management, installation, operation, and supply. A lot of offices are included in managerial decision for the a plant construction, e.g., the office for noise control-traffic-energy-climatic protection, the planning department and building control office, the water regulatory authority, the natural conservation authority, food control, the authority for nutrition, the authority of agriculture, the office for veterinary matters, the office for technology and plant safety, the public order office, etc. [18]. In Germany, for instance, biogas is the fastest-growing segment in the alternative energy industry. Thus, both local and national governments are beginning to oversee the sector at a much more detailed level than before. Laws requiring more cooperation between biogas producers and public utility companies, to avoid electrocution of workers who may shut down power to an electric cable but the farm-based generator continues to feed energy into it, have come into force in most states since 2006. Most states now have laws requiring electricity utilities to buy excess biogas production, either via established gas distribution networks or directly through national pipelines. EU energy vision includes a cut in carbon dioxide emissions by at least 20% by 2020 [12]. The German law of biowaste biomass specifies the biomasses and the technical processes supported. Approved biomass consists of pure herbaceous products. Not approved are fossil fuels, mixed wastes, mud, sewage sludge, and port sludge.

Debris from biogas plants are undergo to the German law of fertilizers, involving when domestic waste water undergo fermentation or when it is blended with agricultural substrates. The German law of fertilizers control single guidelines like temporary permissions to use fertilizer, the determination of fertilizing requirements, the maximum limits for the utilized amount of fertilizer, methods to use, and much more. The given name of these regulations is the "principles of the good and professional execution of fertilizing." In Germany, no liquid secondary raw material fertilizer or liquid manure are permitted to be utilized from November 15th to January 15th. This is due to the soil is chilled and the product of fermentation cannot go through the soil. The distribution of debris from biogas plants is also managed. Maximum amount of total nitrogen from industrial fertilizer are allowed on pasture land is not more than 210 kg/ha.a and on ground used agriculturally is not more than 170 kg/ha.a. For phosphates, 120 kg/ha.a as maximum limits for both on pasture as well as on ground used agriculturally, for calcium the limit is

regulated to 360 kg/ha.a. Farms with greater than 10 ha of ground utilized agriculturally are compelled to make a written fertilizer balance to keep track of their utilization [18].

In biogas plants, substances able to contaminate water are treated. In most countries, it is banned by law to contaminate water. Best available measures have to be taken in biogas plants to preserve water from pollution. The distribution of debris in agriculture should be done as stated in specified techniques [18].

In North America, the main US biogas legislation is the Biogas Production Incentives Act of 2007. A widespread unwillingness on the part of electricity companies in both the US and Canada to cooperate with biogas farm-scale producers has discouraged the development of the biogas sector. In response, many states are introducing legislation to oblige electricity providers to work with biogas producers and to buy any excess electricity. Electricity utilities, though, are generally unhappy with the arrangement, as the electricity produced by the biogas plant to run the farm is considered by them to be lost revenue. In Canada, the electric power prices provided to farmers generating biogas are still not enough to make production feasible. The Standard Offer Contract (SOC) program lately launched in Ontario, though, whereas not providing immediate financial inducements, is a first stage in the direction of promoting biogas generation though the utilization of energy crops and anaerobic reactors [12].

In Latin America, laws on quality standards for agricultural and organic waste are now being introduced, although in most cases these have not yet been clearly defined. Governments are only now beginning to make use of tax and investment incentives to encourage production. Latin America Argentina, Brazil and Colombia have the most developed legislative frameworks for the biofuels industry overall, each having set minimum requirement levels for the percentage of renewable fuels in petrol, diesel oil, and fuel oil. In Argentina, for example, the Biofuels Act of May 2006 was the first law to grant tax incentives to alternative fuel producers. The law will initially be in effect for 15 years. It stipulates that biogas can be produced from raw materials in the agricultural, agro-industrial or organic waste sectors provided they meet the government's quality standards which have yet to be clearly identified [12].

In Asia, Asian governments are beginning to encourage the biogas sector, basically by providing financial and legal incentives to produce energy from organic waste sources in large municipal waste dumps, the existence of which is coming under heavy local opposition in many cities. In India and Mongolia, household and industrial waste laws were legislated in early 2007, requiring the separation and treatment of both kinds of waste at an early processing stage, with a view to using organic and biodegradable waste for energy production. Recently, the Indonesian government issued a statute requiring minimum levels of biogas production from new waste disposal sites that are under construction. The way in which the gas is produced, whether it be by composting, landfill, or anaerobic digestion, can be selected by the producer [12].

## **10. Conclusions**

Most of industrial and chemical processes produce wastes. Raw materials for producing biogas by anaerobic digestion are biomass feedstocks which include; municipal solid waste (MSW), industrial solid wastes and industrial wastewaters, food waste, livestock manure, sewage sludge, agricultural manures, catch crops, energy crops, and microalgae. Biogas production serves three important functions: waste removal, environmental management, and energy production. Biogas is a
