Exploring Opportunities for Biogas as a Vehicle Fuel in South Korea: Learning from Sweden

In this study, opportunities for utilizing biogas produced from anaerobic digestion of different organic wastes as a vehicle fuel in South Korea have been investigated, using experiences from Sweden as a basis for analysis. Strategic governmental policies and financial support have enabled many municipalities in Sweden to successfully develop biogas/biomethane as a locally produced renewable fuel. In South Korea, there is a strong need to reduce extreme dependence on imported oil for transportation, to prepare for the post-Kyoto climate framework, and to find new waste management methods which can serve as an alternative to the current ocean-dumping practices of organic wastes that are going to be banned from 2012. Due to these problematic conditions, there is emerging interest in the development of biogas as a road transport fuel. This study finds that the potential for organic waste to be utilized to produce biogas is significant in South Korea, yet that so far few investments have been made. Three biomethane development projects for transport have been recently launched in Seoul, Ulsan and Gangwon Province, with technological cooperation from Swedish companies. A recently announced new national vision, “Low Carbon, Green Growth”, and various governmental plans for waste-to-energy are creating a favourable environment for the development of a biogas technological innovation system (TIS) for vehicle fuel. To be successfully expanded, the biogas TIS needs to prove its technical merits and establish a reputation in the early period of its Korean market implementation. Based on interviews with key stakeholders in the three projects, as well as in governmental organizations and research institutes, basic components of the biogas TIS in South Korea are identified, major blocking mechanisms are analyzed, and finally, strategies to achieve greater legitimacy of biogas as a vehicle fuel are suggested.