Biogas digestate marketing: Qualitative insights into the supply side

• We report motives for digestate marketing.
• We analyze marketing strategies used for digestate products.
• Marketing barriers include transport costs and lingering negative perceptions.
• Supporting factors include bionutrients, upgradability, and novel applications.
• Sizable future opportunities exist for developing innovative marketing strategies.

Managing digestate output and developing a market for the product is a serious challenge for the biogas industry. Without effective strategies for sustainable management, the large volume of digestate produced by biogas plants may cripple the industry and its potential. Through interviews with diverse biogas stakeholders, we examine current approaches to digestate marketing to identify factors that support and those that inhibit its success. We find that marketing to regions with a nutrient demand or into the non-agricultural sector holds promise. Upgraded digestate products offer increased marketability due to their higher nutrient content and lower water content. Fertilizer and soil manufacturers, farmers, horticulturists and private customers all represent markets for digestate. Current disposal prices range from negative to strongly positive, depending on the regional nutrient availability, agricultural structure, season, feedstock and degree of upgrading. Marketers agree that concealing the biogas origin of digestate products is still necessary to avoid negative perceptions by customers. One implication of this is the need for better understanding by marketers of consumer concerns and preferences, and for better education of consumers regarding the safety and benefits of digestate. Overall, we find that opportunities for digestate marketing remain largely unexploited and marketing strategies remain immature. Our findings should prove helpful to current and future digestate marketers.