In 2013, Thailand used approximately 22,000 tonnes of LPG every
day (EPPO, 2013). 42% of this is for domestic cooking. Fig. 1 displays
the annual LPG demand, annual LPG used for cooking and the amount
of LPG Thailand imports annually. As can be seen, in 2012 approximately
3 million tonneswas used for domestic cooking purposes. Imported LPG
has gone from nothing in 2006 to 1.73 million tonnes in 2012. From
refineries, the government caps the price of LPG at $333 per ton which
is below the international market price of approximately $593 per ton
[Policies of LPG price structure, 2011]. In 2010 the cost to the government
of keeping this cap was 21.39 billion baht (32.15 THB was equal
to one USD on 7/21/2014). Having an artificially low price does not
promote energy conservation and encourages cross boarder smuggling
as Cambodia and Laos have higher LPG prices. Having a viable alternative
to LPG, such as biomethane, would allow the price cap to be raised
without asmany adverse consequences. There are additional benefits to
using the renewable biomethane from increasing the incomes of
farmers who produce the biomethane from farm waste, reducing the
cost of importing petroleumproducts, reducing the government subsidy
cost and reducing greenhouse gas emissions (Thailand Greenhouse Gas
Management Organization, 2012).
Biomethane is produced from biogas. A standardized definition of
biomethane does not exist so in this paper itwill mean a biogasmixture
containing at least 85% methane by volume. Thailand's biogas economic
potential is discussed in depth by Prasertsant and Sajjakulnukit (2006)