Recent progress towards in-situ biogas upgrading technologies

Jing Zhao, Yu Li*, Renjie Dong

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

70 Citations (Scopus)
496 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Biogas is mainly produced from the anaerobic fermentation of biomass, containing methane with an extensive range between about 50% and 70%. Higher methane content biogas has higher energy and heat value, which needs biogas upgrading. There are mainly two types of biogas upgrading technologies (ex-situ and in-situ). This manuscript presents a review of technologies on in-situ biogas upgrading. These technologies comprise H2 addition technology (e.g., continuous stirring tank reactor (CSTR), hollow fiber membrane (HFM), nano-bubble (NB) technology, upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB)), high-pressure anaerobic digestion (HPAD), bioelectrochemical system (BES), and additives (e.g., ash, biochar, and iron powder). The results confirm the excellence of H2-addition technology, with the highest average CH4 content obtained (HFM: 92.5%) and one of the few full-scale cases reported (Danish GasMix ejector system: 1110 m3). Meanwhile, newly pop-up technology such as HPAD delivers appropriate CH4 content (an average of 87%) and is close to the full-scale application (https://bareau.nl/en/for-professionals/). More importantly, the combo between HPAD and H2-addition technology is prominent as the former improves the low gas-to-liquid obstacle confronted by the latter. Additionally, recently emerging BES can't stand out yet because of limited efficiency on CH4 content or constraint full-scale application behaviors (disability to operate at high current density). However, its combination with H2-addition technology to form the Power to Gas (PtG) concept is promising, and its commercial application is available (http://www.electrochaea.com/). Hydrogenotrophic methanogens are imperative players in all reviewed technologies for the generation of upgraded CH4.

Original languageEnglish
Article number149667
Number of pages22
JournalScience of the Total Environment
Volume800
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15-Dec-2021

Keywords

  • Anaerobic digestion
  • Biomethane
  • CO removal
  • Hydrogenotrophic methanogens
  • In-situ biogas upgrading

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