Biogas upgrading - Review of commercial technologies
Bauer, Fredric LU
; Hulteberg, Christian
LU
; Persson, Tobias
and Tamm, Daniel
(2013)
In SGC Rapport
- Abstract
- Biogas production is growing and there is an increasing demand for upgraded bio- gas, to be used as vehicle fuel or injected to the natural gas grid. To enable the efficient use of biogas in these applications the gas must be upgraded, i.e. the carbon dioxide, which constitutes a large part of the raw biogas from the digester, must be separated from the methane. This report aims to evaluate the biogas up- grading technologies that are commercially available and in operation today: amine scrubbers, water scrubbers, PSA units, organic scrubbers and membrane units. The technologies are described in detail by presenting the theory behind the separation mechanism, the upgrading process as a complete system, operational issues and how these are... (More)
- Biogas production is growing and there is an increasing demand for upgraded bio- gas, to be used as vehicle fuel or injected to the natural gas grid. To enable the efficient use of biogas in these applications the gas must be upgraded, i.e. the carbon dioxide, which constitutes a large part of the raw biogas from the digester, must be separated from the methane. This report aims to evaluate the biogas up- grading technologies that are commercially available and in operation today: amine scrubbers, water scrubbers, PSA units, organic scrubbers and membrane units. The technologies are described in detail by presenting the theory behind the separation mechanism, the upgrading process as a complete system, operational issues and how these are solved, and finally the most important financial data. Furthermore, the best developed cryogenic technologies, which today are being
used to purify landfill gas and biogas from some specific components and to lique- fy biogas, are presented. Cryogenic upgrading is an interesting possibility, but as this report shows, the technology still has some important operational issues to resolve. Technologies which are especially focused on small-scale applications are finally presented, however not in as much detail as the other, more common technologies. The report shows that for mid-scale applications, the most common options are
all viable. The scrubbing technologies all perform well and have similar costs of investment and operation. The simplicity and reliability of the water scrubber has made this the preferred choice in many applications, but the high purity and very low methane slip from amine scrubbers are important characteristics. Regarding PSA and membrane units, the investment cost for these are about the same as for scrubbers. Furthermore, recent developments of the membrane units have also made it possible to reach low methane slips with this technology. Biogas production is increasing, in Sweden and globally, and the interest for bio-
gas upgrading to utilize the gas as vehicle fuel or in other traditional natural gas applications increases as well. The mature technologies will see a market with more and harder competition as new upgrading technologies such as cryogenic upgrading are established, and other technologies optimize the processes to de- crease operation costs. Important issues for the future development of the biogas market relate to the implementation of new policy instruments. The work with the new European standard requirements for gas distributed through the existing gas grids is one issue that possibly can have a large effect on possibilities for distribu- tion of upgraded biogas. However, the future will most probably be fuelled by an increasing amount of upgraded biogas. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3512502
- author
- Bauer, Fredric
LU
; Hulteberg, Christian
LU
; Persson, Tobias
and Tamm, Daniel
- alternative title
- Biogasuppgradering - Granskning av kommersiella tekniker
- publishing date
- 2013
- type
- Book/Report
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- biogas, biogas upgrading
- in
- SGC Rapport
- pages
- 82 pages
- publisher
- Svenskt Gastekniskt Center AB
- report number
- 270
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 0802cf27-119b-4eab-8bde-baaf742c9b15 (old id 3512502)
- alternative location
- http://www.sgc.se/ckfinder/userfiles/files/SGC270.pdf
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 10:07:08
- date last changed
- 2020-06-02 13:42:44
@techreport{0802cf27-119b-4eab-8bde-baaf742c9b15,
abstract = {{Biogas production is growing and there is an increasing demand for upgraded bio- gas, to be used as vehicle fuel or injected to the natural gas grid. To enable the efficient use of biogas in these applications the gas must be upgraded, i.e. the carbon dioxide, which constitutes a large part of the raw biogas from the digester, must be separated from the methane. This report aims to evaluate the biogas up- grading technologies that are commercially available and in operation today: amine scrubbers, water scrubbers, PSA units, organic scrubbers and membrane units. The technologies are described in detail by presenting the theory behind the separation mechanism, the upgrading process as a complete system, operational issues and how these are solved, and finally the most important financial data. Furthermore, the best developed cryogenic technologies, which today are being<br/><br>
used to purify landfill gas and biogas from some specific components and to lique- fy biogas, are presented. Cryogenic upgrading is an interesting possibility, but as this report shows, the technology still has some important operational issues to resolve. Technologies which are especially focused on small-scale applications are finally presented, however not in as much detail as the other, more common technologies. The report shows that for mid-scale applications, the most common options are<br/><br>
all viable. The scrubbing technologies all perform well and have similar costs of investment and operation. The simplicity and reliability of the water scrubber has made this the preferred choice in many applications, but the high purity and very low methane slip from amine scrubbers are important characteristics. Regarding PSA and membrane units, the investment cost for these are about the same as for scrubbers. Furthermore, recent developments of the membrane units have also made it possible to reach low methane slips with this technology. Biogas production is increasing, in Sweden and globally, and the interest for bio-<br/><br>
gas upgrading to utilize the gas as vehicle fuel or in other traditional natural gas applications increases as well. The mature technologies will see a market with more and harder competition as new upgrading technologies such as cryogenic upgrading are established, and other technologies optimize the processes to de- crease operation costs. Important issues for the future development of the biogas market relate to the implementation of new policy instruments. The work with the new European standard requirements for gas distributed through the existing gas grids is one issue that possibly can have a large effect on possibilities for distribu- tion of upgraded biogas. However, the future will most probably be fuelled by an increasing amount of upgraded biogas.}},
author = {{Bauer, Fredric and Hulteberg, Christian and Persson, Tobias and Tamm, Daniel}},
institution = {{Svenskt Gastekniskt Center AB}},
keywords = {{biogas; biogas upgrading}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{270}},
series = {{SGC Rapport}},
title = {{Biogas upgrading - Review of commercial technologies}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/5465492/4580054.pdf}},
year = {{2013}},
}