Biogas upgrading – Review of commercial technologies

1 Biogas upgrading Review of commercial technologies (Biogasuppgradering Granskning av kommersiella tekniker)SGC Rapport 2013:270 Fredric Bauer, Christian Hulteberg, Tobias Persson, Daniel Tamm Catalyzing energygas development for sustainable solutions SGC Rapport 2013:270 Postadress och Bes ksadressScheelegatan 3212 28 MALM Telefonv xel040-680 07 Gastekniskt Center AB, SGCOm SGCSGC r ett spjutspetsf retag inom h llbar utveckling med ett nationellt uppdrag. Vi arbetarunder devisen Catalyzing energygas development for sustainable solutions . Vi samord-nar branschgemensam utveckling kring framst llning, distribution och anv ndning avenergigaser och sprider kunskap om energigaser. Fokus ligger p f rnybara gaser fr nr tning och f rgasning. Tillsammans med f retag och med Energimyndigheten och desskollektivforskningsprogramEnergigast ekniskt utvecklingsprogramutvecklar vi nya m jlig-heter f r energigaserna att bidra till ett h llbart samh lle.

2 Tillsammans med v ra program-r d inomR tning,F rgasning och br nslesyntes,Distribution och lagring,Kraft/V rmeochGasformiga drivmedelidentifierar vi fr gest llningar av branschgemensamt intresseatt genomf ra forsknings-, utvecklings och/eller demonstrationsprojekt kring. Beslut omeventuell statlig medfinansiering fr n Energimyndigheten fattas av den externa Besluts-n mnden inom ramen f r kollektivforskningsprogrammet som l per under tiden090401 fr n projekt drivna av SGC publiceras i en s rskild rapportserie SGC Rap-port. Rapporterna kan laddas ned fr n hemsidan Det r ocks m jligt attprenumerera p de tryckta rapporterna. SGC svarar f r utgivningen av rapporterna medanrapportf rfattarna svarar f r rapporternas inneh ger ocks ut faktabroschyrer kring olika aspekter av energigasers framst llning,distribution och anv ndning.

3 Broschyrer kan k pas via SGC:s har sedan starten 1990 sitt s te i Malm . Vi gs av Eon Gas Sverige AB, Energi-gas Sverige, Swedegas AB, G teborg Energi AB, Lunds Energikoncernen AB (publ) och resundskraft av det h r projektetDet h r projektet har finansierats av Air Liquide, Avfall Sverige, Biosling, Bioprocess Con-trol,Danish Gas Technology Centre,Econet Vatten och Milj teknik, Greenlane Biogas ,Lunds Energikoncernen, L ckeby Water, Malmberg Water, MemfoAct, Metener Oy,Stockholm Gas, Svenskt Vatten Utveckling, Vattenfall, och SGC via 2012 Martin RagnarVerkst llande direkt rSGC Rapport 2013:270 Postadress och Bes ksadressScheelegatan 3212 28 MALM Telefonv xel040-680 07 Gas Technology Centre, SGCA bout SGCSGC is a leading-edge company within the field of sustainable development having a na-tional Swedish assignment. We work under the vision of Catalyzing energygas develop-ment for sustainable solutions.

4 We co-ordinate technical development including manufac-ture, distribution and utilization of energy gases and spread knowledge on energy is on renewable gases from anaerobic digestion and gasification. Together withprivate companies and the Swedish Energy Agency and its frame programDevelopmentprogram for energy gas technologywe develop new solutions where the energygasescould provide benefits for a sustainable society. Together with our program committeeswithinAnaerobic digestion,Gasification and fuel synthesis,Distribution and storage,Pow-er/HeatandGaseous fuelswe identify issues of joint interest for the industry to buildcommon research, development and/or demonstrations projects around. Decisions on anyfinancial support from the Swedish Energy Agency are made by the externalBeslutsn mnden within the frame program that currently runs 090401 from the SGC projects are published in a report series SGC Rapport.

5 The re-ports could be downloaded from our website It is also possible to subscribeto the printed reports. SGC is responsible for the publishing of the reports, whereas theauthors of the report are responsible for the content of the also publishes fact brochures and the results from our research projects in the re-port seriesSGC Rapport. Brochures could be purchase from the is since the start in 1990 located in Malm . We are owned by Eon Gas Sverige AB,Energigas Sverige, Swedegas AB, Lunds Energikoncernen AB (publ) and of this projectThis project has been financed by Air Liquide, Avfall Sverige, Bioprocess Control, Bios-ling,Danish Gas Technology Centre,Econet Vatten och Milj teknik, Greenlane Biogas ,Lunds Energikoncernen, L ckeby Water, Malmberg Water, MemfoAct, Metener Oy,Stockholm Gas, Svenskt Vatten Utveckling, Vattenfall, G teborg Energi and SGC throughthe Swedish Energy , Sweden 2012 Martin RagnarChief Executive OfficerSGC Rapport 2013.

6 270 Svenskt Gastekniskt Center AB, Malm report has been written in cooperation between four authors from three Hulteberg and Fredric Bauer, Hulteberg Chemistry & EngineeringHulteberg Chemistry & Engineering is a company active within development of new chem-ical engineering process, such as amine scrubbing of gas streams, and techno-economicevaluation of new technologies . Christian Hulteberg holds a PhD in chemical engineeringand Fredric Bauer holds an MSc in Sustainable Energy Persson, Svenskt Gastekniskt CenterTobias Persson has a background as a process engineer at Malmberg Water and holds aPhD in the area of membrane technology. Through SGC he is responsible for the workfocusing on Biogas upgrading within IEA Bioenergy Task Tamm, BioMilBioMil has been working with Biogas projects for more than 30 years. Daniel Tamm hasexperience with fermentation plants as well as different gas upgrading techniques and hasworked with gas upgrading in both the German and the Swedish Biogas companies have also contributed in-kind to the project and given information anddata that has been used during the writing of the report.

7 Without the contribution fromthese companies, the report would not have been possible to write. Thank you all project has been carried out during 2012 with one reference group meeting in thebeginning of the project to determine the content of the project and one meeting to dis-cuss the first draft version and final reference group has been attached to the project with the following participants. Themembers of the reference group are listed DahlnerEconet Vatten och Milj Richard FaberVattenfallBenjamin FillionAir LiquideH vard Fjeldv rMemfoActLiisa FranssonLunds EnergiGunnar Hagsk ldVafab Milj J rgen JacobyVattenfallUlf JonssonGreenlane BiogasLars-Evert KarlssonPurac PuregasLars KjellstedtKjellstedt Consulting BodenTorben KvistDansk Gasteknisk CenterJing LiuBioprocess ControlJuha LuostarinenMetener OyDaniel SandellMalmberg WaterMax StrandbergPurac PuregasSGC Rapport 2013:2704 Svenskt Gastekniskt Center AB, Malm 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.

8 To enable theefficient use of Biogas in these applications the gas must be upgraded, thecarbon 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 membraneunits. The technologies are described in detail by presenting the theory behind theseparation mechanism, the upgrading process as a complete system, operationalissues and how these are solved, and finally the most important financial , the best developed cryogenic technologies , which today are beingused to purify landfill gas and Biogas from some specific components and to lique-fy Biogas , are presented. Cryogenic upgrading is an interesting possibility, but asthis report shows, the technology still has some important operational issues toresolve.

9 technologies which are especially focused on small-scale applicationsare finally presented, however not in as much detail as the other, more report shows that for mid-scale applications, the most common options areall viable. The scrubbing technologies all perform well and have similar costs ofinvestment and operation. The simplicity and reliability of the water scrubber hasmade this the preferred choice in many applications, but the high purity and verylow methane slip from amine scrubbers are important characteristics. RegardingPSA and membrane units, the investment cost for these are about the same as forscrubbers. Furthermore, recent developments of the membrane units have alsomade it possible to reach low methane slips with this 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 gasapplications increases as well.

10 The mature technologies will see a market withmore and harder competition as new upgrading technologies such as cryogenicupgrading are established, and other technologies optimize the processes to de-crease operation costs. Important issues for the future development of the biogasmarket relate to the implementation of new policy instruments. The work with thenew European standard requirements for gas distributed through the existing gasgrids 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 anincreasing amount of upgraded Rapport 2013:270 Svenskt Gastekniskt Center AB, Malm kring Biogas liksom produktionen kar st ndigt, s v l i Sverige som glo-balt. F r att kunna anv nda biogasen som fordonsbr nsle eller f r att distribueraden p naturgasn tet m ste den r a biogasen uppgraderas, koldioxi-den m ste tas bort f r att ka gasens energiinneh ll.