One of the most important challenges in combating climate change is the upscaling of green technologies. One of these technologies is biogas upgrading.
Raw biogas consists of approximately 40 vol% CO2 and 60 vol% methane with impurities such as H2S, NH3 and siloxanes. Biogas upgrading produces high-purity methane and high-purity CO2 from the raw biogas. High-purity methane can be injected to the Danish natural gas grid, whereas high-purity CO2 is currently emitted as a waste product into the atmosphere.
The DTU project BioCO2 focuses on turning the otherwise emitted CO2 into a valuable green product, namely BioCO2, which potentially can be sold as an additional commercial product by the biogas producer. The quality of the BioCO2 should be high enough for food, biofuel, medicine production and welding purposes.
To demonstrate this technology, a mobile test unit (MTU) was recently constructed by Union Engineering A/S in Fredericia, Denmark. The design is based on existing knowledge from DTU and industrial experience from Union Engineering A/S. The MTU has 10 m high absorber and desorber columns and can upgrade 40 nm3 biogas per hour thereby making it one of the largest demonstration units for carbon capture in academia. In 2021 and 2022, the MTU will be used to demonstrate that, not only, is it possible to produce pure CO2 but it is also possible to reduce energy consumption by up to 45 % by introducing new solvent additives.
The BioCO2 project is a collaborative effort between CERE, DTU, Union Engineering A/S, and Dansk Gasteknisk Center and with a total budget of 14 million DKK. It is funded by the Danish Energy Agency’s Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program (EUDP) and is scheduled to run from 2016-2023.