In-situ regeneration of activated carbon with electric potential swing desorption (EPSD) for the H2S removal from biogas

M Farooq; M N Almustapha; M Imran; M A Saeed; John M Andresen

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2017.09.198

In-situ regeneration of activated carbon with electric potential swing desorption (EPSD) for the H₂S removal from biogas

Bioresour Technol. 2018 Feb:249:125-131. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.09.198. Epub 2017 Oct 4.

Authors

M Farooq¹, M N Almustapha², M Imran³, M A Saeed⁴, John M Andresen²

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Mechanical, Process & Energy Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, UK; Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Engineering & Technology Lahore, KSK Campus, Pakistan; Research Centre for Carbon Solutions, Heriot-Watt University, UK. Electronic address: mf181@hw.ac.uk.
² Institute of Mechanical, Process & Energy Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, UK; Research Centre for Carbon Solutions, Heriot-Watt University, UK.
³ Department of Energy Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Management & Technology, Lahore, Pakistan; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark.
⁴ Department of Chemical and Polymer Engineering, UET Lahore Faisalabad Campus, Pakistan.

PMID: 29040845
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.09.198

Abstract

In-situ regeneration of a granular activated carbon was conducted for the first time using electric potential swing desorption (EPSD) with potentials up to 30 V. The EPSD system was compared against a standard non-potential system using a fixed-bed reactor with a bed of 10 g of activated carbon treating a gas mixture with 10,000 ppm H₂S. Breakthrough times, adsorption desorption volume, capacities, effect of regeneration and desorption kinetics were investigated. The analysis showed that desorption of H₂S using the new EPSD system was 3 times quicker compared with the no potential system. Hence, physical adsorption using EPSD over activated carbon is efficient, safe and environmental friendly and could be used for the in-situ regeneration of granular activated carbon without using a PSA and/or TSA system. Additionally, adsorption and desorption cycles can be obtained with a classical two column system, which could lead towards a more efficient and economic biogas to biomethane process.

Keywords: Activated carbon; Biogas; EPSD; In-situ regeneration; Physical adsorption.

MeSH terms

Adsorption
Biofuels*
Carbon
Charcoal*
Regeneration

Substances

Biofuels
Charcoal
Carbon