Pilot-scale study of biomethanation in biological trickle bed reactors converting impure CO2 from a Full-scale biogas plant

Bioresour Technol. 2022 Dec:365:128160. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128160. Epub 2022 Oct 20.

Abstract

Research within biological methanation has been a great development using biotrickling filters (BTF), as a power-to-x solution, but research within up scaling is missing. This study investigates the commercial potential of biomethanation in BTF by operating two 1 m3 reactors which was implemented into a full-scale biogas plant. Several areas were investigated, such as enrichment and start-up, long-term steady state operation, serial operation, and intermittent feed. A methane productivity of [Formula: see text] with a product gas of 95.7 % CH4 was obtained for parallel operation, whereas during serial operation a methane productivity of [Formula: see text] at 97.4 % CH4 was achieved. The flexibility of the biomethanation was demonstrated with unintentional loss of H2 feed in periods of 12 to 72 h, where initial performance was regained within 6 to 12 h. The results from this study demonstrate the potential for commercial use of biomethanation in BTF for future Power-to-X solutions.

Keywords: Biogas; Biomethanation; Biomethane; Pilot scale; Power-to-x.

MeSH terms

  • Biofuels*
  • Bioreactors
  • Carbon Dioxide
  • Methane*
  • Pilot Projects

Substances

  • Biofuels
  • Methane
  • Carbon Dioxide