Ammonia for enhancing biogas yield & reducing NOx

AMMONOX focuses on developing a sustainable process for a) enhancing the productivity of biogas plants based on manure, b) minimizing NOx emissions from gas engines and c) increasing biogas supply to the gas grid. The concept is based on the separation of liquid and solid fraction of manure on site and subsequent transfer of the solid fraction to centralised biogas plants treating manure and/or the use of lignocellulosic residues, i.e. straws, to be codigested with manure. The key and innovative technology to be developed is the Aqueous Ammonia Soaking (AAS) pretreatment of lignocellulosic fibers for increasing their methane yield and the subsequent removal and recycling of ammonia. AAS that has yielded impressive results in lab-scale will be further optimised in lab-scale and tested in semi-pilot-scale during AMMONOX. Existing technologies for the removal of ammonia from manure and pretreated fibers and use of excess ammonia for the elimination of NOx emissions from gas engines will be tested in semi-pilot scale. Successful implementation of AMMONOX will boost biogas production from lignocellulosic biomasses in general and from manure in particular with positive impacts not only on biogas plants’ economy but also on National energy balance.