Biogas upgrading for high-purity CO2 and biomethane for natural gas distribution (BIOCO2)

Biogas is a sustainable energy resource produced from biological material like manure and waste water sludge. Untreated, it typically contains 30% - 40% CO₂ and impurities and has a low burning value. But biogas can be upgraded to bio-methane with a much higher burning value and few impurities, which permits distribution through the natural gas grid. However, in this process CO₂ is produced and emitted into the atmosphere.

Common to all existing biogas upgrading technologies is that they emit CO₂ as a waste product. In this project we expect to develop a technology which can upgrade biogas to grid quality and produce high-purity CO₂ (bioCO2). We will demonstrate the new technology using a mobile test unit (MTU) with a capacity of approximately 15% of full scale.

Our main objectives are to develop new a technology, which is less energy intensive (by up to 45%), compared to the existing widely used amine absorption-based upgrading technique, and allows for the production of pure BioCO2. The quality of the bioCO₂ should be suitable for food, biofuel, medicine and welding.

We will use data from exiting biogas upgrading plants to benchmark our envisaged technology to create a viable business case for biogas producers.