Bio Gas Upgrading

The most promising alternative to utilise the biogas remains the purification up to natural gas grade and the use of it as vehicle fuel or natural gas substitute. This type of purified biogas shall be called ‘green gas’.


First the biomass is converted into biogas mainly consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and some polluting components like H2S, NH3 and VOSC. Actually the biogas is used as fuel for a gas engine next to the biogas plant to generate electricity and heat, whereas only about 1/3 of the contained biogas energy is converted into power and 2/3 into heat. The power will be fed into the public grid, but in most situations the heat can’t be used locally. So it will be released to the atmosphere without any use.


The disadvantage of this commonly used route of biogas utilisation is the low energy utilization factor of around 1/3 because locally the generated heat can not be used.


The alternative route with much higher energy utilization efficiency would be converting the biogas into natural gas by means of a suitable biogas upgrading process and feeding the upgraded biogas into the natural gas grid. From there the biogas can be made available to remote utilization locations like decentralized power and heat generation units, compressed natural gas fuelling stations or heat generators and boilers in both industry and households. This route ensures the highest energy utilization efficiency, in some cases close to 100 %.


BIOGAS AS VEHICLE FUEL.


When used as fuel for vehicles, biogas is cleaned to a level of 97 % of methane. One cubic meter green gas is approximately the same as one litre of gasoline. Biogas is the most environmental-friendly fuel in existence.  Besides the reduction of the greenhouse gases, the emissions of nitrogen oxides NOx, hydrocarbons and small particles are very low. Green gas has also the advantage of being able to be produced from a great variety of feed stocks that are available in Europe. This is an important feature in relation to Europe’s ambition to reduce its dependency on imports of fossil fuels, as well as the fact that many jobs can be created in this sector.


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