Article | REF: BE8560 V1

Biogas purification - Eliminating VOCs and siloxanes

Authors: Benoît BOULINGUIEZ, Pierre LE CLOIREC

Publication date: October 10, 2011

You do not have access to this resource.
Click here to request your free trial access!

Already subscribed? Log in!


Overview

Français

ABSTRACT

In these times of research for alternative energies to fossil resources, integrating biogases into the French energy landscape appear to be of interest from an economic and political viewpoint. Indeed, recycling household, agricultural and industrial organic waste as well as waste-water treatment fall within sustainable development and renewable energies. However, the optimal integration of this resource within the existing energy networks raises certain technical challenges such as gas dehumidification and lowering hydrogen sulphide content. Furthermore, the presence of VOC volatile organic compounds and siloxanes constitute a risk of premature degradation for facilities which directly impacts the sector's economic balance.

Read this article from a comprehensive knowledge base, updated and supplemented with articles reviewed by scientific committees.

Read the article

AUTHORS

  • Benoît BOULINGUIEZ: Doctorate, Engineer from the École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Rennes (ENSCR) - Research Engineer in Environmental Process Engineering

  • Pierre LE CLOIREC: Professor, Director - École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Rennes (ENSCR)

 INTRODUCTION

At a time when the development of alternative energies to fossil fuels is particularly propitious, the prospect of integrating biogas into the French energy landscape is of undeniable interest from a political, economic and environmental point of view. Indeed, the recovery of domestic, industrial and agricultural organic residues, or the treatment of wastewater, satisfies the notions of sustainable development and renewable energy, clearly spelled out in recent international commitments and agreements. The environmental impact of implementing biogas recovery processes results in a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. As methane's impact on the greenhouse effect is 20 to 25 times greater than that of carbon dioxide, it is preferable to recover the former by combustion rather than releasing it into the atmosphere. Recent fluctuations in the cost of importing fossil fuels have also had a positive impact on the renewed economic interest in producing energy from biogas, whether directly in the form of high-purity methane gas or in the form of electricity.

Nevertheless, the optimal integration of this resource into existing energy networks is not without technical challenges. Gas dehumidification and hydrogen sulfide reduction are two key steps in the biogas treatment process. However, research on this subject over the last ten years has highlighted the pressure exerted by the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in biogas on the operation of energy production plants. In fact, whatever the —value chain chosen, the presence of these compounds at concentrations in the ppm range represents a risk of premature plant degradation, as well as a reduction in biogas energy recovery yields.

This dossier successively covers :

  • key concepts related to biogas, defining a classification of biogas, its quality and the resulting applications;

  • Volatile organic compounds and siloxanes in biogas, from their presence to their impact on the industry;

  • the various gas treatment processes that can be implemented to meet the specific demands of raw biogas purification, the —technological criteria for choosing the process according to biogas characteristics and possible recovery routes;

  • a discussion on the prospects for biogas treatment processes.

Acronyms

AGRO: agricultural and agro-industrial substrates

VOC: volatile organic compounds

CSDU: center de stockage de déchets ultimes (final waste storage center)

MS: dry matter

MVS: volatile dry matter...

You do not have access to this resource.

Exclusive to subscribers. 97% yet to be discovered!

You do not have access to this resource.
Click here to request your free trial access!

Already subscribed? Log in!


The Ultimate Scientific and Technical Reference

A Comprehensive Knowledge Base, with over 1,200 authors and 100 scientific advisors
+ More than 10,000 articles and 1,000 how-to sheets, over 800 new or updated articles every year
From design to prototyping, right through to industrialization, the reference for securing the development of your industrial projects

This article is included in

Green chemistry

This offer includes:

Knowledge Base

Updated and enriched with articles validated by our scientific committees

Services

A set of exclusive tools to complement the resources

Practical Path

Operational and didactic, to guarantee the acquisition of transversal skills

Doc & Quiz

Interactive articles with quizzes, for constructive reading

Subscribe now!

Ongoing reading
Biogas purification
Outline