Biomethanation of Syngas by Enriched Mixed Anaerobic Consortia in Trickle Bed Reactors

Asimakopoulos, Konstantinos; Gavala, Hariklia N.; Skiadas, Ioannis V.

doi:10.1007/s12649-019-00649-2

Cited by 36 publications

(33 citation statements)

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“…Biomethanation of syngas has also recently been demonstrated an effective syngas-to-methane technology on the lab scale and shows potential for scale-up [28]. In a previous techno-economic assessment on an integrated biomass gasification-electrolysis-biomethanation (IBGEB) process, we identified a bSNG minimum selling price of 2.68 €/Nm 3 and we indicated that key optimization opportunities rely on lower-pressure operation and better energy integration within the process [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…In a previous techno-economic assessment on an integrated biomass gasification-electrolysis-biomethanation (IBGEB) process, we identified a bSNG minimum selling price of 2.68 €/Nm 3 and we indicated that key optimization opportunities rely on lower-pressure operation and better energy integration within the process [11]. As an important advantage over catalytic methanation, syngas biomethanation offers the possibility of low-pressure [22,23] or atmosphericpressure [28] operation, with the potential to generate energy savings. However, such advantage can only be exploited if the upstream process train is run at lower pressure, avoiding high-pressure units in the syngas gas conditioning section.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Biomethanation of syngas takes place in a trickle-bed bioreactor, a reactor configuration that has been demonstrated to achieve high H 2 conversion on the lab scale and shows potential for scale-up [28]. The biomethanation process is simulated through a stoichiometric reactor (BIOREACT, RStoich), where syngas is converted to biogas according to Reaction 1 and Reaction 2, at a 95% once-through conversion efficiency on hydrogen and carbon monoxide, respectively, according to the performance of trickle-bed reactors reported by Asimakopoulos et al [28].…”

Section: Biomethanation and Bsng Grid Injectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Liquid recirculation to the reactor is simulated through a pump, while nutrient provision modeling is not part of this study, although in a typical trickle-bed reactor, the microbial community is fed with a solution containing nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, other minor nutrients, and pH buffer salts [22,23,28,45,46].…”

Section: Reactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Techno-economic modeling of an integrated biomethane-biomethanol production process via biomass gasification, electrolysis, biomethanation, and catalytic methanol synthesis

Patuzzi

Baratieri

2020

Biomass Conv. Bioref.

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Biological methanation (biomethanation) of syngas obtained from biomass gasification offers the opportunity to employ a low-pressure, low-temperature process to produce storable bio-derived substitute natural gas (bSNG), although its economic viability is limited by high energy and biomass costs. Research on syngas biomethanation techno-economic performance is limited and novel biomass-to-biomethane process configurations are required in order to assess opportunities for the enhancement of its efficiency and economic feasibility. In this study, we carried out the techno-economic modeling of two processes comprising integrated biomass gasification, electrolysis, and syngas biomethanation with combined heat and power recovery in order to assess and compare their fuel yields, energy efficiency, carbon efficiency, and bSNG minimum selling price (MSP). The first process operates standalone biomethanation (SAB) of syngas and can produce approximately 38,000 Nm3 of bSNG per day, with a total plant efficiency of 50.6%. The second process (integrated biomethane-biomethanol, IBB) exploits the unconverted carbon stream from the biomethanation process to recover energy and synthesize methanol via direct catalytic CO2 hydrogenation. In addition to the same bSNG output, the IBB process can produce 10 t/day of biomethanol, at a 99% purity. The IBB process shows little global energy efficiency gains in comparison with SAB (51.7%) due to the large increase in electrolytic hydrogen demand, but it shows a substantial improvement in biomass-to-fuel carbon efficiency (33 vs. 26%). The SAB and IBB processes generate a bSNG MSP of 2.38 €/Nm3 and 3.68 €/Nm3, respectively. Hydrogenation of unconverted carbon in biomass-to-biomethane processes comes with high additional capital and operating costs due to the large-scale electrolysis plants required. Consequently, in both processes, the market price gap of the bSNG produced is 0.13 €/kWhbSNG (SAB) and 0.25 €/kWhbSNG (IBB) even under the most optimistic cost scenarios considered, and it is primarily influenced by the cost of surplus electricity utilized in electrolysis, while the selling price of biomethanol exerts a very limited influence on process economics. Intensive subsidization would be required in order to sustain the decentralized production of bSNG through both processes. Despite their limited economic competitiveness, both processes have a size comparable with existing renewable gas production plants in terms of bSNG production capacity and the IBB process is of a size adequate for the supply of biomethanol to a decentralized biorenewable supply chain.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Biomethanation and Bsng Grid Injectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Reactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Techno-economic modeling of an integrated biomethane-biomethanol production process via biomass gasification, electrolysis, biomethanation, and catalytic methanol synthesis

Patuzzi

Baratieri

2020

Biomass Conv. Bioref.

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show abstract

“…On the downside, the use of MMC often entails a higher complexity derived from the microbial interactions between different trophic groups involved in the process, ultimately resulting in a poor understanding and limited process control. For instance, both mesophilic and thermophilic continuous syngas biomethanation processes have been previously reported to have a rather low product selectivity towards CH4, presenting a significant amount of unconverted fatty acids in the fermentation broth [16,17]. Thus, gaining better understanding on the activity of MMC is fundamental for the further development of the mixed culture-based syngas biomethanation process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling of syngas biomethanation and catabolic route control in mesophilic and thermophilic mixed microbial consortia

2020

Self Cite

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Microbial community development during syngas methanation in a trickle bed reactor with various nutrient sources

Cheng¹,

Gabler

Pizzul

et al. 2022

Appl Microbiol Biotechnol

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Microbial community development within an anaerobic trickle bed reactor (TBR) during methanation of syngas (56% H2, 30% CO, 14% CO2) was investigated using three different nutrient media: defined nutrient medium (241 days), diluted digestate from a thermophilic co-digestion plant operating with food waste (200 days) and reject water from dewatered digested sewage sludge at a wastewater treatment plant (220 days). Different TBR operating periods showed slightly different performance that was not clearly linked to the nutrient medium, as all proved suitable for the methanation process. During operation, maximum syngas load was 5.33 L per L packed bed volume (pbv) & day and methane (CH4) production was 1.26 L CH4/Lpbv/d. Microbial community analysis with Illumina Miseq targeting 16S rDNA revealed high relative abundance (20–40%) of several potential syngas and acetate consumers within the genera Sporomusa, Spirochaetaceae, Rikenellaceae and Acetobacterium during the process. These were the dominant taxa except in a period with high flow rate of digestate from the food waste plant. The dominant methanogen in all periods was a member of the genus Methanobacterium, while Methanosarcina was also observed in the carrier community. As in reactor effluent, the dominant bacterial genus in the carrier was Sporomusa. These results show that syngas methanation in TBR can proceed well with different nutrient sources, including undefined medium of different origins. Moreover, the dominant syngas community remained the same over time even when non-sterilised digestates were used as nutrient medium. Key points •Independent of nutrient source, syngas methanation above 1 L/Lpbv/D was achieved. •Methanobacterium and Sporomusa were dominant genera throughout the process. •Acetate conversion proceeded via both methanogenesis and syntrophic acetate oxidation. Graphical abstract

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Biomethanation of Syngas by Enriched Mixed Anaerobic Consortia in Trickle Bed Reactors

Cited by 36 publications

References 50 publications

Techno-economic modeling of an integrated biomethane-biomethanol production process via biomass gasification, electrolysis, biomethanation, and catalytic methanol synthesis

Techno-economic modeling of an integrated biomethane-biomethanol production process via biomass gasification, electrolysis, biomethanation, and catalytic methanol synthesis

Modeling of syngas biomethanation and catabolic route control in mesophilic and thermophilic mixed microbial consortia

Microbial community development during syngas methanation in a trickle bed reactor with various nutrient sources

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