Exploring the boundaries of syngas biomethanation

Description

Syngas (H₂, CO₂, CO) produced thermochemically from lignocellulosic biomass is an underexploited source for resource recovery. Its fermentation to high purity biomethane faces challenges regarding gas composition and gas-liquid mass transfer. Gas composition resulting in a biomethane purity comparable to natural gas can be achieved by addition of H₂ from renewable energy sources, but this requires precise process control to avoid the severe inhibition caused by even small amounts of excess H₂. Conversely, the process is much more robust towards excesses in CO. In terms of mass transfer limitations, the liquid recirculation rate increases mass transfer and improves process performance, but other limiting factors such as a lack of nutrients remains. Providing trace elements had the biggest impact on process performance and allowed for full syngas conversion at a gas retention time of 1 h, achieving a methane productivity of 9.8 ± 0.5 mmol CH₄ h^-1 L_reactor^-1.

Period	3 Jun 2024
Event title	18th Anaerobic Digestion World Congress
Event type	Conference
Location	Istanbul, TurkeyShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International