Biomethane production by adsorption technology: new cycle development, adsorbent selection and process optimization
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Biomethane production by adsorption technology: new cycle development, adsorbent selection and process optimization Najib Chouikhi1,2 · Federico Brandani2 · Pluton Pullumbi2 · Patrick Perre1,3 · Francois Puel1 Received: 30 March 2020 / Revised: 12 June 2020 / Accepted: 14 July 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Gas separation by adsorption processes such as pressure swing adsorption (PSA) presents an attractive alternative for upgrading biogas to biomethane. A new vacuum pressure swing adsorption (VPSA) cycle is proposed for a unit designed to purify pre-cleaned biogas (40% CO2 and 60% CH4) in industrial conditions (feed flow rate more than 500 Nm3/h and large-volume equipment). The process simulations performed to optimize the VPSA unit consider the kinetic separation of the feed components by using an appropriate carbon molecular sieve (CMS) adsorbent having a high kinetic separation selectivity for C O2 with respect to CH4. The designed VPSA unit is composed of five columns that perform three equalization steps. Minimizing methane losses during the regeneration steps necessitates injecting part of the off-gas rich in CO2 at the bottom of the column during the production step to push the CH4 forward. The produced biomethane meets the specification (97% CH4) of grid injection purity. The developed cycle allows a C H4 recovery of 92% to be obtained with a specific energy consumption of 0.35 kWh/Nm3, thus meeting the initial requirements for industrial exploitation of VPSA technology for biomethane purification from biogas sources. Keywords Biomethane production · Biogas upgrade · Methane recovery · Vacuum pressure swing adsorption · Carbon molecular sieve · Numerical process simulation
1 Introduction Biogas is a mixture of several gases produced by the anaerobic digestion or fermentation of organic matter (e g., manure, sewage sludge, municipal solid waste biodegradable waste, biodegradable feedstock, etc.). It is characterized by its Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10450-020-00250-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Francois Puel [email protected] 1
LGPM, Laboratoire de Génie des Procédés et Matériaux, CentraleSupélec, Université Paris-Saclay, 3 rue Joliot‑Curie, 91192 Gif‑sur‑Yvette, France
2
Air Liquide, Chemin de la Porte des Loges, Paris Innovation Campus. 1, 78350 Les Loges en Josas, France
3
LGPM, Laboratoire de Génie des Procédés et Matériaux, CentraleSupélec, Centre Européen de Biotechnologie et de Bioéconomie (CEBB), Université Paris-Saclay, SFR Condorcet FR CNRS 3417, 3 rue des Rouges Terres, 51110 Pomacle, France
chemical composition with methane (CH4) being the main component, making it a very promising source of energy and considered a viable alternative to fossil sources. The composition of biogas varies with the type of organic matter from which it is derived (Poulleau 2002). However, it is predominat
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