The Bottleneck of Biogas Demand

Scope e-Knowledge Center Pvt Ltd

August 2013

Table of Contents
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Biogas An Eco-Friendly Renewable Energy Source ...................................... 1 Traditional Biogas Production ............................................................................. 1 Why Biogas! ............................................................................................................ 2 Market for Biogas ................................................................................................... 3 Biogas Upgrading - Growth Trend ....................................................................... 4 Current Techniques for Upgrading Biogas ........................................................ 4 Current Patenting Trends in Biogas Upgrading ................................................ 5 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 8

1.

Biogas An Eco-Friendly Renewable Energy Source

Biogas, commonly referred as gas, is one of the key renewable energy sources, produced by the anaerobic degradation (or fermentation) of biodegradable materials such as manure, plant materials, green waste, energy crops, household and industry wastes, sewage sludge, and municipal waste. A methane-rich gas, it has carbon dioxide (CO2) as the second major constituent. In addition to being a renewable energy source, other benefits of biogas include:

An alternate for fossil fuel Low level of methane release compared to conventional manure management Nil greenhouse gas emissions Low emissions to environment from the waste treatment High quality fertilizers

Produced using industrial and small-scale digesters, biogas is utilized for various purposes worldwide, such as electricity production, vehicle fuel, cooking, water heating etc. However, exclusive treatments are essential as the energy content in biogas differs according to applications. For instance, to use as vehicle fuel, biogas should be upgraded to the Swedish standard specifications for vehicle fuel gas (SS 15 54 38). Thus, to enable efficient use of biogas, upgrading and the relevant technologies have gained increased attention across the globe, fuelled by the price hike in natural gas and oil as well.

2.

Traditional Biogas Production

Biogas has been in use for about 200 years now; it originated as gas lights in London, when biogas was drawn from the underground sewer pipes to burn the street lamps in the city. In the traditional biogas production, digesters (airtight chambers) are constructed with brick or concrete and only specific herbal substrates could be used. In developing countries such as China, India, Pakistan, and Nepal, biogas has been a key energy source for households, and the same scenario prevails in Africa and South America. Though the conventional method of producing biogas has been beneficial to the economy and the environment, there are demerits associated with them:

More construction time Possibilities of gas leakage in case of faulty construction Maintenance of bio-gas digesters

The above disadvantages have paved way for the new, improved, efficient technologies for biogas production worldwide.

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3.

Why Biogas!

Globally, the energy requirements increase everyday, which pose the risk of energy crisis in the future, as majority of the current need is met by crude oil. Further, environment pollutions caused by waste materials are a major concern. With global population expected to reach 9.2 billion by 2050, there is a pressing need to develop solutions that utilize our planet's finite resources more efficiently. Solution for these comes in the form of biogas, which is produced from the otherwise pollutants, and hence it is sustainable, eco-friendly energy source worldwide. Below is the contribution-based split of biogas sources:

Crops, Byproducts and Manure 75%

Sewage wastewater treatment facilities 8%

Municipal and Industrial organic waste 17%

The composition of biogas varies depending on the source, and the gas is inflammable if methane content (the major constituent) is 45%. To enhance the quality of the raw biogas, it is usually cleaned of impurities such as hydrogen sulphide, oxygen, nitrogen, water and particulates, which existence would cause corrosion and mechanical wear of the equipment in which the biogas is used.

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4.

Market for Biogas

Biogas sector, the most-sustainable of biofuels, is expected to enjoy a remarkable growth over the next two decades. The market is projected to grow from $124 billion in 2010 to $217 billion in 2016. Further, the global biogas upgrading equipment market is expected to reach $338.5 million by the year 2016 at a compounded annual growth rate of 22%. A total of 800 billion cubic feet per year biogas production capacity has been installed globally, of which 11 billion cubic feet per year was expected to be live by the end of 2012.

With the development of biogas sector, there is a constant increase in biogas plants. Thus, the global biogas plant market is expected to reach $8.98 billion in 2017, contributed mainly by Europe and the USA. Among the European nations, Germany has the higher biogas production and consumption; UK, Spain and Italy are the other major biogas markets in the continent.

However, biogas production is gaining attention in Asia-Pacific, especially in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China and India. In China, both commercial production and at-home biogas digesters are commonly prevalent. Liaoning Huishan Cow Farm , Chinas largest biogas project, produces 38,000 MWh electricity per year.

The key market players in the biogas industry are in the below table:

Company
2G Bio-Energietechnik BIOGAS NORD BKN Biostorm BTA International EnviTec Biogas GHD (now DVO Inc) HAASE Energietechnik Organic Waste Systems RCM Digesters Schmack Biogas STRABAG Umweltanlagen UTS Biogastechnik

Region
Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany USA Germany Belgium California Germany Germany United Kingdom

Technology
De-centralized generation of electricity and heat via combined heat and power (CHP) Biogas plants NA Wet Mechanical Pre-Treatment Biogas plant construction NA Biogas generation and upgrading Biogas plants Anaerobic Digestors Biogas plants NA Biogas plants

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Improvement ideas to intensify biogas production

The energy produced from biogas and its efficiency is dependent on its composition of the biogas, particularly methane content, as it is to the energy content. This creates the need for enhancement of biogas production. The European patent EP11157784 illustrates a new method that significantly enhances the biogas production using iron oxide nanoparticles. The iron oxide nanoparticles have been successfully tested in anerobic digestion processes with sludge from real wastewater treatment plants, demonstrating significant improvements of biogas production (up to 70% increase in methane production) at a low cost. This makes the new method very market-friendly with applications in other areas such as industrial residues, urban solid residues or even agricultural wastes. Kemira, a European manufacturer and supplier of fertilizers and industrial chemicals, has developed the Biogas Digestion Product (BDP) technology that uses a combination of iron, acid and trace elements to boost biogas production. Employing this treatment method, NSR, a progressive waste recycling company operating in Southern Sweden, has lifted the organic loading rate of its biogas plant by 33% and improved its biogas production significantly. A water and environment engineering company in Germany has designed a technology that uses ultrasound to intensify anaerobic degradation in biogas plants. The device increases the release of exoenzymes essential for degradation of organic substrates.

5.

Biogas Upgrading Growth Trend

The process of upgrading biogas generates new possibilities for its use since it can be an ideal alternate for natural gas, which is used extensively in several countries across the globe. However, upgrading adds to the costs of biogas production. Thus, an optimized upgrading process is vital, consuming less energy and producing methane-rich, high energy gas. The global market for biogas upgrading equipment was at $125.4 million in 2011 and is projected to rise to $338.5 million by 2016 at a 5-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22%. Europe holds the largest market share, with estimated sales of $92.7 million in 2011. The market is forecast to reach $250.5 million by 2016, at a CAGR of 22%. The Asia-Pacific market is estimated to grow at a CAGR rate of 22.8% to reach $83.9 million in 2016.

6.

Current Techniques for Upgrading Biogas

Anaerobic digestion of organic materials results in biogas, comprising methane, carbon dioxide and some other unwanted compounds, such as hydrogen sulphide, nitrogen, oxygen, ammonia and siloxanes. The major constituent methane can be used as a green energy source by upgrading biogas to natural gas

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quality and injecting it into an existing gas grid, or as fuel. Upgrading of biogas signifies removal of carbon dioxide and pollutants such as hydrogen sulphide. The most-common commercially available biogas upgrading technologies include: Chemical adsorption: It offers a near complete removal of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and converts it into a valuable compound. However, this process cannot eliminate CO 2, requiring an additional scrubber process to remove the incombustible CO 2. Pressure swing adsorption (PSA): Ideal for any geography, this methodology is used for both small scale plants as well as high flow rates. It provides more than 95% methane enrichment, with power demand and emissions. The major disadvantage of this process is that it requires an additional complex hydrogen sulphide removal step. High pressure water scrubbing: This process of biogas upgrading removes CO 2 and H2S, resulting in biogas with 98% methane content. It is the simplest among the upgrading processes, requiring no special chemicals or equipment. However, this technique requires huge amount of water, and the changing pH limits of the adsorption of hydrogen sulphide. Chemical scrubbing: Similar to the water scrubbing method, it is possible to use other chemicals to absorb CO2. Chemicals that strongly absorb CO2 (like amines) are more suitable to upgrade methane with relatively low content of CO 2 to a very high purity. However, this process has its own disadvantages like high energy consumption for bulk CO2 removal in biogas. On the other side, for bulk CO 2 removal to obtain a CH4 purity in the range 97-98%, physical solvents (e.g. methanol, Selexol, Rectisol) consume less energy, being more energy efficient. Cryogenic separation: It can produce pure CH4 in large quantities, without any chemicals, and can easily accommodate scale-up of product quantity. However, it requires several devices and equipments for the upgrading process, and hence, an expensive option, if taken the maintenance cost of the devices. This method is preferred if the quality of biogas treated is huge. Membrane separation: As CH4 and CO2 have different particle size and pressure, this technique is ideal for biogas upgrading. Further, the membrane separation unit is compact, and requires low energy and less maintenance. But, the membranes are very expensive and get easily destroyed by solvents or colliding solids.

7.

Current Patenting Trends in Biogas Upgrading

Given the perceived imminent commercialization and requirements for alternative fuels, and its apparent interest to scientists and technologists, an analysis of the patenting activity relating to biogas upgrading technologies in 2013 and how it has changed over the last couple of years (2010 till date) was done by

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the patent research team at the Scope eknowledge centre. The analysis shows that a total of 89 patent families are related to the biogas upgradation technology space. The analysis revealed that DGE DR ING GUENTHER ENGINEERING GMBH and NALCO COMPANY were the assignees with the maximum number of related patent families to their names.

MT BIOMETHAN GMBH 23%

DGE DR ING GUENTHER ENGINEERING GMBH 46%

NALCO COMPANY 31%

Leading assignees with patenting frequency DGE DR ING GUENTHER ENGINEERING GMBH and NALCO COMPANY are the most active players currently. The former utilizes techniques such as high pressure water scrubbing and chemical scrubbing through a solution of substituted polyamine, while the latter has extensively patented biogas upgrading through substituted polyamine containing scrubbing solutions. DGE DR ING GUENTHER ENGINEERING GMBH and MT BIOMETHAN GMBH are the only assignees to have witnessed patent publications in the year 2013, while the other leading assignee NALCO COMPANY recorded all its patents in the year 2012.

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3.5 3 2.5 2 DGE DR ING GUENTHER ENGINEERING GMBH MT BIOMETHAN GMBH NALCO COMPAY

1.5
1

0.5
0 2010 2012 2013

Publication trend of leading assignees The latest patent publication US2013000486A1 of DGE DR ING GUENTHER ENGINEERING GMBH titled METHOD FOR THE ADSORPTIVE DRYING OF PURIFIED BIOGAS AND FOR REGENERATING LADEN ADSORBENTS details a process for adsorptive drying of purified biogas (called biomethane) and regeneration of laden adsorbents, wherein the dried biogas is sent to a further use, for example by feeding into a conventional natural gas grid. Similarly, NALCO COMPANYs 2013 publication, US2013071307A1 titled METHOD AND DEVICE FOR THE ABSORPTIVE REMOVAL OF CARBON DIOXIDE FROM BIOGAS relates to a method for the absorptive removal of carbon dioxide from biogas using a scrubbing liquid in which carbon dioxide is chemically bound, and to a device suitable for carrying out the method. Other currently evolving technologies include desulphurization of biogas by introducing sulphur oxidizing bacteria into the process tank, which is later supplied with a scrubbing liquid in the presence of oxygen, patented by BIOGASCLEAN AS. An integrated biogas clean-up system patented by QUADROGEN POWER SYSTEMS INC eliminates siloxanes, chlorine, oxygen and sulfur, in addition to removing volatile organic compounds and water. The growing demand for biogas upgradation can be evidenced from the patenting trend, with 14 patents/ patent publications filed in the first half of 2013, across geographies.

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8.

Conclusion

The market for upgrading biogas to biomethane has numerous opportunities, as this alternative energy can be used for different applications, particularly transportation. High fuel consumption, centralized refueling and government subsidies of vehicle capital expenses make transit buses ideal for early adoption of compressed or liquefied biomethane usage. However, distribution of biomethane from the point of production to the point of consumption involves both complex regulatory issues and expenses. Further, costs involved vary significantly depending on the availability and type of biomass feed stocks, anaerobic digester and biogas upgrading technologies used, form of biomethane and distribution system, proximity of biomethane consumption, and economies of scale. Rather, promising biomethane projects need to be analyzed and evaluated to determine the viability.

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Referred URLs
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