| Title |
Scale up study of a thermophilic trickle bed reactor performing syngas biomethanation |
| ID_Doc |
14626 |
| Authors |
Asimakopoulos, K; Kaufmann-Elfang, M; Lundholm-Hoffner, C; Rasmussen, NBK; Grimalt-Alemany, A; Gavala, HN; Skiadas, IV |
| Title |
Scale up study of a thermophilic trickle bed reactor performing syngas biomethanation |
| Year |
2021 |
| Published |
|
| DOI |
10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.116771 |
| Abstract |
Biomethane constitutes an important biofuel for the transition towards a biobased circular economy with a sustainable energy sector. An environmentally friendly pathway for its production is through the gasification of 2nd generation biomass that generates syngas (H2, CO, and CO2), followed by syngas biomethanation. A novel design thermophilic trickle bed bioreactor was successfully tested at semi-pilot scale. It was operated continuously performing biomethanation of an artificial syngas mixture (45% H2, 20% CO, 25% CO2 and 10% N2). Its effectiveness was compared to a primitive design lab scale trickle bed reactor with a 28 times lower bed volume under identical operating conditions. At an empty bed residence time of 0.6 h, the novel semi-pilot scale trickle bed reactor converted 100% and 98% of the influent H2 and CO, respectively and produced CH4 at a rate of 10.6 ? 0.2 mmol?lbed - 1 ?h- 1, whereas the lab scale reactor converted 89% of the H2 and 73% of the CO and achieved a CH4 productivity of 8.5 mmol?lbed - 1 ?h- 1. The maximum CH4 productivity achieved in the semi-pilot scale reactor was 17.6 ? 0.6 mmol?lbed - 1 ?h- 1 at an empty bed residence time of 0.33 h with a 99.2 ? 0.1% product selectivity. Furthermore, the semi-pilot scale reactor was connected in series with a fluidized bed gasifier fed with wood pellets to assess the biomethanation potential of the system when supplied with real syngas. The obtained results showed no process inhibition in the semi-pilot scale reactor, which accomplished 100% H2 conversion efficiency and 92.4 ? 0.6% CO conversion efficiency at an empty bed residence time of 0.6 h. |
| Author Keywords |
Syngas biomethanation; Thermophilic; Trickle bed reactor; Biomass gasification; Mixed microbial consortia; Scale up |
| Index Keywords |
Index Keywords |
| Document Type |
Other |
| Open Access |
Open Access |
| Source |
Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) |
| EID |
WOS:000639138900003 |
| WoS Category |
Energy & Fuels; Engineering, Chemical |
| Research Area |
Energy & Fuels; Engineering |
| PDF |
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