Developing an integrated hydrogen bio-methanation process to enhance and upgrade biogas production in an anaerobic digestion process

The increased energy prices and effects of climate change are severely impacting the day-to-day lives of Canadians. Moreover, essential sectors such as agriculture release substantial amounts of greenhouse gases, adding to climate change challenges. Hence, investing in local and sustainable energy sources is more critical now than ever to reduce these burdens. Therefore, biogas generation technology helps resolve these issues by biologically converting organic wastes, such as food waste or animal manure, to biogas and digestate (fertilizer). Biogas typically consists of 50% of methane (CH4) and 50% carbon dioxide (CO2), where the methane can be used to generate electricity and/or heat, and the CO2 is often released into the atmosphere due to its limited applications. The proposed project aims to optimize a biological method called hydrogen (H2) biomethanation, to convert CO2 to CH4 by certain microorganisms that utilize CO2 and externally generated H2. However, challenges to hydrogen biomethanation include the low hydrogen solubility in liquid and finding the optimal hydrogen-to-liquid ratio that maximizes CH4 content in biogas. Therefore, this study will address these shortcomings by conducting a series of experiments and modelling to optimize the process. Moreover, the study will also provide more insights into the environmental and economic benefits of hydrogen biomethanation compared with other conventional approaches to biogas upgrading. Biogas technology companies, such as the partner organization, can benefit from this project because it optimizes an essential process with minimal cost, energy, and chemical requirements to reduce the carbon footprint and maximize the energy output of their plants.

Faculty Supervisor:

Majid Sartaj

Student:

Partner:

CH Four Biogas

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Ottawa

Program: