Enhancement of the anaerobic digestion process for biomethane production

The UK Government recognised that domestic biomethane production can play a significant role in decarbonising energy supplies. However, biomethane production plants face technical and operational challenges. Currently the content of biomethane within biogas produced from the anaerobic digestion (AD) process is often only around 50%. This partial conversion results in lower yields for AD operators and an increase in costly gas scrubbing requirements. The increased presence of impurity gases also increases requirement for propanation to increase the calorific value, high in both cost and carbon footprint.

This project seeks to address these challenges through the injection of green hydrogen into the AD process in specific quantities and at specific times to achieve greater conversion of carbon dioxide to biomethane within the acetogenesis stage of the AD process, thereby increasing the yield whilst reducing the need for gas scrubbing and propanation.