Methane production from syngas using a trickle-bed reactor setup

• Published in: Bioresource technology Vol. 333; p. 125183
• Main Authors: Aryal, Nabin, Odde, Mikkel, Bøgeholdt Petersen, Cecilie, Ditlev Mørck Ottosen, Lars, Vedel Wegener Kofoed, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2021
• Subjects: Biomethane; Hydrogen; Syngas methanation; Trickle-bed reactor; Upgrading to natural gas quality; Trickle-bed reactor; Upgrading to natural gas quality; Biomethane; Hydrogen; Syngas methanation
• ISSN: 0960-8524; 1873-2976
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2021.125183

•Single-reactor syngas methanation and upgrading to natural gas quality.•Manure and sludge digestates could be used at similar CH4 production rates.•Methanogenic community analysis indicated that acetate could be intermediate. Syngas from gasification of waste biomass is a mixture of carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), and hydrogen (H2), which can be utilized for the synthesis of biofuels such as methane (CH4). The aim of the study research work was to demonstrate how syngas could be methanated and upgraded to natural gas quality (biomethane) in a fed-batch trickle-bed reactor system using either manure – (AD-M) or sludge-based (AD-WW) inoculum as microbial basis. The methanated syngas had a high concentration of CO2 and did not fulfil the criteria for natural gas quality biomethane. Further upgrading of syngas to biomethane could be achieved simultaneously in the same reactors by addition of exogenous H2, resulting in CH4 concentrations up to 91.0 ± 3.5% (AD-WW) and 95.3 ± 1.0% (AD-M). Microbial analysis indicated that the communities differed between AD-M and AD-WW demonstrating functional redundancy among the microbial communities of different inocula.