Innovative Advances in Methanisation Pretreatment
Transforming molecules into safe, renewable energy and enhancing productivity with eco-friendly solutions such as tailor made enzymatic cocktail.
Sustainable global energy strategies include the use of renewable energy resources such as geothermal, hydro, solar, biomass, and wind to reduce the use of fossil fuels. One of these energy technologies starting from biomass is the anaerobic digestion (AD) process technology, which generates the production of biogas.
The rise of biogas has been shaped by two main factors: Policy support to renewable energy sources and feedstock availability. The development of biogas has been uneven across the world, as it depends not only on the availability of feedstocks but also on policies that encourage its production and use. Europe, China and the United States account for 90% of global production. Europe is the largest producer of biogas today.
For successful AD processes, the efficiency of biomass conversion requires a good understanding on the substrates nutritional composition in order to select the best way to ensure maximum substrate access. The intention of this article is to highlight the diversity of biomass organic wastes and their characteristics for biogas production. We will then focus on the benefit of biological treatment during the digestion step, such as increased biomass access, hydrolysis rate, with no generation of toxic inhibitory compounds, leading to effective operational cost and low energy requirement. Finally, we will present the performance of our recently launched product: SEQENZYM bG, compared to other commercial products.
Introduction
Biogas is produced from the decomposition of organic materials. The feedstock, such as agricultural wastes are placed in a biogas digester in the absence of oxygen. With the help of a range of bacteria, organic matter breaks down, releasing a blend of gases: methane and carbon dioxide, with small amounts of other gases like hydrogen sulphide, ammonia, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon monoxide.
Besides the produced biogas, a digestate which is a nutrient-rich biomass can be further used as an organic fertilizer for organic farming.
Biomethane is the upgraded form of biogas, also known as renewable natural gas, and obtained after removal of carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and water. The resulting biomethane has the same characteristics as natural gas and can be injected into the grid. The output is a renewable gas which can be used for multiple applications including buildings, industry, transport and agriculture.
After purification, biomethane produced in so-called injection units can be sent to a natural gas network. Biomethane can also be used in a cogeneration unit to produce electricity and heat used on site.
Affordable, sustainable and secure energy
The deployment of biomethane to replace fossil fuels does not require the investment of additional resources to develop new infrastructure. The existing gas infrastructure is biomethane-ready and when used in cogeneration unit, the electricity generated is immediately available on the grid. This is key to ramping up decarbonisation and providing easily available and affordable renewable energy for consumers. Clearly this is a “game changer” for the production of renewable energy.
In addition, biomethane can be easily stored and produced at a constant pace, helping to balance energy supply from intermittent energy sources of renewable origin, such as solar or wind.
Europe is the largest producer of biogas and biomethane in the world today, and it will be essential to scale up production of these renewable gases in order to meet renewable energy demand by 2030 and achieve climate targets in 2050.
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