Technology development for efficient design and operation of biogas plants

1. Technology development for efficient design and operation of biogas plants Jing Liu Associate Prof., CTO

2. presentation outline Systematic, plant-wide and biological views Technical barriers Can biogas be energy source? Technology approaches Examples of latest technology development from Bioprocess Control AMPTS2 - unit C

3. biogas production and utilization in systematic view

4. plant-wide view of biogas plant A biogas plant is not only a fermentation process All process units have to work together in order to ensure the plant is well-functional

5. biological view of biogas process Traditional design and construction Unstable process due to various of feedstock streams Poor information flow from the process – “Black Box” mode Ineffective process operation in terms of energy production Requires a big safety margin for operation Long retention time Low biogas production rate and yield Risk of system overload Complexity at the biological level: multi-step process with different reaction rates more than hundred microorganisms involved difficult to monitor and control in real time operated far below the max. capacity Complexity at the plant-wide level: both biological process and whole plant need to be optimized

6. can biogas production be energy source? Stability andefficiency (energy throughput and process capacity utilization) are the keys Right feedstock and pricing Right process configuration & instrumentation to ensure stability and the right flexibility for plant optimization Suitable process control and plant supervision at both process & plant-wide levels to ensure the efficient plant operation High value of end product to create a sufficiently high driving force for commercial interest and sustainable business development

7. technical and market approaches Stability andefficiency (energy throughput and process capacity utilization) are the keys Feedstock – a better tool for selection of feedstock, price determination, evaluation of effect of pre-treatment, additivies, co-digestion is needed (urgent demand!) Instrumentation– demand of on-line & real-time sensor/instruments for a better understanding of process dynamic (a long-way to go in technology development) Process configuration – demand both deeper knowledge on biological fermentation and plant-wide level (more challenge on man-made barriers) Plant operation– demand both better instrumentation/automation condition and suitable control and supervision at both process & plant-wide levels (challenge on technology and knowledge transfer, as well as man-made barriers) High value of end product – increasing recognization of biomethane; demand cheaper solution to increase the market value of end product for small and middle size plants (so far, technology challenge)

8. technical and markret approaches • ”overcome the barrier and technology transfer with hlep of smart instruments” • commercialization of process optimiztion tools for biogas plants • – a many years journey from R&D to final products! tools for feedstock optimization – ”Automatic Methane Potential Test System” & ”Biogas Endeavour” tools for gaining deeper process knowledge and experience – ”BioReactor Simulator”, µFlow & bioreactors serial

9. AMPTS2 – tool for feedstock selection and optimization Methane potential analysis made easier Outstanding real-time performance for precise & accurate data Real-time temperature and pressure compensation Network ready & easy access Significantly reduce labour, time and skill demands Wide range of applications AMPTS2

10. Biogas Endeavour Simplify the selection & pricing of substrates Explore the potential of available substrates Determine a substrates true energy content Take control of selecting and pricing biomass resources Significantly reduce labour, time and skill demands Standardization for results comparsion Biogas Endeavour

11. determination of BMP for reference and real samples Methane yield (CH4 production/gVS) Accumulated volume of CH4 produced during AD of triplicates samples good accuracy and precision analysis can be achieved with high level of standardization

12. gas volume & flow normalisation • Gas volume & flow adjusted to standard conditions • temperature • pressure • water vapor • Why need normalisation? • to be able to compare results • quantitatively given in volume and NOT in mass or molar amount Different standard values exists – important to clearly state which is used Gas volume is function of temperature & pressure

13. impact of temperature & pressure • Temperature • normal in-door temperature (20-30 oC or 68-86 oF) • with and without temperature compensation • Pressure • depends on altitude (0.8-1.1 bar) • can vary 60 mbar within a month • Correction is possible • ideal gas is normally used • demand temperature and pressure value in real-time Volume, pressure, temperature & amount of gas are interrelated

14. impact of temperature & pressure Example of temperature and pressure variation

15. impact of water vapour • Biogas is saturated with water vapour • 2-4% raw gas at normal conditions • Antoine’s law • temperature dependent • works well within temperature and pressure interval • Correction is possible • ideal gas is normally used • demand temperature value in real-time

16. BioReactor Simulator A cloud based simulation platform for continuous processes Obtain deeper process knowledge & experience Secure and reliable data logging and storage High accessibility for process monitoring and control Standardisation of data registration and presentation for results comparison User friendly interface for both easy experiment setup and follow-up BioReactor Simulator (BRS)

17. BioReactor Simulator – powered by Cloud computing Bioreactor (BR): support CSTR, UASB, EGSB, IC, et al Data acquisition instrument (DAI): gas flow, et al Database (DB): acts as intermediator between the hardware and the website, using CouchDB to store raw data. File storage (FS): place for reports storage Website: main user interface between the end user and the rest of system, where also specific funcationalities for fermentation tests are implmented.

18. thanks for the listening! have an on-line tour of smart instruments www.bioprocesscontrol.com