Completed Clean Energy Materials & Manufacturing

Biomethanisation of CO2 in anaerobic digestion plants

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

A hybrid anaerobic digestion process will use hydrogen made from renewable sources like wind and solar power to convert waste CO₂ into biomethane at more than 95% purity. This matters because current biogas upgrading methods lose methane to the atmosphere and rely on energy-intensive separation techniques. The new process captures carbon that would otherwise be wasted and turns it directly into a fuel that can be stored, used to balance the electricity grid, or power vehicles. It is designed to be more environmentally friendly and sustainable than existing approaches, with reduced process loss of methane. If the research succeeds, the water industry could integrate the system into its existing infrastructure, making use of process heat and other by-products. A second target is smaller-scale farm operations, where waste biomass is abundant but suitable upgrading plant is scarce. The result would be a cleaner, more efficient way to turn organic waste into a versatile fuel, quietly improving how energy grids and transport systems operate without requiring entirely new infrastructure.

View original technical description
The research will create a hybrid anaerobic digestion process in which hydrogen made from renewable energy sources (e.g. wind and photovoltaics) is used to produce biomethane at more than 95% purity. The process therefore provides an efficient in situ biogas upgrading technique which will maximise the conversion of the available carbon in waste biomass into a fuel product that has a wide range of applications, including short-term storage for grid balancing and use as a vehicle fuel. The process is likely to be more environmentally friendly and sustainable than current methods for biogas upgrading as there is reduced process loss of methane. The target is to develop the system for use in the water industry where there is a large potential to integrate it into existing infrastructure and to maximise the use of process heat and other by-products. A second targeted application is at a smaller scale on farms, where there is an abundant supply of waste biomass and a lack of suitable biogas upgrading plant.

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Researchers

Charles Banks (Principal Investigator)James Chong (Co-Investigator)Jane Thomas-Oates (Co-Investigator)Mohamed Pourkashanian (Co-Investigator)Sonia Heaven (Co-Investigator)William Nimmo (Co-Investigator)Yue Zhang (Co-Investigator)

Related Research

Grants with similar aims, by meaning.

Delivering Low Carbon Anaerobic Wastewater Treatment and Renewable Energy Production
Integrated Closed Loop Cycle for Energy, fuel, and bio-fertiliser from waste.
Enhancing the Methane Generation from Food Waste Anaerobic Digestion Mediated by Fluidic Oscillator Generated Microbubbles
Bio-methanol Manufacturing Using Farming Biogas By-Products
Biogas production from high volume industrial effluents at ambient temperatures (AmbiGAS)

Original classification

Research Grant

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