Biogas Upgrading to Biomethane by CO2 Removal using Water Absorber with Microbubble Technique

Chananchida  DUMRUANGSRI; Prukraya  PONGYEELA; Juntima  CHUNGSIRIPORN

doi:10.48048/wjst.2021.9304

Authors

Chananchida DUMRUANGSRI Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla 90110, Thailand
Prukraya PONGYEELA Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla 90110, Thailand
Juntima CHUNGSIRIPORN Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla 90110, Thailand

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.48048/wjst.2021.9304

Keywords:

Biomethane, CO2 removal, Microbubble, Renewable energy, Water absorption

Abstract

Biogas upgraded to biomethane can be utilized as a renewable energy source to substitute LPG in households and industry. This study explored biogas upgrading by CO₂ removal from 20 - 75 % CO₂-N₂ simulated biogas mixture. The experimental unit using the microbubble technique combined with the water absorption column was set up and used for CO₂ removal from the gas. Microbubble sizes of 20 - 30 µm were generated by a venturi ejector and measured with an automated bubble size measurement. The experiments confirmed that a microbubble with an inline mixer could enhance the effectiveness of the absorption process. The tests demonstrated over 85.80 % removal of CO₂ from the simulated biogas by the experimental unit. The effects of various parameters, including the size of venturi ejector, gas flow rate, water flow rate, liquid-gas ratio, and initial concentration of CO₂, were investigated. The results revealed that 2 L/min gas flow rate, 15 L/min water flow rate, L/G ratio 7.5, and venturi ejector size 0.50 inches are the optimum conditions. The use of the tube absorber gave much higher CH₄ recovery than an absorption column. The appropriate operating conditions gave over 96 % CH₄ concentration or less than 4 % CO₂ concentration, matching the CH₄ purity required by biomethane specifications. The results indicated that the new technique demonstrated in this study can upgrade biogas to biomethane.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

S Chu. Carbon capture and sequestration. Science 2009; 325, 1599.

S Rasi, J Läntelä, AVeijanen and J Rintala. Landfill gas upgrading with countercurrent water wash. Waste Manag. 2008; 28, 1528-34.

Q Zhao, E Leonhardt, C MacConnell, C Frear and S Chen. Purification technologies for biogas generated by anaerobic digestion. Climate friendly farming, compressed biomethane. CSANR Research Report, 2010, p. 1-24.

MV Ryckebosch and E Drouillon. Techniques for transformation of biogas to biomethane. Biomass Bioenerg. 2011; 35, 1633-45.

Y Xiao, H Yuan, Y Pang, S Chen, B Zhu, D Zou, J Ma, L Yu and X Li. CO2 Removal from biogas by water washing system. Chin. J. Chem. Eng. 2014; 22, 950-3.

M Islamiyah, T Soehartanto, R Hantoro and A Abdurrahman. Water scrubbing for removal CO2 and H2S in biogas from manure. KnE Energ. 2014; 2, 126-31.

A Fujiwara, S Takagi, K Watanabe and K Matsumoto. Experimetal study on the new micro-bubble generator and its application to water purification system. In: Proceedings of the ASME/JSME 2003 4th Joint Fluids Engineering Conference, Hawaii, USA, 2003, p. 469-73.

K Muroyama, K Imai, Y Oka and J Hayashi. Mass transfer properties in a bubble column associated with micro-bubble dispersions. Chem. Eng. Sci. 2013; 100, 464-73.

M Takahashi. ζ potential of microbubbles in aqueous solutions: Electrical properties of the gas-water interface. J. Phys. Chem. B 2005; 109, 21858-64.

A Serizawa. A study on drag reduction with microbubble injection nozzle for application to ships. Report of the activities from Joint Research Projects, Research Institute of Appied Mechanice. Kyushu University, Japan, 2003.

S Unyaphan, T Tarnpradab, F Takahashi and K Yoshikawa. Improvement of tar removal performance of oil scrubber by producing. Appl. Energ. 2017; 205, 802-12.

Y Shangguan, S Yu, C Gong, Y Wang, W Ynang and L Hou. A review of microbubble and its applications in ozonation. In: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Energy Equipment Science and Engineering, Beijing, China, 2017.

S Khuntia, SK Majumder and P Ghosh. Microbubble-aided water and wastewater purification: A review. Rev. Chem. Eng. 2012; 28, 191-221.

S Dicker, M Mleczo, G Schmitz and SP Wrenn. Size distribution of microbubbles as a function of shell composition. Ultrasonics 2013; 53, 1363-7.

WE Juwana, A widyatama, O dinaryanto, W Budhijanto, Indarto and Deendarlianto. Hydrodynamic characteristics of the microbubble dissolution in liquid using orifice type microbubble generator. Chem. Eng. Res. Des. 2019; 141, 436-48.

JO Hanotu, H Bandulasena and WB Zimmerman. Areactor design for microbubble generation. Chem. Eng. Res. Des. 2017; 123, 367-76.

V Tesař. Mechanisms of fluid microbubble generation part II: Suppressing the conjuctions. Chem. Eng. Sci. 2014; 116, 849-56.

LS Tan, AM Shariff, KK Lau and MA Bustam. Factors affecting CO2 absorption efficiency in packed column: A review. J. Ind. Eng. Chem. 2012; 18, 1874-83.

HM Ndiritu, K Kibicho and BB Gathitu. Influence of flow parameters on capture of carbon dioxide gas by a wet scruuber. J. Power Tech. 2013; 93, 9-15.

P Kasikamphaiboon, C Bunyakan and J Chungsiriporn. CO2 and H2S removal using MEA solution in a packed column absorber for biogas upgrading. In: Proceedings of the 10th International PSU Engineering Conference, Songkhla, Thailand. 2012.

A Shabani, ST Asl and BH Shahraki. Calculationof effective interfacial area in a turbulent contact absorber. Int. J. Chem. Eng. Appl. 2010, 1, 117-22.

A Aroonwilas, P Tontiwachwutthikul and A Chakma. Effects of operating and design parameters on CO2 absorption in columns with structured packings. Separ. Purif. Tech. 2001; 2001, 403-11.

CS Tan and JE Chen. Absorption of carbon dioxide with piperazine and its mixtures in a rotating packed bed. Separ. Purif. Tech. 2006; 49, 174-80.

A Dey and A Aroonwilas. CO2 absorption into MEA-AMP blend: Mass transfer and absorber height index. Energ. Proc. 2009; 1, 211-5.

M Afkhamipour and M Mofarahi. Review on the mass transfer performance of CO2 absorption by amine-based solvents in low- and high-pressure absorption packed columns. RSC Adv. 2017; 7, 17851-72.

M Harasimowicz, P Orluk, G Zekrzewska-Trznadel and A Chmielewski. Application of polyimide membranes for biogas for biogas purification and enrichment. J. Hazard. Mater. 2007; 144, 698-702.

N Tippayawong and P Thanompongchart. Biogas quality upgrade by simultaneous removal of CO2 and H2S in a packed column reactor. Energy 2010; 35, 4531-5.