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Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World pp 347–377Cite as

Biogas Technologies and Cleaning Techniques

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Part of the book series: Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World ((ECSW))

Abstract

The acclivitious rise in fuel costs and taxation burden have significantly triggered the scientific community to make substantial changes in the pattern of using renewable energy sources. Gases arising from anaerobic digesters and landfills are widely used as fuel to produce electricity, drive pumps and fire boilers. Biogas can be defined as a biofuel produced by a large number of anaerobic microbial species that inherently possess the capability to ferment organic matter under controlled temperature, moisture and pH to yield a high energy value fuel. Methane and carbon dioxide are the two predominant compounds present in biogas, along with trace quantities of gases such as water vapour, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), halogenated hydrocarbons, siloxanes, ammonia, nitrogen, and oxygen. Biogas can be used as a fuel for generating heat and electricity and in feed boilers. However, biogas has to be cleaned and upgraded, in order to use it effectively as a fuel or to distribute it in the natural gas grid. Biogas cleaning not only increases the calorific value, but also reduces the risk of corrosion. In this chapter, we outline the importance of biogas from their source, property and application view-points. Secondly, the various physico-chemical and biological methods commonly used for biogas cleaning were reviewed by highlighting the operational advantages and limitations in each case. We have also presented the different strategies adopted to control specific impurities present in biogas, i.e., CO2, siloxanes, H2S and other trace compounds.

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Acknowledgements

The PhD research of M.E. López and our research on biofuels is being partly funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Project: CTM2010-15796/TECNO). E. R. Rene would like to thank the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN), for his post-doctoral (“Juan de La Cierva”) contract.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemical Engineering Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences, University of La Coruña, Rua da Fraga, 10, La Coruña, E-15008, Spain

    M. Estefanía López, Eldon R. Rene, María C. Veiga & Christian Kennes

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  1. M. Estefanía López
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  2. Eldon R. Rene
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  3. María C. Veiga
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  4. Christian Kennes
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Correspondence to Christian Kennes .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. INRA - UMR Agroécologie, rue Sully 17, Dijon, 86510, France

    Eric Lichtfouse

  2. Inst. für Geologie, Geochemie, u. Lagerstätten d. Erdöls u. d. Kohle, RWTH Aachen, Lochnerstr. 4-20, Aachen, 52056, Germany

    Jan Schwarzbauer

  3. Lab. de Chimie Industrielle, Université de Metz, rue Victor Demange, Saint-Avold, 57500, France

    Didier Robert

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López, M.E., Rene, E.R., Veiga, M.C., Kennes, C. (2012). Biogas Technologies and Cleaning Techniques. In: Lichtfouse, E., Schwarzbauer, J., Robert, D. (eds) Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World. Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2439-6_9

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