Carbonate Composite Sorbents: A Novel Technology for Biogas Upgrading

Technical Report · Fri Sep 30 04:00:00 EDT 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1890085· OSTI ID:1890085

Overland, Alexandra E. L. ^[1]; Ceron, Maira R. ^[1]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

With no signs of slowing, global warming and resource consumption continue to rise. Biogas has been shown to be a reliable renewable energy source in tandem to natural gas. Biogas is naturally sourced as a byproduct from dairy and food waste plants and can be upgraded to biomethane as an alternative to natural gas. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has developed carbonate composite sorbents which yield pipeline quality biomethane and cost less than traditional biogas upgrading technologies (e.g., water/chemical scrubbing, pressure swing adsorption). Laboratory-scale experiments using biogas and the composite sorbents resulted in absorption of 0.62 mol of CO₂ per kilogram of material, methane purity of >99% and an energy demand of <0.1 MJ/Nm³. The team is currently working on scaling up the production of the composite sorbent to kilogram quantities and to operate a small-scale pilot at a partnered test facility. To ensure market competitiveness, the team is currently working on improving the CO₂ loading capacity of the composite sorbent by optimizing the powder to polymer ratio and developing a confined coaxial powder extrusion method.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-07NA27344
• OSTI ID: 1890085
• Report Number(s): LLNL-TR-835543; 1054498
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE