My PhD project is part of the ElectroGas project which concerns storing electricity and carbon. In order to substitute fossil fuels for renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, it is a key necessity that surplus energy from renewable electricity production can be stored for later use. Currently, adequate storage possibilities are lacking.
One potential solution is to convert excess renewable energy into hydrogen and feed it to an anaerobic digester used for biogas production. Conventional biogas consists roughly of 50/50 methane and carbon dioxide, but microorganisms present in the reactor can readily react the carbon dioxide fraction with hydrogen to produce additional methane. Hence, surplus energy is converted into methane, which can be stored in the existing natural gas grid. A main issue for this technology is that hydrogen gas is not readily transferred to the microorganisms in the anaerobic digester due to poor solubility. The scope of my PhD project is therefore to develop technical solutions for the addition of hydrogen to full-scale anaerobic digesters.
Project title: Process Development of Large Scale Biomethanisation
Project period: May 2016 - April 2019
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Lars Ottosen
