The LIFE BIOGASNET project will develop a technology to improve the quality of biogas produced in waste treatment plants and wastewater treatment plants, in order to reduce the carbon footprint of the energy cycle and promote the circular economy.
The process, based on the application of biological, efficient and low-cost technologies, “will make possible to increase the quality of biogas for its use as an alternative energy source”, explains the coordinator of the LIFE BIOGASNET project, Xavier Gamisans, professor at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Manresa.
The LIFE BIOGASNET technology aims to reduce the environmental footprint, the consumption of reactants and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 55 percent. Furthermore, it will allow the production of secondary raw materials from the hydrogen sulphide contained in the biogas, “which will help to minimize the generation of waste”, adds Gamisans.
In the framework of this project, a prototype will be developed and installed, initially, in a landfill site located in Cadiz and, subsequently, in an urban solid waste treatment plant in Athens, with different sources of biogas. This will allow to validate the technology and its operation in different environments and conditions. The solution will make possible to treat the hydrogen sulphide from biogas and the ammonium/nitrate from liquid/gaseous waste effluents, in a single system. It will also allow to produce a value-added by-product that can be commercialised as raw material.
The technology may be applied in any plant producing biogas and containing higher concentrations of hydrogen sulphide than those allowed for most of the biogas energy technologies.
The LIFE BIOGASNET consortium is coordinated by the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, which will participate in all project actions, supervising the operation of the prototypes. Eurecat is also part of the consortium participating in the supervision of the prototypes and in the characterisation of the biomass, the adaptation routes and the valorisation of the by-products obtained. In addition, Eurecat will be responsible for the quantification and communication of the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of the project and will lead the dissemination and communication actions.
For its part, the University of Cadiz will lead the actions related to the operation of the prototype in a landfill; and the National Technical University of Athens will lead the activities to be developed in Greece and participate in monitoring and dissemination actions.
The complete design and construction of the prototype will be carried out by AERIS Tecnologías Ambientales, in collaboration with the rest of the partners of LIFE BIOGASNET. In addition, AERIS will be responsible for the economic evaluation of the technology and its commercialization in the market. Bioreciclaje de Cádiz will provide its facilities for the development of the project and will participate in other actions and tasks, such as the previous evaluation and monitoring of the project, and the dissemination of its results.