Energy saving for biogas production and upgrading - Thermal integration

Abstract

Thermal integration of anaerobic digestion (AD) biogas production with amine based biogas upgrading has been studied for improving the overall thermal efficiencies of the two systems. The thermal characteristics have been investigated for typical AD raw biogas generation and MEA absorption biogas upgrading. The investigation provides a basic understanding of energy saving for both industrial scale biogas production and upgrading processes. The thermal integration is carried out based on the thermal characteristics of the two systems by well-defined case studies, which take the following factors into account such as important thermal conditions of sub-systems, material and energy balances, the efficiencies of heat exchange and heat transfer, necessary integration optimization and ambient conditions. The results show that the thermal integration is achievable with very positive effects for overall energy efficiency and water usage.