CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSION

6.1

Conclusion

The process design, plant erection and some operational

experiences of an innovative biogas upgrading plant have been
presented. The plant produces approximately 100m(STP)/h of fullyfledged natural gas substitute (biomethane) and delivers this
stream to the public natural gas grid either on a local grid level (up
to 3bar) or, during the summer months, to a regional grid level with
up to 60 bar. The upgrading is based on the membrane separation
process Gas Permeation and allows low energy consumption as well
as very low methane losses. The quality of the upgraded
biomethane is controlled continuously regarding various unwanted
or malicious substances to assure the agreement with the quality
described by Austrian laws.

The relevant legislative framework concerning the gas quality

which is given by the Austrian laws OEVGW G31 and G33 has been
presented and subsequently the upgrading necessities to produce
such a gas have been developed. The requirements for a
continuous online gas analysis system for several gaseous species
have been shown.

The biogas upgrading plant commissioned in Bruck/Leitha has

been presented in detail and some information on the plant
behavior has been given. It has been shown that the upgrading
process is very stable and continuous concerning gas quality and
quantity. Finally, some conclusions on electrical power consumption
and energy efficiency of the biogas upgrading process have been
made.

Subsidiary, a dynamic process simulation model for the Gas

Permeation plant has been developed to act as a test field for the
planned control strategies. Together with some plant specific data
even the parameterization of the implemented PID-controllers has
been supported. Moreover, deeper insight into the dynamic phases
of plant startup and shutdown has been generated.

In the near future, reliable and well-founded data on overall

performance parameters will be compiled. These parameters will
include power consumption and electrical efficiencies for the whole
range of possible product gas flows, methane slip in the plant
Offgas for several load scenarios as well as a first estimation on
membrane life expectancy. The last point might be one of the most
interesting questions of this new process. The dynamic process
simulation model will be further evaluated using experimental data
from simple and small laboratory scale plants as well as from more
complex upgrading plants like Bruck/Leitha. Additionally, a detailed
scientific analysis of another Gas Permeation biogas upgrading
plant will be carried out. This plant is situated in Margarethen/Moos,
comprising quite similar process technology, but has about a third
the size of Bruck/Leitha. Besides, this plant does not feed the

produced biomethane to the public natural gas grid but feeds its
own Bio-CNG-fuelling station. The biomethane is compressed up to
about 250bar and can be fuelled into any commercial CNG-vehicle
as a 100% renewable automobile fuel. This might be a very
interesting concept in times of huge discussions on the maximum
blending percentages of renewable fuels to gasoline and diesel.