Evaluation of treatment techniques of the effluent air at biogas upgrading plants

Sammanfattning: In nature, organic matter is degraded by microorganisms. During the degradation gases formedincludes methane, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and small amounts of other gases such asVOCs. This has been utilized with help of anaerobic digesters, where environments have beencreated, in which these organisms thrive. In these chambers the gases are collected together intosomething called biogas.Biogas is a renewable energy source where the methane gas natural affinity for combustion inoxygen-containing environments is being used. By separating the methane from the other gases, theenergy value becomes closer to that of natural gas. The upgraded biogas can thus act as a substitutefor natural gas and be used as a fuel for vehicles, a need that has increased during the last years.This is preferred since natural gas is a fossil fuel.A technique used for upgrading biogas is water scrubbers. By using the gases different tendency todissolve into the water, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide can be removed. During this process asmall amount methane and VOC becomes absorbed as well. The upgraded biogas obtains a methanecontent of approximately 98 % and can then be used as a fuel for vehicles. The removed gases are atthe same time released from the water to the effluent air leaving the upgrading plant. This has beendeemed inappropriate since the hydrogen sulfide is a corrosive and highly toxic gas. The methaneand VOCs that leaves with the effluent air provides negative effects to the greenhouse effect andglobal environment.This study has examined the issue of how to treat the gases that are emitted by the effluent air.Using measurements to find the percentage amounts of the different gases in the effluent air and inthe raw biogas, annual quantities of emissions could be calculated. From these, various treatmentmethods have been analyzed where the author finally concluded that a reduction of hydrogensulfide should be achieved with help of iron in a filter. Methane has instead been proposed to betreated with a compost filter.