In the framework of Biomethaverse project, the work that aims to develop the technology of electromethanogenesis has just reached an important milestone. The laboratory-scale tests of the two technologies (one and two chambers) are completed and have validated the principle and performance of these processes. The next step is to carry out tests at a pre-pilot scale of several liters to evaluate the behavior of the technologies in conditions closer to the ones of the pilots.
For this, LEITAT, a partner of the project, is setting up two 10 L CSTR reactors (Figure 1a), one of which will have a set of electrodes dedicated to carrying out electromethanogenesis tests under continuous digestate feeding. These tests aim to determine the performance under the action of different parameters (stirrer activation, hydraulic retention time, applied voltage, etc.) Regarding the two-chamber technology, tests realized by the partner DTU are already underway on a reactor of 20 liters (Figure 1b). The tests aim to determine the biogas upgrading performance using several injection rates, as well as to determine the acid consumption necessary to maintain the medium at a neutral pH. These tests will enable the optimisation of the digestate liquid feed rate to obtain high performance while minimizing the consumption of chemicals (phosphoric acid).
The results that will be obtained on these two technologies will allow to update the initial estimate of the levelized cost of energy as well as to better anticipate the operation of these technologies at pilot scale.
