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PES2020-Prosj.etabl.støtte H2020

Commercial development of the Synolys technology on biogas plant upgrading and biochar production

Awarded: NOK 74,999

Project Manager:

Project Number:

313062

Project Period:

2020 - 2021

Funding received from:

Biogas is produced in anaerobic digester (AD) where microorganisms convert organic materials to methane and carbon dioxide. Biogas from waste is renewable energy and can significantly contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction. Compressed biomethane (CBM) and liquified biomethane (LBM) will play key roles in the transport sector in the European scheme of phasing out fossil fuels. It is expected that the biogas market will grow over 10% yearly. The typical organic conversion rates in AD are ranged 30-50%, which means over 50% of organics in waste end up in digestate. Digestate can be used as organic fertilizer. However, issues, such as microplastics and pharmaceutical residues in digestate, GHG emission during digestate storage and transportation and high transportation costs for diluted digestate, are still associated with current digestate handling practises. On the other hand, lignocellulosic wastes, such as garden waste, sawdust, agricultural wastes and forest wastes, has enormous potential as bioenergy. However, these waste streams are not considered as primary feedstocks to AD due to existence of lignin and its strong interaction with cellulose and hemicellulose which is the main hurdle to the conversion of lignocellulosic materials to biogas. In this project a thermochemical- and biological-integrated solution, which has been tested in a small scale, will be further developed and demonstrated in a large scale facility. The proposed solution would empower biogas plants to maximize biogas production via treating digestate and lignocellulosic wastes in existing facilities to meet growing demands from the transport sector and become more sustainable when facing stringent government regulations in the future. The submission will encompass all activities associated with technology development, testing and rollout of Synolys technology, and demonstrating unambiguously its impact on the industry wide state of the art.

Funding scheme:

PES2020-Prosj.etabl.støtte H2020