Osaka Gas has collaborated with Thai company Agriculture of Basin Company (ABC) has launched a pilot project which can help ascertain feasibility of supplying natural gas to vehicles by continuously removing carbon dioxide and other purities from biogas.
The biogas is mainly obtained from agricultural waste and refining it into pure methane gas is the aim of the pilot project. By doing so, the company plans to explore the possibilities in commercial operation.
For this project, ABC at its palm oil factory will digest the organic matter in factory wastewater to generate biogas, which will be later refined by Osaka Gas into methane gas. ABC will use the refined methane gas to fuel its own natural gas powered vehicles.
The pilot project will be carried out for about a year and during that period Osaka Gas will test operate a 250 Nm3/h biogas refining facility that assumes commercial deployment.
During the pilot project, the company will study a long-time based stable operation and methods to minimize the cost of producing methane gas.
Outcome of this pilot project will help ABC to continue with its initiatives to effectively use the biogas generated at the factory as a fuel for natural gas-powered vehicles.
Osaka Gas has been in the development of biogas refining technology since 2012. The Japanese company claims that it can produce pure methane gas with a methane recovery rate of more than 99%.
The company claims that it has obtained the level of purity by using its proprietary hybrid biogas refining system, which integrates a CO2 separation membrane with Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA).
It stated: "OSAKA GAS decided to carry out this pilot project in Thailand based on its confidence in the potential towards the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by using its unique hybrid biogas refining system to effectively utilize biomass resources."
Image: Pilot Biogas Refining Facility. Photo: Courtesy of Business Wire.