Aeriogen® Technology

About

Background:  The technology offering has the potential to address a number of broad and internationally relevant renewable energy and resource efficiency problems: Maximising the Generation of Renewable Electricity – Deployment of renewable electricity generation technologies is limited not only by intermittency of natural resources (e.g. wind, solar, wave or tidal energy), but also by availability of electricity transmission capacity. Without the ability to store large amounts of energy, significant opportunities to deploy renewable electricity generation assets and associated economic and environmental benefits will be not be realised. Gas grid operators are under increased pressure to decarbonise their assets, primarily by increasing the amount of ‘green’ or low carbon gas supplied within their networks. However, opportunities to introduce low carbon alternatives to natural gas into gas grids can be limited both geographically and in terms of scale. Alternative sources of low carbon methane are therefore required. Industrial carbon dioxide (and carbon monoxide) emissions have historically been considered as wastes with no intrinsic value and therefore discharged to atmosphere. However, climate change mitigation measures and resource efficiency demands are driving industrial emitters to investigate means of utilising and valorising these carbon gas emissions.   Problem/issue: The way in which energy assets are managed over the coming decades is set to rapidly evolve as national and global deployment of renewable electricity generation technologies increases. Energy storage technologies are required to manage intermittent generation and match supply with demand. Whilst batteries are likely to play a role at local scales, solutions are required to store grid relevant amounts of energy at regional scales. The ability to convert renewable electricity to methane gas allows the integration of the electricity and gas transmission grids and facilitates the storage of huge amounts of energy within gas networks. Hydrogen gas can be produced by utilising renewable electricity to power the electrolysis of water (Power to Gas / PtG). However, there are currently a number of practical and regulatory limitations associated with the addition of large amounts of hydrogen to gas grids for energy storage / utilisation. By combining this renewable hydrogen with carbon gases (such as carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide), a synthetic methane gas can be manufactured that can be added to gas grids (Power to Methane / PtM) with minimum impact to grid operation or end users of the gas. Methane also has a higher volumetric calorific value than hydrogen. Hydrogen and carbon gases can be combined using chemical catalysis (e.g. the Sabatier Process), however, the process involves high temperatures, does not tolerate gas impurities, and cannot be practically applied where gas supplies are intermittent. An alternative approach is therefore required.   Our new technology: The AD Centre within the Sustainable Environment Research Centre (SERC) at the University of South Wales has developed a novel process that biologically catalyses the combination of hydrogen gas (produced using renewable electricity) with carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide (produced by industrial processes as an atmospheric emission) to produce a low carbon synthetic methane gas. The process is therefore capable of integrating electricity and gas networks and utilising industrial carbon gas emissions to provide the benefits introduced above. The process is capable of high conversion rates and produces a high quality gas output (>98% methane), can tolerate a range of gas impurities and intermittent operation.   Benefits: Low temperature process Low to medium pressure process (1-9 bar) High conversion rates High quality gas output (>98% CH4) Small process footprint Tolerates feed gas impurities meaning that a range of industrial gases can be utilised Tolerates intermittent operating times Nutrient recycling limits requirements for nutrient addition Can be integrated with existing infrastructure   Applications: Maximising the productivity of existing renewable electricity generation assets (reducing curtailment) Storage of excess renewable electricity as a gas (or liquid) Integration of gas and electricity networks allowing flexible grid balancing Generation of low carbon synthetic methane for decarbonisation of gas supply Allowing deployment of renewable electricity generation assets in areas of high energy resource availability, but low availability of transmission networks (i.e. off grid applications) Recycling of industrial CO and CO2 for climate change mitigation Valorisation of industrial gaseous emissions of CO, CO2 and H2 The process can also be used to produce carboxylic acids, either for energy storage or as low carbon commodity chemicals   Intellectual property: Patent pending EU Trademarked process as AERIOGEN® EU Trademarked self sustaining microbial culture as LITHOTHESIS® EU Trademarked process for the production and concentration of carboxylic acids as HiVFA® Test results Specialist technical/proprietary know-how