Biogas membrane reformer for decentralized hydrogen production · 2016-10-23 · Biogas membrane...

BIONICO newsletter - Issue 2 – 2nd

half 2016 www.bionicoproject.eu

Biogas membrane reformer for decentralized hydrogen

production

Editorial

Dear BIONICO friends I am glad to welcome you to the second project newsletter! The

last project meeting was held at the end of August, allowing all the consortium members to

take stock of the situation: in the second six months of the project new membranes,

membrane supports and catalyst specifically designed for operating with biogas have been

tested at TU/e labs and soon new promising finger-like porous asymmetric ceramic

supports will be tested. The information collected allow now the Abengoa Hidrogeno

engineering team to start with the design of the pilot scale reactor that will contain around

100 membranes! The scale of the project represents a strong step forward for CMR

technology. Not only experimental, but also simulation work was performed by POLIMI in

order to have benchmark cases for BIONICO. At the same time environmental

performance of these technologies is being evaluated by Quantis, in order to demonstrate

not only improved efficiency performance but also environmental ones for the BIONICO

technology!

I hope you will find the info in this newsletter interesting. On our website

www.bionicoproject.eu you will find public presentations, all the public deliverables of the

project and many other interesting news. Stay tuned!

Newsletter – Issue 2 – 2nd half 2016

Previous release

March

2016

September March September March September

2017 2018

Industrial specifications

Reference case

First membrane & catalyst release

Membrane & Catalysts development

First results @ Lab scale

First release of LCA analysis

This Newsletter

http://www.bionicoproject.eu/




In this Issue:

Editorial .................................................................................................................................. 1

Latest News: Around the world to make Bionico known ......................................................... 2

Why is BIONICO? ....................................................................................................................... 3

A life with membranes .............................................................................................................. 6

BIONICO in progress ................................................................................................................. 7

Novel catalysts and supported membranes for Biogas Reforming process ........................ 7

Lab-scale reformer development .......................................................................................... 8

Life cycle assessment ............................................................................................................. 8

BIONICO second progress meeting, August 2016, Sonning Common, UK .......................... 9

Highlights ................................................................................................................................. 10

Latest News: Around the world to make Bionico known

During summer, Bionico partners travelled for thousands of kilometers to disseminate the

BIONICO projects and its achievements in this first year. Posters, presentations, leaflets

and pens were used to increase the impact of the communication. Conference attendees

showed their interest in the project, looking forward for the pilot plant in Chamusca to be

ready and running. Still 18 months to go for the pilot plant to run. In the meanwhile, you

can keep up to date about the intermediate results on www.bionicoproject.eu and in the

membrane reactor linkedin group https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8513530



SDEWES_DiMarcoberardino_v0.pptx



Why BIONICO?

In the first year of the project, two reference cases are identified to benchmark the

performance of the BIONICO concept. The first case is based on a steam-methane

reformer (SMR) reactor, while the second one on an autothermal reformer (ATR). These

two cases reflect the state of the art of hydrogen production from biogas, being the steam

methane reformer the most diffused configuration. Both cases are based on the same

layout consisting of a reforming section (either steam or autothermal reformer), two water

gas shift reactors and a pressure swing adsorption system. The systems are designed for a

hydrogen production of 100 kg/day with a purity of 4.0 (99.99%).

After defining the layout of the two selected configurations, the operating conditions are

determined to maximize the system efficiency. The main performance indexes, which are

consistent with literature data, are reported in Table 1.

Table 1 Main results for the two benchmark technologies1

Results units SMR ATR

Biogas feed Nm3/h 35.7+14.6 47.0

Total Biogas Input kW 221 207

System efficiency %LHV 59.2 55.4

Hydrogen delivery pressure bar 13.3 13.3

Equipment costs €*h/Nm3 14520 12342

Hydrogen production cost €/Nm3 0.408 0.398

The target of BIONICO is a system efficiency above 70%LHV, which is about 20% higher than

SMR. The higher efficiency together with equipment savings will end up in lower hydrogen

production costs making more competitive with respect to conventional processes.

The concept

Biogas production in EU28 is expected to enjoy a remarkable growth in the next

decades, increasing the production up to 40 Mtoe in 2020. Biogas, which mainly consists of

methane and carbon dioxide, can be upgraded to biomethane by CO2 separation.

Hydrogen production from biogas is even more complex since it can have variable gas

compositions depending on primary matter sources. In addition, traditional conversion

technologies are energy and capital intensive as several process steps are involved.

Consequently, there is a need for shifting from traditional conversion technologies to a

novel and flexible technology.

The BIONICO project proposes an integral solution throughout the whole building value

chain. By using the novel intensified reactor, direct conversion of biogas can be achieved in

a single step producing and separating pure hydrogen in situ, which results in an increase

of the overall efficiency and strong decrease of volumes and auxiliary heat management

units. This will guarantee a higher efficiency in the conversion of biogas and a higher

penetration of this fuel into the market.

1 D2.2: Definition of the reference case http://www.bionicoproject.eu/dissemination/deliverables


http://www.bionicoproject.eu/dissemination/deliverables



Project objectives

The BIONICO project will develop, build and demonstrate a novel reactor concept

integrating H2 production and separation in a single vessel in a biogas production plant.

The hydrogen production capacity will be of 100 kg/day. In particular, by integrating the

separation of hydrogen in situ during the reforming reaction, the methane in the biogas

will be converted to hydrogen at a much lower temperature compared with a conventional

reforming system. The adoption of a membrane reactor (MR) can improve the conversion

efficiency due to combining the biogas conversion to hydrogen and its separation in one

single reactor. MR has advantages in terms of costs because the equipment is reduced and

also because of the lower maximum temperature: cheaper materials can be adopted.

Additionally, the reactor will be integrated with an advanced control system such that the

flexibility of the system towards several parameters (temperature, pressure, flow rates,

etc.) is improved. Dedicated tests with different biogas compositions will be carried out to

show the flexibility of the process with respect to feedstock types.

P-1

H2Oreaction

air+H2Oreaction

CMPNG

Retentate

Exhaust

waterrec.

H2

EUNG

CMPair

AirATR

Sep

ATR-MR

Sep

Burner

HX-4HX-2

Airbrn

HX-0

HX-1

Vac.P.

Figure 1 Schematic BIONICO layout

Compared with any other MR projects in the past, BIONICO will demonstrate the MR at

a much larger scale, so that more than 100 membranes will be implemented in a fluidized

bed MR, making BIONICO’s concept a real demonstration unit, paving the way towards a

market exploitation of the reactor concept.




Partnership

In order to achieve maximum impacts

on the European industry, the BIONICO

consortium gathers 8 organisations from 7

countries including top level European

Research Institutes, Universities (3 RES) and

representative top industries (1 SME and 3

IND) in different sectors. The consortium

brings together multidisciplinary expertise

of catalysts synthesis, membranes

development, chemical and process

engineering development and construction

of turn-key solution in the energy sector

including operation and maintenance (i.e.

biogas recovery plants design, other energy

plants), modelling and simulation, LCA and

industrial risk study.

Project structure

The project scheduled work plan includes activities related to the whole system design,

construction and prototype demonstration. It is broken down in nine work packages

covering three years of work following the focus of the development of a flexible biogas

gas membrane reformer to provide pure hydrogen. BIONICO also takes advantage of the

previous FP7/JU projects carried out by the partners, thus the technical work packages are

limited and focused to the optimization and scale up production of the components for the

final membrane reformer.




A life with membranes

by Ekain Fernandez

My name is Ekain and I’m researcher at the Membrane Technology

department at TECNALIA (San Sebastian, Spain). Within BIONICO project

I’m developing thin Pd-based membranes for their use in membrane

reactors for biogas reforming and also leading the Work Package of

Membranes.

When I finished my chemical engineering degree at the Engineering School at Bilbao, I

obtained a grant for working on membranes at TECNALIA (former INASMET-TECNALIA). It

has been nine years since that time and I learned a lot from many people and different

experiences.

In the beginning, I started preparing few amount of very short tubular Pd-based supported

membranes of max. 5-10 cm long. After being involved in some European projects

(DEMCAMER, REFORCELL, FERRET, FLUIDCELL), now in BIONICO project our objective is to

manufacture more than 100 membranes of 50 cm length together with RAUSCHERT that

will provide the supports. This means a quantum leap in the scale up and Technology

Readiness Level of the membranes. In that initial period, I also worked on polymeric

membrane preparation for a short time and learned the fundamentals on membranes for

gas separation (e.g. transport phenomena).

Almost 5 years ago, a big change in my career occurred: I started my PhD on palladium

membranes for membrane reactors at TU/e that I have defended this June under the

supervision of Prof. Martin van Sint Annaland and Dr. Fausto Gallucci from TU/e and Dr.

Alfredo Pacheco Tanaka from TECNALIA. The nice collaboration that we have had with TU/e

during the last years has been essential for my growth on this topic and on improving my

skills on research and project management.

After many efforts and collaborations with other project partners we have scaled up the

membranes and improved the sealing for their use in membrane reactors for hydrogen

production. In these years we moved from fundamental research to applied research with

the aim of introducing the palladium membrane technology into the market.

During this years and trip, I learned to take special care at small details since we are

targeting almost pure hydrogen at very high fluxes. In addition, other aspects that in the

beginning seemed less important turned crucial. For example, a key issue for integrating

these membranes in reactors is the sealing as Niek de Nooijer already explained very well

in the BIONICO’s 1st newsletter.

After these years, I believe that the collaboration is the key point for the success in any

discipline. Thus, we are open to collaborate with new partners for bringing the membrane

technology closer to the market and fulfill industrial needs.




BIONICO in progress

The latest news on the different WP activities are reported:

Novel catalyst and supported membranes for Biogas Reforming

process

JM are developing novel, highly active reforming catalysts designed to convert biogas

into syngas. To improve reactor performance at the relatively low temperatures used in the

system, a catalyst has been developed which can operate under dry, steam or autothermal

reforming conditions. Catalyst interaction with the membrane reactor tubes has been

investigated by TU/e and reaction kinetic information by AH.

RAUSCHERT is developing new finger-like porous asymmetric ceramic supports in which

one of the ends of the tube is a closed porous part. In this sense, only one seal based on

Swagelok-graphite will be needed compared to the two seals needed for conventional both

open-end tubular supported Pd-based membranes for their integration in the reactor.

Thus, the probability for leaks through seals will be reduced as well as the cost of one

Swagelok will be saved. Thin Pd-Ag layers have been deposited at TECNALIA onto the first

50 cm long finger-like supports (see Figure 2). The stability of the finger-like supported

membranes will be evaluated at TU/e under the operating conditions (fluidization regime,

temperature, etc.).




Figure 2 Ceramic supported (finger-like) Pd-Ag membranes (length: 50 cm long, 14/7 mm

outer/inner diameter).

Lab-scale reformer development

TUE is testing the stability and performance of the membranes and catalyst delivered by

TECNALIA and JM. The membranes are tested in pure gas conditions such as nitrogen,

hydrogen and mixtures containing CO or H2S. After these test the membranes are

immersed in a fluidized bed containing the catalyst of JM. The membrane in contact with

the catalyst shows stable performance regarding the hydrogen permeance. However the

fluidization results in a decrease of selectivity due to the increase of leakage. The next goal

is to identify the critical points of operation for this increase in leakage. Knowing this

critical point will allow for better selection of the operation conditions to ensure a longer

durability of the membranes. In parallel the catalyst reaction kinetics are being obtained to

include in the model, which will later can describe the lab scale reactor.

Life cycle assessment

Quantis has refined goal & scope of this studies, in particularly, with further

clarifications with regard to reference systems, level of details of inventory modelling and

system boundaries, i.e., cradle to gate, as shown in Figure 3. Furthermore, data collection is

improved for key data points, such as biogas input, conversion efficiency, energy and water

use related to conversion processes.

Figure 3 Life cycle assessment modelling and system boundaries.




The first preliminary LCA results demonstrated that the BIONICO CMR technology might

be potentially environmentally preferable than reference technology systems (i.e., SMR and

ATR for all indicators (climate change, human health, water use, resources and ecosystem

quality) under conditions examined in this study; however, the conclusion and validity

need to be further examined under refined data quality, assumptions and scenarios.

BIONICO second progress meeting, August 2016, Sonning

Common, UK

The second progress meeting of BIONICO was hosted by Johnson Matthey research

head quarter in Sonning Common. The partners presented the advancement status on

each work package and discussed aspects regarding coordination and distribution of short

term tasks. The assembly was decisive for the agreement on following dissemination

strategies and activities to implement during the next months.




Highlights

Workshop on Membrane Reactors: SAVE THE DATE!

On 9 and 10 March 2017, the Third European Workshop

on Membrane Reactors will be held in Italy. The first

workshop was organised back in November 2012 (Italy) and

was entitled “Pd-based membranes and reactor scale-up”. The

second workshop, “Catalytic Membrane Reactors: what’s next”

was held in April 2015 in the Netherlands. More information

on these two events is available from the CARENA website.

This third one is jointly organised by ROMEO, MEMERE,

Fluidcell, Bionico, and Ferret, 5 major European projects on

membrane reactors.

During these two days, there will be presentations on fundamental membrane-related

science, process design and applications, industrial applications. There will also be a poster

session and a company visit. More information will be provided on our website so watch

that space and save the date for what promises to be a very fruitful workshop!

Just like ROMEO, MEMERE is a EU Horizon 2020 - SPIRE-05-2015 project. Bionico is a EU

Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme Hydrogen Europe and N.ERGHY.

Fluidcell and Ferret are projects supported by the European Union’s Seventh Framework

Programme for the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Technology Initiative.

Dissemination activities, publications and presentations:

BIONICO public presentation available on the website

http://www.bionicoproject.eu/dissemination/presentations

M. Binotti, G. Di Marcoberardino, G. Manzolini, F. Gallucci, N. Ibanez Lirio, Biogas

membrane reformer for decentralized H2 production, European Biogas Association

Conference (EBA 2016), 27-29 September 2016, Ghent, Belgium.

G. Di Marcoberardino, M. Binotti, G. Manzolini, J. L. Viviente, F. Gallucci, L. Roses, N.

Ibanez Lirio, Achievements of EU projects on membrane reactor for hydrogen

production, 11th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and

Environment Systems (SDEWES 2016), 4-9 September 2016, Lisbon, Portugal.

D.A. Pacheco Tanaka, E. Fernandez, J. Melendez, A. Arratibel, A. Helmi, J.A. Medrano, N.

Nooijer, K. Coenen, V. Spallina, J.L. Viviente, J. Zuñiga, M. van Sint Annaland, F. Gallucci,

Fluidized bed membrane reactors for hydrogen production using thin Pd-based (< 5

μm) supported membranes, 14th International Conference on Inorganic Membranes

(ICIM 2016), 10-13 July 2016, Atlanta, USA.

N.C.A. de Nooijer, J. Melendez, K. Coenen, E. Fernandez, F. Gallucci, M. van Sint

Annaland, P.L. Arias, D.A. Pacheco Tanaka, Effect of the addition of Au in Pd-Ag alloy


http://www.bionicoproject.eu/dissemination/presentations



membranes on the hydrogen permeation performance under the presence of H2S,

14th International Conference on Inorganic Membranes (ICIM 2016), 10-13 July 2016,

Atlanta, USA.

J. Meléndez, D. A. Pacheco Tanaka, A. Arratibel, N. de Nooijer, E. Fernandez, M. van Sint

Annaland, P. L. Arias, F. Gallucci, Preparation and characterization of thin Pd-Ag-Au

supported membranes for hydrogen separation, European Membrane Society Summer

School on "Membranes and Membrane Processes Design”, 26 June – 1 July 2016,

Bertinoro, Italy.

N.C.A. de Nooijer, J. Melendez, E. Fernandez, D.A. Pacheco Tanaka, M. van Sint

Annaland, F. Gallucci, Steam reforming of biogas in a fluidized bed membrane reactor

for pure hydrogen production, Dutch membrane society Jubilieum posterday, June

2016, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands.

E. Fernandez, A. Helmi, J. A. Medrano, K. Coenen, A. Arratibel, J. Melendez, N. de

Nooijer, V. Spallina, J. L. Viviente, J. Zuñiga, M. van Sint Annaland, D.A. Pacheco Tanaka,

F. Gallucci, Palladium based membranes and membrane reactors for hydrogen

production and purification, 21st World Hydrogen Energy Conference (WHEC 2016), 13-

16 June 2016, Zaragoza, Spain.

M. Binotti, G. Di Marcoberardino, Biogas membrane reformer for decentralized H2

production, 21st World Hydrogen Energy Conference (WHEC 2016), 13-16 June 2016,

Zaragoza, Spain.

A picture from the WHEC conference in Zaragoza




Upcoming events:

18 – 20 October 2016 9th EFIB, The European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology and

the Bioeconomy, Glasgow, Scotland

http://www.efibforum.com/

2 – 3 November 2016 16th Aachener Membran Kolloquium, Aachen, Germany

http://www.avt.rwth-aachen.de/AMK/

5 – 8 December 2016 9th IMSTEC, International Membrane Science and Technology

Conference, Adelaide Convention Centre, Australia

http://www.imstec.com.au/

29 – 30 December 2016 18th ICCB 2016, International Conference on Biofuels and

Bioenergy, Paris, France

https://www.waset.org/conference/2016/12/paris/ICBB/home

31 January – 2 February 2017

7th International Conference on ”Fundamentals & Development

of Fuel Cells, Stuttgart, Germany

http://www.nerghy.eu/

24 February 2017 Biogas Italy 2017, Rome, Italy

http://www.biogasitaly.com/

10 – 11 May 2017 4th REGATEC 2017, International Conference on Renewable

Energy Gas Technology, Italy

http://regatec.org/

12 – 15 June 2017 25th EUBCE 2017, European Biomass Conference & Exhibition,

Stockholm, Sweden

http://www.eubce.com/home.html

2 – 5 July 2017 7th WHTC World Hydrogen Technologies Convention, Prague,

Czech Republic

http://www.whtcprague2017.cz/

10 – 13 July 2017 13th ICCMR, International Conference on Catalysis in Membrane

Reactors, Houston, USA

http://iccmr.tamu.edu/


http://www.efibforum.com/

http://www.avt.rwth-aachen.de/AMK/

http://www.imstec.com.au/

https://www.waset.org/conference/2016/12/paris/ICBB/home

http://www.nerghy.eu/

http://www.biogasitaly.com/

http://regatec.org/

http://www.eubce.com/home.html

http://www.whtcprague2017.cz/

http://iccmr.tamu.edu/



More information on BIONICO available at the project website:

http://www.bionicoproject.eu

Acknowledgements:

The BIONICO project has received funding from the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint

Undertaking under grant agreement No 671459. This Joint Undertaking receives support

from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and Italy,

Spain, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland.

Disclosure: The present document reflects only the author’s views, and neither the FCH-

JU nor the European Union is liable for any use that may be made of the information

contained therein.

BIONICO in figures:

8 partners (3 RES, 3 IND, 2 SME)

7 countries

3.4 M€ project

Start September 2015

Duration: 36 months

Key Milestones:

February 2017 – Validation of lab-scale reactor

December 2017 – Pilot scale prototype ready

February 2018 – System integrated at biogas

producer facility

September 2018 – Validation of the pilot plant

Project manager:

Dr. Marco Binotti

Politecnico di Milano

[email protected]

Technical manager:

Dr. Fausto Gallucci

TU/e

[email protected]

Dissemination manager:

Dr. Gioele Di Marcoberardino


[email protected]

Exploitation manager:

Dr. Noelia Ibáñez Lirio

Abengoa Idrogeno

[email protected]



mailto:[email protected]



../Dropbox/BIONICO/Deliverables/WP9%20-%20AH,POLIMI/Newsletter/[email protected]

www.bionicoproject.eu BIONICO brochure

Biogas membrane reformer for decentralized hydrogen

production

Summary: The BIONICO project will develop, build and demonstrate a

novel reactor concept integrating H2 production and

separation in a single vessel in a biogas production plant. The

hydrogen production capacity will be of 100 kg/day. By using

the novel intensified reactor, direct conversion of biogas to

pure hydrogen is achieved in a single step, which results in an

increase of the overall efficiency and strong decrease of

volumes and auxiliary heat management units.

A membrane assisted fluidized bed reactor for biogas

reforming will be designed and tested. Novel high flux

membranes supplied and novel catalysts will be assembled in

the reactor: particular attention will be devoted to the design

in order to avoid problems due to membrane vibration and

to improve the bubble breckage and thus reduce fuel slip

through the bubble phase. The control of the reformer will be

developed as integral part of the reactor, to achieve full

flexibility of the system. The experimental work carried out

on the reactor will also validate the models to be used for the

scale-up of the system. Finally, the final prototype of

membrane reactor will be designed, constructed and tested

in a facility where biogas is produced.

Contact: Dr. Marco Binotti


[email protected]



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