Electromethanogenesis for the conversion of hydrothermal carbonization exhaust gases into methane

Guillermo Pelaz, Judith González-Arias, Raúl Mateos and Adrián Escapa

Renewable Energy, 2023, vol. 216, issue C

Abstract: Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is a biomass conversion process that generates a CO2-rich gaseous phase that is commonly released directly into the atmosphere. Microbial electromethanogeneis (EM) can potentially use this off-gas to convert the residual CO2 into CH4, thus avoiding GHG emissions while adding extra value to the overall bioprocess. In the present work, the HTC gas phase was fed to two mixed-culture biocathodes (replicates) polarized at −1.0V vs. Ag/AgCl. Compared to pure CO2, HTC gas had a marked negative effect on the process, decreasing current density by 61%, while maximum CH₄ yield contracted up to 50%. HTC also had an unequal impact on the cathodic microbial communities, with the methanogenic hydrogenotrophic archaea Methanobacteriaceae experiencing the largest decline. Despite that, the present study demonstrates that HTC can be used in EM as a raw material to produce a biogas with a methane content of up to 70%.

Keywords: Bioelectrochemical systems; Electromethanogenesis; Hydrothermal carbonization; Biocathode; Waste gas; Power-to-gas (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148123009618
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:216:y:2023:i:c:s0960148123009618

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2023.119047

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().