Selective Removal of Water Generated during Hydrogenotrophic Methanation from Culture Medium Using Membrane Distillation

Okkyoung Choi, MinJeong Kim, Youngwook Go, Moon-Gi Hong, Bomin Kim, Yonghyun Shin, Sangho Lee, Young Gook Kim, Ji Sun Joo, Byoung Seung Jeon and Byoung-In Sang
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Okkyoung Choi: Department of Chemical Engineering, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763, Korea
MinJeong Kim: Department of Chemical Engineering, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763, Korea
Youngwook Go: Department of Chemical Engineering, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763, Korea
Moon-Gi Hong: Department of Chemical Engineering, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763, Korea
Bomin Kim: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Kookmin University, 77 Jeongneung-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02707, Korea
Yonghyun Shin: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Kookmin University, 77 Jeongneung-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02707, Korea
Sangho Lee: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Kookmin University, 77 Jeongneung-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02707, Korea
Young Gook Kim: Korea Electric Power Research Institute, 105 Munji-ro, Yooseong-gu, Daejeon 34056, Korea
Ji Sun Joo: Korea Electric Power Research Institute, 105 Munji-ro, Yooseong-gu, Daejeon 34056, Korea
Byoung Seung Jeon: Center for Applied Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstraße 12, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
Byoung-In Sang: Department of Chemical Engineering, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763, Korea

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 21, 1-12

Abstract: Methane production was carried out in two different types of reactors using a thermophilic and hydrogenotrophic methanogen, Methanothermobacter sp. KEPCO-1, which converts hydrogen and carbon dioxide into methane at 60 °C. The two reactors used for methane production were stirred-tank reactor (ST) and a bubble column reactor (BC), which were selected because they can provide a good comparison between the medium agitation type and gas–liquid mass transfer. The specific growth rate of KEPCO-1 in the ST and BC was 0.03 h −1 and 0.07 h −1 , respectively. The methane conversion rate increased to 77.8 L/L/d in the ST and 19.8 L/L/d in the BC. To prevent the dilution of nutrients in the medium by the water generated during the hydrogenotrophic methanation reaction, a membrane distillation (MD) process was applied to selectively remove water from the culture medium. The MD process selectively removed only water from the medium. Fouling by KEPCO-1 had a negligible effect on flux and showed a high removal performance flux of 16.3 ± 3.1 L/m 2 /h. By operating the MD process in conjunction with the hydrogenotrophic methanation process, it is possible to prevent the dilution of the nutrients in the medium by the water generated during the methanation process, thereby maintaining stable microbial growth and methanation activity.

Keywords: power to gas; hydrogenotrophic methanogen; membrane distillation; methanation; membrane flux (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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