BIOGAS UPGRADING TECHNOLOGIES AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS
Authors: Kramar V.G. 
Published: February 2025

Recently, in Ukraine, the interest of biomethane producers in the implementation of biogas upgrading technologies for supply of biomethane to the natural gas network is growing. The purpose of this article is to inform industry specialists about the main existing biogas upgrading technologies and their technical and economic characteristics, comparing their strengths and weaknesses. There is a rapid increase in the use of membrane separation in Europe, which has become the main method of biogas purification at new enterprises in recent years. In general, the given data show that there is no significant difference in investment costs between different biogas upgrading technologies (except cryogenic separation technology, which is significantly more expensive). In addition, the power consumption is quite similar for different technologies. Therefore, when choosing a biogas upgrading technology, it is important to consider other aspects, in particular, its origin (biogas, landfill gas) and raw materials used (agricultural waste, solid household waste), the presence of certain impurities in the composition of biogas and the ability of various technologies to remove them, special requirements for the quality of biomethane, the need to prevent its emissions into the atmosphere, implementation conditions (availability of production space, water supply, chemical reagents), the required pressure of biomethane at the outlet of the installation, etc. The rather wide ranges of technological indicators found in the literature, especially regarding such key parameters as the purity of the obtained biomethane, the specific use of electrical energy, show the need to analyze the specific proposals of suppliers of biogas upgrading technologies and compare the values of the indicators guaranteed by suppliers at application of their equipment.
Recently, in Ukraine, the interest of biomethane producers in the implementation of biogas upgrading technologies for supply of biomethane to the natural gas network is growing. The purpose of this article is to inform industry specialists about the main existing biogas upgrading technologies and their technical and economic characteristics, comparing their strengths and weaknesses. There is a rapid increase in the use of membrane separation in Europe, which has become the main method of biogas purification at new enterprises in recent years. In general, the given data show that there is no significant difference in investment costs between different biogas upgrading technologies (except cryogenic separation technology, which is significantly more expensive). In addition, the power consumption is quite similar for different technologies. Therefore, when choosing a biogas upgrading technology, it is important to consider other aspects, in particular, its origin (biogas, landfill gas) and raw materials used (agricultural waste, solid household waste), the presence of certain impurities in the composition of biogas and the ability of various technologies to remove them, special requirements for the quality of biomethane, the need to prevent its emissions into the atmosphere, implementation conditions (availability of production space, water supply, chemical reagents), the required pressure of biomethane at the outlet of the installation, etc. The rather wide ranges of technological indicators found in the literature, especially regarding such key parameters as the purity of the obtained biomethane, the specific use of electrical energy, show the need to analyze the specific proposals of suppliers of biogas upgrading technologies and compare the values of the indicators guaranteed by suppliers at application of their equipment.