Biogas upgrading – Review of commercial technologies - SGC

SGC Rapport 2013:270
rapidly driven by customer demand and supporting government policies. Compared
to the CNG business, the infrastructure is less disperse, with each terminal
handling larger volumes distributed to fewer customers. The use of LBG for heavy
road transports is an interesting future application, considering the gas quality requirements
that many current and future engine technologies demand in order to
reach performance on par with diesel. But as concluded before, the production will
for several more years continue to be only marginal.
Biogas production is increasing, in Sweden and globally, and the interest for biogas
upgrading to utilize the gas as vehicle fuel or in other traditional natural gas
applications increases as well. The mature technologies will see a market with
more and harder competition as new upgrading technologies such as membrane
separation are established, and other technologies optimize the processes to decrease
operation costs. Important issues for the future development of the biogas
market relate to the implementation of new policy instruments. The work with the
new European standard requirements for gas distributed through the existing gas
grids is one issue that possibly can have a large effect on possibilities for distribution
of upgraded biogas. However, the future will most probably be fuelled by an
increasing amount of upgraded biogas.
Svenskt Gastekniskt Center AB, Malmö – www.sgc.se 71