More biogas from sewage sludge for Amsterdam
Environmental technology supplier DMT announced a design and engineering contract for a biogas upgrade installation at waste water treatment plant Amsterdam to process 2050Nm3/h of raw biogas from municipal sewage sludge.
The additional biogas production helps the city of Amsterdam to achieve its goal of natural gas-free by 2040.
Upgrading of raw biogas
Construction of the upgrade installation for wwtp operator Waternet started in April. It will purify, condition, compress and dry the raw biogas that is produced by the sludge digester so the final product, biomethane, meets the requirements for injection into the Dutch national gas grid. At the hearth of the upgrade process is the Carborex MS system that separates methane from carbon dioxide by the use of membrane technology.
The separation of methane and Carbon dioxide occurs through the difference in diffusivity. The molecular structure of carbon dioxide allows this molecule to pass through the polymer material faster than a molecule of methane does. The separation results in a carbon dioxide rich stream at the permeate side of the membrane and a methane-rich stream at the retentate side of the membrane.
Operator and trader
DMT offers its biogas upgrade installations to its customers as a Total Solutions Provider. According to Global sales & marketing director Francois Huberts at DMT the delivery to Waternet is a good example of this total package.
‘In this project we will take it even one step further, DMT is going to operate the Biogas Upgrading Plant for a minimum of ten years, the model is launched as an EPCMOT– Engineering, Procurement, Construct, Maintain, Operate and Trade. In this consortium, Orange gas will be responsible for the trading of the gas', says Francois Huberts, Global Sales & Marketing Director at DMT Environmental Technology.
Green gas into national grid
According to DMT the new system will upgrade 14,7 million m3 raw biogas into 9,7 million m3 upgraded biomethane, green gas. With its capacity to treat 1.0 million population equivalents, wwtp Amsterdam is the second largest municipal treatment plant in the Netherlands.
The expected biogas will supply about 10 percent of the total amount of green gas utilized by the national grid and will make wwtp-operator Waternet one of the biggest biomethane providers in the Netherlands.
