Traffic Biogas Utilization in Finland Teemu Aittamaa 27.8.2014
Content of the presentation 1) Biogas Production in Finland 2) Traffic biogas & filling stations 3) Biogas upgrading in Finland 4) Credits & Contacts
Biogas Production in Finland by numbers End of 2013: Total amount of 95 biogas production plants 42 Landfill gasplants 53 Reactor plants
Finnish Biogas Production by numbers All together, the previous sources will provide a biogas production of 0,7 TWh Utilized 0,6TWh (1% of domestically produced renewable energy) The utilization rate has an annual growth of 10% Growth of utilization from reactor plants only Landfill gas utilization has decreased slightly (2011-2012)
Utilization of produced biogas (2011) Out of the utilized 600GWh, This is the focus of the presentation
[GWh] CBG Capacity & traffic consumption in Finland 80 70 Consumption Capacity 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2013 & 2014 figures based on estimations
[Amount] Biogas upgrading, stations & gas vehicles 25 20 Upgrading plants Public CBG stations CMG vehicles (x1000) 15 10 5 0 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2013 & 2014 figures based on estimations
Biogas filling stations in Finland 21 public biogas filling stations They all sell compressed biogas (CBG) 17 sell CNG as well (Gasum) In addition to 21 stations, 2 stations only offer CNG Home filling or private stations not incl. CBG marker stands for existing station Star stands for planned CBG station EU: By 2020, filling station to be found every 150km Would require 3 stations from Tornio to Nuorgam Would require implementation of most of planned stations plus 20 or more stations across the country, mostly in non-populated areas. Existing stations serve ~50% of the population
6 1 Gas Grid (Gasum) 5 4 3 Among 21 public stations, 6 companies sell biogas 1: Metener 2: Gasum 3: Haminan Energia 4: Envor Biotech 5: Joutsan Ekokaasu 6: Jeppo Biogas (Open 9/2014)
Biogas upgrading in Finland 6 4 1 2 5 1: Metener 2: Gasum 2 scrubbing units High pressure water scrubbing 17 stations (gas grid) 3 scrubbing units Espoo, Lahti, Kouvola Water scrubbing 4: Envor Biotech Membrane cleaning 5: Joutsan Ekokaasu High pressure water scrubbing 6: Jeppo Biogas (Open 9/2014) Water scrubbing
Challenge for traffic biogas growth 6 different companies selling biogas with 3 different payment standards: Credit card only Jeppo Biogas Haminan Energia Joutsan Ekokaasu Private billing card only Envor Biotech Gasum (17 stations) Cash or private billing card only Metener Creating one payment standard would ease the transaction and boost the business
Biogas upgrading in Finland Metener Gasum Envor Biotech Joutsan Ekokaasu Jeppo Biogas
Biogas plant based on a old family farm which later enlarged to technology company Metener Biogas has been upgraded to vehicle fuel since 2002 (Oldest in Finland) 2014 established 2nd scrubber in the same farm, with double the capacity, 2GWh Patented Metener biogas upgrading technology is an application of water scrubbing technology. The key difference to traditional scrubbers is the utilization of high pressure water in batch absorption columns. The advantages: Simplicity gained by combining the scrubbing and pressurization phases and compact size of the plant. The technology is most suitable in range of 30 100 m3 raw biogas per hour. Metener has supplied the upgrading technology to Joutsan Ekokaasu
High Pressure Water Scrubbing 1. Raw biogas is compressed to buffer storage where it flows to fill upgrading column completely, and then the gas flow is cut out. 2. Then column is filled with water by high pressure water pump and the carbon dioxide and sulfurous compounds are absorbed to water and simultaneously gas is pressurized to ~ 150 bar. 3. After scrubbing cycle the water is recycled to process after regeneration in flash and water regeneration tanks, and column is filled again with raw biogas and cycle begins again. There are two parallel columns operating in different phases, one filling and other emptying. Product gas is collected in pressure vessel and dehumified by absorbent, and is ready to be stored in intermediate pressure bottle banks or boostered by hydraulic compressor to high pressure bottle banks of refuelling station.
Gasum is the transmission system operator of the natural gas grid of Finland. The company imports and sells natural gas in Finland. Sells annually 33,2TWh of natural gas Offers 30-(80GWh) of biomethane from Espoo Suomenoja, Kouvola Mäkikylä & Lahti Labio Oy (9/2014) biogas plants Share of traffic biomethane out of todays 30GWh is confidential. Buys the biogas from biogas plants along the gas grid, upgrades and pressurizes the gas (30-40bar) before feeding it to the gas grid Sells the Espoo biomethane via grid to Haminan Energia (1/6 CBG sellers) All biogas upgrading by water scrubbing Kouvola: Greenlane (NZ) water scrubber Espoo & Lahti: Malmberg (SE) water scrubber
Given figures for all end uses of CBG
Water scrubbing main principle Picture from SGC
Biogas plant established in 2009 Biogas consumed either in local industry, own 2,8MW CHP, or filling station Biogas has been upgraded to vehicle fuel since 12/2013. Only company in Finland using the membrane cleaning technology Carbon dioxide (CO2) and Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) removed from the gas by selective molecular membrane Principle is based on different sizes of the molecules Capacity 1GWh Membranes can be delivered in same compact container as the filling station itself (next slide). Offers the commercial filling station for open markets.
Feed pressure to the membranes ~4bars After the membranes, gas is pressurized to 250bars and stored in gas tanks in the filling container Increasing the capacity done easily by increasing the amount of membrane units Production of the membranes can be somewhat increased by the feed pressure. Methane loss in cleaning rather small, less than 10%. 97-98% CH4 content after the membranes Maintenance free method for gas upgrading
Biogas plant started in 2013 Raw material mainly from 4 piggeries 12km of pipeline for incoming slurry After the digestion, the 350mbar biogas is dried (cooling) and either guided to CHP/local industry/flare OR to upgaring unit
Biogas Upgrading Upgrading method water scrubbing Upgraded gas pressurized to 250bars by Fornovo Gas Compressor Pressurized gas is stored in Luxfer container based gas tanks Each container has capacity of 5045 Nm3 of methane 250bar Fill time of individual container ~10hours Gas container either transported 40km to use of food industry OR in Jepua gas filling station Estimated traffic fuel sales 1-5GWh
End of the presentation Credits & Contacts Finnish biogas statistics: Ari Lampinen Metener: Erkki Kalmari Gasum: Olli Nevalainen Envor Biotech: Vesa Jaakkola Jeppo Biogas: Kurt Stenvall