Bio Natural Gas from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) |Azhar Abdul Raof |SIRIM Berhad|

Biogas Asia Pacific Forum, June 2-4,2014

Content of my presentation

• Biogas conditioning and upgrading for vehicle application

• Recent progress on standard development for biogas production (Draft Malaysian Standard)

Energy & Environment Plant & Machinery

Medical Engineering

Technology development for energy generation &

energy storage and environmental solution

technologies

Comprehensive technology

application for plant and machine design

Development of bio medical devices, and drug delivery system

SIRIM in brief- S&Q and R&TD activities

Technology platform: 3 Flagships (Business units)

Staff strength : 2200 (700 staffs in R&TD )

Introduction

Oil Palm Industry -2013

• 5 million hectares • Fresh fruit bunch (FFB)

production - 100million MT • Crude Palm Oil (CPO)

Production- 19.2 Million • No of oil palm mills in

operation > 424 mills • Palm oil mill effluent (POME)

production-75million m3*

* 0.75m3-POME/FFB

Untreated POME causes water body pollution

Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) disposal is an

issues

1

Anaerobic digestion is the chosen solution and converts POME to BIOGAS and Fertilizer

2

Biogas is under utilised and most cases are released to atmosphere –GHG emission

3

-High BOD (25,000mg/l) and stringent discharge standard of BOD (<100mg/l)

- Almost all of the mills are using anaerobic pond or anaerobic digester tank

- Flaring and uncapture .Currently about 60 mills are capturing biogas

Biogas is co-firing in biomass boiler to produce heat and electricity- RM0.28/Nm3-BioNG*

The next problem to overcome is on capturing

value of biogas

1

Biogas is directly burn to generate electricity in gas engine-RM 1.24/Nm3-BioNG**

2

Biomethane : 97% CH4 (9.67kWh/Nm3), *PKS RM130/MT, CV 3900kcal/kg; ** Electrical efficiency 40%, FiT=RM0.338/kWH,*** RM0.68/LPE

Biogas is upgraded and used to displace vehicle fuel (Gasoline) - RM 2.10 /Nm3-BioNG***

3

Free up PKS and fibers

Limited access to power grid

Competing with subsidised natural gas selling at NGV station

BioNG-what is it?

Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME)

Manure

Anaerobic Digester

Food and Amenity waste

Energy crops and A gricultural waste

Digestate

Biogas

CH4 CO2

CH4

Power Grid Mobile Pipeline

Heat (Boiler)

BioNG

Transport Fuel

BioNG or Biomethane is derived from BIOGAS. BIOGAS is produced from anaerobic digestion of biowaste/crops by micro-organisms in a closed container without oxygen. Biogas can be processed to remove the carbon dioxide and impurities, producing BioNG. BioNG contains 95% or more METHANE; a renewable gas source for fuel displacement.

Why BioNG

• Diverse, abundant and self-supplying feedstock: POME, sewage sludge, municipal bio-waste, residues and crops from the agro-food sector

• Unique combination of low-carbon, low-emissions, low-noise transport

• Biogas production to improve environmental efficiency of waste treatment processes

• Upgraded biogas similar to natural gas: - CNG infrastructures and vehicles can be used - Upgraded biogas can be injected in and transported by the natural gas

pipelines

BioNG from POME

The project

BioNG project overview

• BioNG project was funded by Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) 2010-2013

• A collaborative research project between SIRIM and SIME Darby Research Sdn Bhd

• The main objective of the project was to capture and upgrade biogas to automotive grade fuel

Design data and biogas processing

Gas

conditioning

Adsorptive

H2S removal

CO2

Removal

Quality

Control

Buffer

storage tank

High Pressure

Compressor

BioNG

Filling Station

Design capacity: 600Nm3-BioNG/day (CH4>95%)

100Nm3/hr 50Nm3/hr

36Nm3/hr 20m3@10Bar

BioNG production plant

SIRIM-engineered technology for BioNG production

Moisture removal

CO2 removal (PSA)

H2S removal

Compression

SIRIM-engineered technology for BioNG production

Parameters Biogas BioNG Natural Gas *

CH4 (%) 69.3 95.9 92.73

Other hydrocarbon - - 4.99

CO2 (%) 24.1 2.7 1.83

O2 (%) 0.7 0.7 NA

N2 (%) 1.8 0.7 0.45

H2S (ppm) 1260 5 NA

Moisture Saturated NA NA

*Energy commission report 2006 NA: Data not available

Results

Technical specification of Biomethane (Europe)

Technical specification

Gas Specification

Parameter Petronas BioNG

Gross Heating Value (MJ/Sm3)

35.1-48.1 > 35

Specific Gravity <0.75 0.56

Dew Point @56 Barg (oC) 10 2.1

Total sulfur (mg/m3 ) <30 N.A

H2S (mg/m3 ) <5.7 <5.0

Inert Gas (mole%) <10 <5.0

Biomethane : GHV=39.2MJ/Sm3

Sm3: Standard volume at 15oC & 1 atm

N.A: not analysed

Biomethane fuel car

80 L-Water Capacity (115kg) Full tank = 16.172L

Consumption of BioNG in Bi-fuel (BioNG/Petrol) Vehicle

*http://www.ngvaeurope.eu/comparison-of-energy-contents-and-co2-emissions-from-different-fuels

BioNG fuel car travel 10.5km per Liter

or 1Nm3 BioNG=1.1 Litres petrol 1Nm3 NG=1.2 Litres petrol

Energy content of different fuels *

Fuel Energy (kWH)

1 Nm3 BioNG 9.67

1 Nm3 NG 11.0

1 Litre petrol 9.06

1 Litre diesel 9.8

HW : High way drive

Distance traveled in km

Potential users –Green Mobility for Plantation Sector

Raw Biogas BioNG

cost Upgrading Transportation = + +

• Biogas payments of RM12 /mmbtu * or are used internally to provide additional margin to mill owner- H2S< 500ppm

1 MMBtu 46Nm3-Biogas

30Nm3-

BioNG

RM40/

MMBtu**

* Selling price for PKS is RM150/MT **Market price is RM45-50/mmbtu ,subsidised is RM16/mmbtu Diesel is selling at RM80/MMbtu

Feasibility study-5000Nm3-BioNG/day

Challenges in BioNG production

• Competing with subsidised natural gas prices • Current incentive is too focus on electricity generation • High cost of biogas upgrading unit • No standard for BioNG quality • Logistics of compressed BioNG

Transport?????

Source of BioNG Off-generation site users

25

Logistic of BioNG

• Our mobile light weight tank system bridges this gap-(50% reduction)

• Our method enables the economic delivery of BioNG

• Accessibility (Off-road )

Biogas Production (2005) Pilot Scale RABR

Integrated BioNG Production, Logistic

and Utilisation

Demo Plant (East Sabah) 5000LDE/Day

Light-weight SIRIM composite fuel storage tank (Type IV)

In the past? Where are we now ?

Filament winding (2010) Composite CNG (Type III)

Biogas upgrading to BioNG Pilot Plant-500LDE/Day

What is next ?

2013 2015 2010

What is next?

Snapshot of the Biogas to BioNG process

Off Gas Power

Gas Engine

Biogas Cleaning System Biogas Upgrading System

3 Stage Compressor

Gas Transport Unit

Distribution

From Source

Fuel

Perspective view of the plant

Mobile Pipeline (Light Weight Composite Tank) Bio Natural Gas Plant

Draft MS for Biogas Plant

Draft MS for Biogas Plant

1. TECHNICAL COMMITTEE /WORKING GROUP The Draft MS was developed by the WG on Biogas 2.BACKGROUND AND BASIS -This MS applies to the installation of systems for the production, handling, storage and flaring of biogas in newly constructed biogas systems. For application using high pressure piping special consideration will be applied. -This standard applies to the safety aspects of the operation and maintenance for handling, storage, and utilisation of biogas in biogas systems. NOTE: This standard does not apply to a) input storages b)long-term digestate storages, and, c)pilot-scale and research digesters 3. PUBLIC COMMENT -Date of issue:01/02/2014 -Closing date for receipt of comment:01/4/2014 -Circulation: Internally to government Ministries Department and Agencies and relevant companies and interested parties, and externally to overseas national standard bodies 4. IMPLEMENTATION - ISC acceptance as final draft of MS meeting schedule on 26/06/2014 - Implementation is expected 4Q 2014

Acknowledgements

1. Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) 2. Sime Darby Plantation and Sime Darby Research Sdn Bhd 3. All team members.

Draft MS for Biogas Plant

…..….. questions please?

Thanks for your attention !

All information, is highly confidential and shall not in any manner be used or made known to any third party without the prior written permission of SIRIM Berhad