Economic evaluations of an innovative biogas upgrading method with CO2 storage

• An innovative carbon dioxide capture and storage process from biogas was designed and economically evaluated.
• The process uses APC (air pollution control) residues from waste-to-energy plants, realizing accelerated carbonation.
• The operation at very large scale was constrained for the high amount of required residues.
• The economic assessment was carried out with the aim of estimating the specific cost of treatment.
• The calculated specific upgrading cost is still too high with respect to the specific cost of conventional technologies.

The paper reports the preliminary design and the economic evaluation of an innovative carbon dioxide removal process from biogas, characterized by the capture and storage of the removed carbon dioxide. The studied process uses industrial residues for carbon dioxide capture and storage, through an accelerated carbonation process. The considered industrial residues are APC (air pollution control) residues from waste-to-energy plants, which are characterized by a high content of alkaline earth metals, calcium in particular, in the form of hydroxides, oxides or silicates. The carbon dioxide is removed from the biogas by alkali solution absorption. The spent solution, containing carbonate and bicarbonate ions is regenerated through reaction with calcium contained in the APC residues, forming calcium carbonate (APC carbonation) and reproducing – at least in part – the original alkali compound. A technical feasibility assessment of the method was carried out, based on pilot plant operation results, highlighting some constraints on the possibility of operating at very large scale, due to the high amount of required residues. Then a preliminary economic assessment of the method was carried out, with the aim of estimating the specific cost of treatment on appropriate industrial scale and comparing it with the costs of commercial methods.