Biogas to liquefied biomethane via cryogenic upgrading technologies

In this paper, three natural gas low-temperature purification technologies have been modelled and their performances have been evaluated through an energy consumption analysis and a comparison with the amine washing process in terms of the equivalent amount of methane required for the upgrading, proving the profitability of cryogenic/low-temperature technologies. Specifically, the Ryan-Holmes, the dual pressure low-temperature distillation process and the anti-sublimation process have been considered. It has been found that the dual pressure low-temperature distillation scheme reaches the highest thermodynamic performances, resulting in the lowest equivalent methane requirement with respect to the other configurations.