Biogas upgrading with an advanced Biorefinery for CO2 conversion
The use of renewable energy sources is a major challenge for the coming decades. One way of meeting the growing demand for energy is to valorize waste. Among the various strategies currently developed, the recovery of biogas from anaerobic digestion plants appears to be a promising approach. Biogas is composed mainly of methane, but also of unused CO2 (around 40%). The project proposed here is to reform biogas using a renewable biohydrogen source to convert the remaining CO2 into pure CH4. We propose to set up a stand-alone advanced biorefinery that will combine photoproduction of hydrogen from waste (e.g.: lactoserum) by the bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus combined with the CO2 present in the biogas in a biomethanation unit containing a culture of Methanococcus maripaludis, a methanogenic archaea able to produce CH4 from CO2 and H2 only (according to the Sabatier reaction). The aim is to produce CH4 in an energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly way.