Glycerin as a biogas feedstock
Quicknote bioenergy technology
As biodiesel production keeps increasing rapidly, a vast stream of glycerin - the fuel's main byproduct - is flooding the market. The search has been on to use this resource in the most efficient way. In its pure form, glycerin (also known as glycerol) has many uses in hundreds of products (from drugs over personal care products to its use in the food and beverages industry). But separating the glycerin from the residues of toxic methanol, soap and lye catalysts with which it is mixed during the transesterification process, remains costly. Moreover, the price for pharma-grade glycerin would collapse if all biodiesel producers were to invest in making it.
Belgian biogas firm Organic Waste Systems (OWS), rapidly becoming a global player, now announces [*Dutch] that it is taking an alternative route. OWS building a methane digester system that will use the crude glycerin coming from a large biodiesel producer who will use the resulting biogas to power its own plant. Such an integrated, closed loop system has many benefits and makes the biodiesel production process greener (some have criticized the fact that biofuel plants still rely on fossil fuels for power, and that, in this sense, they aren't "green"). Glycerin is reported to increase biogas yields considerably, provided the right microbial populations are used.
OWS has ties to the Ghent Bioenergy Valley, an R&D hub in Belgium aiming to become a leading producer of biofuels and bioproducts for the European and world markets (earlier post). At the site, biodiesel producer Bioro, whose plant has a capacity of 200,000 tons, is expected to deliver enough glycerin to power its own operations with the biogas that results from anaerobically digesting the byproduct.
In Germany, OWS is building large biogas digesters that will use energy maize (and yield up to 2.3 million m³ of green gas), whereas in Japan it is building digesters that will ferment household and municipal waste. The latter kind of systems formed OWS's main success stories and propelled it into conquering a global market, with its 70,000 ton organic household waste digester in Brecht, near Antwerp, being the largest of its kind in Europe. (Picture shows biodiesel floating on top of glycerin) [entry ends here].
biodiesel :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: glycerin :: biogas :: Ghent Bioenergy Valley :: Belgium ::
As biodiesel production keeps increasing rapidly, a vast stream of glycerin - the fuel's main byproduct - is flooding the market. The search has been on to use this resource in the most efficient way. In its pure form, glycerin (also known as glycerol) has many uses in hundreds of products (from drugs over personal care products to its use in the food and beverages industry). But separating the glycerin from the residues of toxic methanol, soap and lye catalysts with which it is mixed during the transesterification process, remains costly. Moreover, the price for pharma-grade glycerin would collapse if all biodiesel producers were to invest in making it.
Belgian biogas firm Organic Waste Systems (OWS), rapidly becoming a global player, now announces [*Dutch] that it is taking an alternative route. OWS building a methane digester system that will use the crude glycerin coming from a large biodiesel producer who will use the resulting biogas to power its own plant. Such an integrated, closed loop system has many benefits and makes the biodiesel production process greener (some have criticized the fact that biofuel plants still rely on fossil fuels for power, and that, in this sense, they aren't "green"). Glycerin is reported to increase biogas yields considerably, provided the right microbial populations are used.
OWS has ties to the Ghent Bioenergy Valley, an R&D hub in Belgium aiming to become a leading producer of biofuels and bioproducts for the European and world markets (earlier post). At the site, biodiesel producer Bioro, whose plant has a capacity of 200,000 tons, is expected to deliver enough glycerin to power its own operations with the biogas that results from anaerobically digesting the byproduct.
In Germany, OWS is building large biogas digesters that will use energy maize (and yield up to 2.3 million m³ of green gas), whereas in Japan it is building digesters that will ferment household and municipal waste. The latter kind of systems formed OWS's main success stories and propelled it into conquering a global market, with its 70,000 ton organic household waste digester in Brecht, near Antwerp, being the largest of its kind in Europe. (Picture shows biodiesel floating on top of glycerin) [entry ends here].
biodiesel :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: glycerin :: biogas :: Ghent Bioenergy Valley :: Belgium ::
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