Carbon Capture & Utilization via Power-to-Gas
Our breakthrough innovation enables to cost-effectively integrate two innovative technologies, carbon capture and power-to-gas to enhance decarbonization and renewable energy integration.
By producing green H2 and clean synthetic natural gas (SNG) from the CO2 content of the flue gas, SNG with H2 blend can be used, e.g., for low-carbon heating. Besides, the method of our integration leads to further benefits compared to the existing solutions.
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New ways of renewable energy conversion and integration
Building biological methanation on flue gas use at industrial sites -
Rethinking decarbonization
Using the captured CO2 in a P2G process based on renewable energy. -
Value from waste
Generating a valuable end-product (SNG) from waste (CO2), thus improving financial performance of the system.
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Cost reduction
Abandoning the desorption / stripper phase of the CCU process unlike already known post-combustion systems, thus it reduces costs of CCU deployment. -
Efficiency and circularity
Reusing of metabolic waste of the process, which improves operational efficiency, circularity, and environmental performance.
These highly beneficial CCU attributes are based on our protected intellectual property and demonstrated by our prototype which is located at Vértes Power Plant, Hungary.
Power-to-Gas with Biological Methanation
Selectively evolved microorganism
Our integrated prototype implements a process which converts low-cost and stranded electricity and carbon dioxide into pipeline-grade renewable gas for direct injection into the existing natural gas grid. The core of our power-to-gas system uses a selectively evolved microorganism - a methanogenic archaea - that excels through unprecedented catalytic ability and industrial robustness. These archaea exhibit several unique properties including high mass conversion efficiency, tolerance to many contaminants typically found in industrial CO2-sources (oxygen, hydrogen sulfide, particulates), high selectivity in methane production, and very fast reaction kinetics, that enable scale up to commercial application. Consequently, biological methanation could be a key solution to satisfy the growing need for SNG production.
(source: Böhm et al., 20201)
1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.114780
CO2 conversion with mixed cultures
We are also running tests with mixed microbial community which could be sourced from fermentation effluent of biogas plants, pretreated, and enriched for high CO2 conversion. Prior results showed that even 95% CH4 could be achieved in the product gas by using mixed cultures.
Based on our CCU expertise and experiences with different biomethanation technologies, we aim to implement larger grid-scale plants based on flue gas utilization to accelerate decarbonization and hydrogen economy development together with our industrial partners. Our research suggests that this integration will enable us to turn P2M into a disruptive innovation from a value innovation.
(source: Pörzse et al., 20212)
2 https://doi.org/10.3390/en14082297