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Abstract
Background: This article provides information related to the occurrence of volatile organic compounds before and after biogas purification, by means of both aqueous amine solutions and ionic liquids. Results & discussion: Encouraging results were obtained. Under the experimental conditions, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ionic liquid appeared to perform at least two-times better than aqueous amines solutions, since it captured 65 wt% of the identified volatile organic compounds, while aqueous amine solutions retained around 35 wt% only. However, in the case of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane and dichlorobenzene, aqueous amine solutions rendered better purification performance and diminished the concentration of aforementioned compounds by a factor of five and ten, respectively. Conclusion: This paper sheds new light on ionic liquids as potential separation sorbents and contributes to the understanding of the complex science of biogas upgrading and utilization of renewable energy resources.
Acknowledgements
LM Kustov and EA Chernikova are acknowledged for a kind supply of the ionic liquids. The BIOvakka Oy is thanked for allowing sampling at their production facility. E Laine (BIOvakka Oy) is acknowledged for his contribution and providing the valuable information for the results evaluation.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
COST CM0903 (‘UBioChem’) and N-Inner are acknowledged for financial support. This work is part of the activities at the Åbo Akademi University Process Chemistry Centre within the Finnish Centre of Excellence Program (2000–2011) appointed by the Academy of Finland. Furthermore, the Akademi of Finland Sustainable Energy program, the Finnish Agency for Technology and Innovation and the Bio4Energy program are gratefully acknowledged for financial support. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.
Notes
WWTP: Wastewater treatment plant.