Title: A novel photobioreactor system for hydrogen sulphide biogas clean-up

Authors: Elena De Luca; Floriana Fiocchetti; Silvia Rosa; Andrea Aliboni; Luigia Lona; Natale Corsaro; Claudio Felici

Addresses: ENEA National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Via Anguillarese, 301 00123 Rome, Italy ' ENEA National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Via Anguillarese, 301 00123 Rome, Italy ' ENEA National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Via Anguillarese, 301 00123 Rome, Italy ' ENEA National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Via Anguillarese, 301 00123 Rome, Italy ' ENEA National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Via Anguillarese, 301 00123 Rome, Italy; Department of Economic Development, Largo dell'Università, Università della Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy ' ENEA National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Via Anguillarese, 301 00123 Rome, Italy ' ENEA National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Via Anguillarese, 301 00123 Rome, Italy

Abstract: Hydrogen sulphide (H₂S) is a toxic and corrosive gas. Its removal from biogas is important to obtain valuable biomethane. A novel photobioreactor (PBR) has been conceived where the bacterium Chlorobium limicola converts H₂S in elemental sulphur through an anoxigenic photosynthetic process. This system has proven to be stable over time. Quantitative clean-up was achieved in tests with artificial biogas with high concentration of H₂S. Molecular analysis was used to check the stability of the culture under non-sterile conditions. This analysis has shown the presence of a strain belonging to Epsilonproteobacteria that does not affect the efficiency of the process. An aliquot of this bacterial culture was sampled and used as inoculum in a second experiment where the PBR was installed downstream of an anaerobic digestion plant. The efficiency of H₂S removal was around 90% and the bacterial consortium remained stable. [Received: January 14, 2016; Accepted: April 24, 2016]

Keywords: biogas clean-up; H2S removal; photobioreactors; PBR; hydrogen sulphide; Chlorobium limcola; LED; green sulphur bacteria; GSB; biomethane; sulphur; anoxigenic photosynthesis; anaerobic digestion plant.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOGCT.2017.081100

International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology, 2017 Vol.14 No.1/2, pp.62 - 76

Received: 14 Jan 2016
Accepted: 24 Apr 2016
Published online: 21 Dec 2016 *

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