Techno-economic assessment of enhanced Biogas&Power-to-SNG processes with high-temperature electrolysis integration

Abstract

Biogenic energy sources are essential elements of the decarbonization pathways, but are strongly constrained by the limited availability. In this context, Biogas&Power-to-X technologies are strongly supported as a promising solution to foster renewable power generation and drive sector coupling opportunities. This work investigates enhanced Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) production processes for the repurposing of biogas plants. As an alternative to combined heat and power applications via internal combustion engines, the Italian legislation is supporting biogas-to-biomethane upgrading, focusing on the transport market. The proposed integrated plant scheme is a flexible solution based on Power-to-Hydrogen and methanation, able to exploit both electric and gas grid connections, enhancing biomethane production. Advanced process schemes are studied combining solid oxide electrolysers that exploit the methanation waste heat as input thermal energy and flexible PEM electrolysers that improve the part-load operation. The calculated efficiency at max load is about 55% for the Power-to-Methane block and nearly 75% for the overall integrated plant. Results show limited sensitivity of efficiency to input power variations, making the system suitable for the recovery of surplus renewable power generation.