Jul 14 2014
A research team sponsored by the Energy Delta Gas Research (EDGaR) has contributed to the scientific understanding of the formation of siloxanes, compounds found in biogas. The results can be used towards specifying the maximum concentrationof siloxanes in biogas, in such a way that they do not interfere with the performance of domestic appliances.
“Having soundspecifications for siloxanes is an enabler for biogas,” said Howard Levinsky, a senior consultant at DNV GL. DrLevinsky and his team have researchedthe technical basis for specifications of silicon-containing compounds in biogas.
The idea of this research was “to discover the limits on siloxane concentration, so that biogas can be used the same way as natural gas in domestic appliances,” he said. “Biogas then becomes a full-grown, fully accepted sustainable replacement for natural gas.”
DrLevinsky and his team developed a theoretical model to estimate the growth of silica fractal aggregates in flames. For practical use in the domestic market, they performed experiments on domestic appliances and defined an unambiguous unit for the specification of siloxaneconcentrations in gas.
Gas companiescan use the results to establish limits forsiloxaneconcentrationin the biogas to be admitted in the network.
The gas infrastructure company Gasunie and the gas distribution companiesEnexis, Liander and Stedin participated in this project financed byEDGaR. It is part of their efforts to facilitate the large scaleintroduction of biogas, a renewable energy source.