BioSpec SILOX – online monitor of siloxane contaminants in biogas from wastewater

水务行业具有巨大的未开发潜力，通过充分利用现有废水产生沼气作为可再生能源，为净零目标做出贡献。硅氧烷是生物气中的已知污染物，特别是在污水（废水）厌氧消化系统中普遍存在，并且它们的去除是至关重要的。如果不清除，它们会损坏热电联产发动机，导致停机和增加维护成本。这将影响使用可再生沼气而不是化石燃料衍生能源的成本效益。解决硅氧烷问题具有直接的环境效益，可支持水行业实现其净零目标，从而支持政府实现其净零目标。硅氧烷通常通过活性炭过滤器除去。了解这些过滤器的有效性并确保在它们饱和时及时更换是这些工厂效率的关键因素。Camlin将开发一种全新的硅氧烷在线监测方法，旨在开发一种价格合理的产品，使该技术能够被废水处理行业广泛采用。目前市场上的技术通常是从实验室设备改编而来的，结果是昂贵得令人望而却步的解决方案，不能满足用户的需求。当部署在恶劣的实地环境中时，它们还面临高昂的维护和支持成本。该项目成功后，废水处理行业将以所需的价格获得一种产品，该产品支持该行业减少甲烷排放，通过利用废水进行厌氧消化来增加自生可再生能源，并为天然气电网提供可再生气体。在第一阶段，我们将确定开发一种新的光谱解决方案的可行性，用于硅氧烷监测，满足行业的性能，成本和可用性要求。在未来的第二阶段，满足这三项要求的产品应进行原型制作，并与英国水务公司进行试验，以验证技术，量化其提供的价值，并衡量由此产生的环境效益。

The water industry has significant untapped potential to contribute to net zero targets by fully utilising available wastewater to generate biogas as a renewable energy source. Siloxanes are a known contaminant in biogas, especially prevalent from sewage (wastewater) anaerobic digestion systems, and their removal is critical. If not removed, they will damage CHP engines resulting in downtime and increased maintenance costs. This will impact the cost-effectiveness of using renewable biogas as opposed to fossil fuel derived energy sources. Addressing the siloxane problem has a direct environmental benefit by supporting the water industry to meet its net zero targets and hence supporting the governments to deliver their net zero targets. Siloxanes are normally removed by activated carbon filters. Understanding the effectiveness of such filters and ensuring their timely replacement when they become saturated is a key factor in the efficiency of such plants. Camlin shall develop an entirely new approach for the online monitoring of siloxanes with the aim of developing a product at a price point that will enable the widespread adoption of the technology by the wastewater industry. Current technologies on the market are typically adapted from laboratory equipment and result in prohibitively expensive solutions that do not meet the needs of the user. They also suffer from high maintenance and support costs when deployed in harsh field environments. Following the success of this project, a product will become available to the wastewater industry at the required price point that supports the industry with its goals of reducing methane emissions, increasing self-generated renewables by utilising wastewater for anaerobic digestion, and providing renewable gas to the gas grid. During Phase 1, we shall determine the feasibility of developing a novel spectroscopic solution for siloxane monitoring that meets the performance, cost, and usability requirements of the industry. In a future Phase 2, a product which meets this triumvirate of requirements shall be prototyped and trialled with a UK based water utility to validate the technology, quantify the value it delivers, and measure the resulting environmental benefit.