Biogas upgrading by biotrickling filter: Effects of temperature and packing materials

Biological hydrogen-methane conversion technology can combine Power-to-Gas technology with biogas engineering and showed great potential in breaking through the limitations of both hydrogen storage and CO2 removal for biogas upgrading. However, the low gas–liquid mass transfer rate of hydrogen greatly limited its conversion efficiency and actual application. This study used a biotrickling filter (BTF) to address this limiting factor, and the effects of temperature and packing materials on hydrogen-methane conversion were investigated. Results showed that higher temperature was beneficial for hydrogen-methane conversion, and the highest conversion efficiency of 8.3 L/Lw·d was obtained at 55 °C with the archaeal community dominated by Methanothermobacter (99.97 %). The reactor using activated carbon as packing material showed the best hydrogen-methane conversion efficiency of 91.9 %, with the most methanogens fixed on the surface. Due to the electronic conductor property of activated carbon, the microbial communities of the biofilm were also different from the other two packing materials. Finally, the H2/CO2 ratio of the gas inflow was optimized, and the most suitable result was 2.5:1 (H2/CO2, v/v), which was far below the previously reported results and indicated higher efficiency in carbon dioxide removal. This study provided a promising way for biogas upgrading.