The central focus of the project CarbonNeutralLNG, coordinated by Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, is the development of a new efficient and low-emission process for producing synthetic methane from renewable ("green") electricity and from biomass. This methane can be used directly as a substitute for natural gas; specifically, it can also be used as a fuel and transported well in liquefied form (LNG).

In the new approach of the project, as shown in Fig. 1, the use of renewable electricity is combined with subsequent process steps, where the CO2 produced during the process is also utilized for methane production. This increases the methane production from a given amount of biomass (which is a limited resource), up to a doubling.

Fig. 1:  Electricity enhanced Biomass-to-LNG process and main innovations of the CarbonNeutralLNG project

The central challenge in this approach is that the supply of renewable energy varies significantly over time, which is increasingly reflected in variable electricity prices. It will only be possible or economically viable to operate the process at certain times, and accordingly, all elements of the process chain must be able to quickly respond to load changes. This poses a challenge for both plant and control technology. Within the project, BEST will primarily focus on developing suitable control strategies for the new dual-function reactor to stabilize the entire process under changing operating conditions. For doing so, the dynamic behaviour and partial load behaviour will be investigated and captured using suitable models.

In addition, a superordinate control system (Advanced Process Control, APC) will be used to optimize the operation by taking into account forecasts of renewable energy availability (or electricity prices). To develop and validate these, approaches from both modelling and simulation as well as those from the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be used.

Visit the official website to learn more about the project: https://www.carbonneutrallng.eu/