Granville biomethane operations with royal designs for biogenic CO2
On 14 September, the biomethane facility Granville Ecopark in Northern Ireland received a visit from the Duke of Gloucester. The visit coincided with the ongoing installation of a CO2 recovery unit on site, which can be considered part of a growing trend of biomethane operations extracting value from all outputs.
Granville Ecopark became the first company to inject biomethane into the grid on the island in December last year, let alone Northern Ireland. The anaerobic digester (AD) plant was installed in 2014, although initially was used directly for power generation.
In 2018, it was fitted with upgrading capabilities, allowing the production of biomethane, which allowed the refuelling of CNG vehicles on-site but required transportation via trucks if it were to be used elsewhere; the grid connection in 2023 alleviated this hurdle.
The biomethane operation is capable of injecting 1100 m3/hr into the national grid, suggesting more than 80 GWh annual biomethane production. Granville Ecopark also recently started improving their digestate product allowing them to sell more than 100,000 tonnes of bio-fertiliser per year.
Using the biogenic CO2 from upgrading represents another step forward for Granville Ecopark in creating a circular economy. The recovery unit, which commenced works in August 2024 and is expected to be finished by the year’s end, will aid in capturing 9000 tonnes of CO2 annually to be marketed to demand sectors including the food and beverage, and hospitality industries.
Biogenic CO2 from biomethane production in the UK
According to the latest EBA/GIE map, there are 119 biomethane facilities in the UK, with many of these also registered with the national GO scheme, the Green Gas Certification Scheme (GGCS).
However, currently only a limited number of plants monetise their biogenic CO2 stream with the majority venting to the atmosphere. Nevertheless, at least one company in the UK, Biocarbonics, has agreements with at least four biomethane plants, collecting their CO2 output and distributing it to local customers. The traditional sources of CO2 for are ammonia plants, with the steam methane reforming process (SMR) resulting in (fossil) CO2 emissions, which are then captured and cleaned.
The Biocarbonics business model has the advantage of not only offering a biogenic product but also having diversified sources (of which biomethane plants are one type). In contrast, CO2 from ammonia production is dependent upon larger but fewer sources, and supply is more easily disrupted by outages.
Future use (likely post-2030) will include e-fuel synthesis and bioenergy carbon capture and storage (BECCS).