Investigation of Biotechnological Evaluation of Gas Emissions in Petrochemical Industry
Project no. 546 · Status: Kapanmış · 2016
Summary
EU countries have targeted to reduce CO2 emissions which is one of the most important factors of climate change by %20 of those levels in 1990 up to 2030 and furthermore, KYOTO Protocol dictates similar targets. In this context, investigations on CO2 capture, storage and utilisation have been accelerated progressively and it is expected that the member countries take concrete steps in this direction on their strategic plans. CO2 emmisions due to rapid industrialization in recent years were also increased significantly in our country which has been EU candidate and signed the Kyoto Protocol. Methane production by anaerobic bioprocesses offers significant opportunities for clean energy recovery from renewable sources, an alternative sustainable biofuels to fossil fuels, reduction of CO2 emissions and prevention of global warming. In this Project, it was aimed to convert CO² to biomethane by biotechnological technique. For this purpose, a novel HYBRID bioreactor configuration was used throughout the study. Methane production efficiency were monitored during the optimization studies where the varying ratios of carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas mixture were fed directly in the HYBRID system in which methanogens are immobilized in the mesophilic environment. Microorganism profiles were determined by advanced molecular techniques throughout the study. Flue gas samples from PETKİM Petrokimya Holding Ethylene Oxide and Chlorinated Alkali Plants were also fed into the biorecator under optimized conditions and no significant toxic effect was observed indicating that waste flue gases are good canditate for biomethane production without any problem as targeted in the very beginnig of the projet proposal. To the best of our knowledge, a novel HYBRID system has been used for the first time for the production of hydrogenotrophic methane according to the available literature. Therefore, it is thought that this project will provide a unique contribution to the literature. In addition, it is important that the results are evaluated as applicable and suitable for scale-up by the project partner. It is predicted that the system in this project will make a significant contribution to reducing the environmental pressures of other similar industrial plants and potential coal fired thermal power plants in our country. Keywords: CO², climate change, biomethane, hydrogenotrophic methanogen