Reliable biomethane production thanks to ETW SmartCycle® PSA
ETW Energietechnik from Moers has built a biomethane plant in southern Italy in collaboration with its long-standing Italian partner Ranieri Tonissi from Genoa. The plant in Taranto, Apulia region, has a capacity of 4400 standard cubic metres of landfill gas per hour and consists of the proven, user-friendly ETW SmartCycle® PSA biogas upgrading system and a downstream NRU ‘Nitrogen Reduction Unit’.
ETW SmartCycle® PSA system with raw gas storage
ETW‘s general contractor scope of supply also includes raw gas conditioning, lean gas aftertreatment with regenerative thermal oxidation (RTO), gas flaring and biomethane feed-in (gate keeper) with post-compression to 25 bar. ‘With the ETW treatment process with NRU, which was specially developed for landfill gas, landfill gas with nitrogen contents of over 20 per cent can be treated to produce biomethane that can be fed into the grid,’ explains Alexander Szabo, the responsible Sales Manager at ETW Energietechnik.
ETW SmartCycle® PSA plant and landfill gas preconditioning
Landfill gas is a special gas for treatment. On the one hand, there is a very high concentration of harmful trace substances (VOC: volatile organic compounds) and siloxanes. On the other hand, the gas quality is not constant and there are fluctuations in the gas composition and gas quantity. The longer a landfill is in operation, the more methane is replaced by oxygen and nitrogen. In addition, the quantity of gas decreases.
This places very high demands on a gas treatment plant. The methane concentration is between 40 and 60 per cent, the nitrogen and oxygen concentration between 2 and 25 per cent and the operating range – i.e. the partial load capacity of the plant – is between 30 and 100 per cent capacity.
ETW SmartCycle® PSA system: Gate-Keeper, biomethane and lean gas storage, 25 bar booster
None of these points pose any problems for the ETW SmartCycle® PSA with NRU, and the plant in Taranto has been reliably producing biomethane since its commissioning in August 2024. ‘The methane recovery from the landfill gas is a very good value of over 95 per cent,’ adds Alexander Szabo from ETW Energietechnik.
The facility consists of six standardised containers, set up in a U-shape with a large covered interior for the PPE technology and NRU. The entire facility was erected in a construction period of only around four months.
ETW Energietechnik GmbH has been developing and producing energy systems at its Moers site since 1997. Since its foundation, ETW has been a manufacturer of highly flexible gas-fired power plants.
In its core business, the company focuses on the construction and servicing of biomethane plants for upgrading biogas to natural gas using the ETW SmartCycle® PSA process and upgrading to liquid CO2 using the ETW SmartCool® CO2 liquefaction system.
Other main products are combined heat and power plants (CHP) in the output range from 400 to 4,500 kilowatts, electric.
The company acts as a full-service provider. From the transfer of biogas to the feeding of electricity or gas into the grid and the provision of heat, ETW also takes care of the construction, commissioning and servicing of the plant technology.
ETW Energietechnik GmbH‘s customers include large energy suppliers, agricultural businesses, local authorities and industrial companies of all shapes and sizes, all of which attach great importance to environmentally friendly and economical energy generation.
A strategic focus is the realisation of economical and sustainable system concepts, which are individually planned and tailored to the respective requirements. A qualified service team ensures the operational safety and maximum availability of the systems.
The family-run, medium-sized company, which employs 150 people, is managed by Marco and Carsten Weiss.
