Design of structured reactor for biogas exhaust abatement

The post-combustion of methane from stationary sources such as powerplants at biogas installations is an important issue for scientists to address due to the quantities of methane released into the atmosphere. Methane is one of the greenhouse gases, thus its emission should be reduced. Here is shown a converter module designed for methane combustion for use independently or in a two-module reactor together with a deNOx module. The reactor unit is based on short-channel structures in the form of metallic wires immobilised with a mixed CoPd catalyst supported on gamma alumina. The structured reactor packing was characterised by spectroscopic and spectrometric methods in terms of qualitative and quantitative composition (UV–Vis, EDX, AAS), and the morphology by SEM microscopic techniques was determined. The reactor has been successfully investigated in the catalytic reaction of methane combustion from exhaust gas in the one-step methane removal and in the presence of NH3 used in the deNOx process. The results revealed high catalytic activity of methane combustion in both cases, with the catalyst’s mechanical resistance maintained. Therefore, the presented catalytic reactor is a good candidate for methane combustion in cogeneration with nitrogen oxide reduction in installations of stationary sources such as small powerplants.