TOMMANNUS009969949B1TULLUTU MUHIMU (12 ) United States Patent (10 ) Patent No. : US 9 , 969 , 949 B1 Foody et al. ( 45 ) Date of Patent: May 15 , 2018 ( 54 ) METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING ( 58 ) Field of Classification Search UPGRADED BIOGAS CPC . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. CIOL 3 / 101 ; CO2F 11 /04 USPC . .. .. .. .. .. 585 /802 (71 ) Applicant: Iogen Corporation , Ottawa (CA ) USPCSee application . file for complete search history. @( 72 ) Inventors : Brian Foody , Ottawa (CA ); Patrick J . (56 ) References Cited | Foody, Ottawa ( CA ) U . S . PATENT DOCUMENTS (73 ) Assignee : Iogen Corporation , Ontario (CA ) 6 , 789 ,288 B2 9 /2004 Wijmans et al . ( * ) Notice : Subject to any disclaimer , the term of this 8 , 158 , 378 B2 4 / 2012 Mitariten patent is extended or adjusted under 35 (Continued ) U . S . C . 154 (b ) by 0 days . days . FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS ( 21 ) Appl. No. : 15 / 458, 760 EP 2974781 AL 1 / 2016 WO 2011150899 A2 12 /2011 ( 22 ) Filed : Mar. 14 , 2017 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Related U . S . Application Data Schill , S . R . “ The 2014 D3 RIN Leap - For Biogas” , Ethanol Producer @(60 ) Provisional application No . 62 /410 ,730 , filed on Oct. Magazine (Mar . 16 , 2015) , pp . 1 - 4 . * 20 , 2016 . ( Continued ) @ Int . CI. Primary Examiner — Philip Y Louie C07C 7700 ( 2006 .01 ) Assistant Examiner - Aaron W Pierpont C10L 3 / 10 ( 2006 .01 ) (74 ) Attorney, Agent, or Firm — Knobbe , Martens , Olson (Continued ) & Bear, LLP @(52 ) U . S . Cl. CPC .. CIOL 3 / 104 ( 2013 .01 ) ; B01D 53/ 047 (57 ) ABSTRACT ( 2013 .01 ) ; B01D 53 / 22 (2013 .01 ) ; BOID A method for providing upgraded biogas includes feeding a 53/ 261 (2013 . 01 ) ; BOID 53/ 263 ( 2013 . 01) ; stream of biogas into a biogas upgrading system in order to BOID 53/ 265 ( 2013 .01 ) ; B01D 53 / 266 remove carbon dioxide from the stream of biogas. The ( 2013 . 01 ) ; CO2F 11 /04 ( 2013 .01 ) ; CIOL 3 / 101 biogas upgrading system , which may be based on absorp (2013 .01 ) ; CIOL 3 / 105 ( 2013 .01 ) ; G06Q tion , adsorption , membrane permeation , and / or cryogenics , 30 /0227 ( 2013 .01 ) ; G06Q 50 / 06 ( 2013 .01 ) ; provides a stream of upgraded biogas and a tail gas stream . BOID 2252 / 103 ( 2013 .01 ) ; BOID 2253 / 102 The tail gas stream , which may be CO2- rich , is enriched with (2013 .01 ) ; BOID 2253 /106 ( 2013 .01 ) ; B01D natural gas so that it is combustible in medium -BTU equip 2253 / 1124 ( 2013 . 01 ) ; BOID 2256 / 245 ment . The upgraded biogas is used for transportation use (2013 .01 ) ; B01D 2257/ 102 ( 2013 .01 ) ; BOID and /or the generation of fuel credits . Accordingly , both the 2257/ 304 ( 2013 .01 ) ; BOID 2257 /504 tail gas and the upgraded biogas are used effectively and at ( 2013. 01 ) ; BOID 2257/ 556 (2013 .01 ) ; BOID lower cost . 2257 /80 ( 2013 .01 ) ; CO2F 2103 /28 ( 2013 .01 ) ; (Continued ) 20 Claims, 25 Drawing Sheets Distribution system 170 .X2 Natural gas - 140 160 - - CHA - enriched tail gas - - .. .. .. .. { CO , CH4) - 130 - 154 130 ** * * * Heat and / or or 24 electricity XI. - - - - - - 22 | Compression - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Biogas 125 Increase heating .. - - - - - - - - . + irik( CH4; CO2 value - - - - 1 CH , --rich . ., . value. 1 Upgraded blogas . 1 5 152 100 120 US 9 , 969, 949 B1 Page 2 (51 ) Int . Cl. Baker , “ Future Directions of Membrane Gas Separation Technol BOID 53 / 22 ( 2006 . 01 ) ogy ,” Ind . Eng . Chem . Res ., vol . 41 , No . 6 (2002 ) 1393 - 1411 . Bauer et al. , “ Biogas upgrading Review of commercial technolo B01D 53 / 047 ( 2006 .01 ) gies , ” SGC Rapport vol. 270 (2013 ) 1 -83 . BOID 53 / 26 ( 2006 . 01 ) California Air Resources Board , “ Low Carbon Fuel Standard CO2F 11 / 04 ( 2006 . 01 ) ( LCFS ) Pathway for the Production of Biomethane from the G060 30 / 02 ( 2012 .01 ) Mesophilic Anaerobic Digestion of Wastewater Sludge at a Pub licly -Owned Treatment Works ( POTW ) , " (Dec . 15 , 2014 ) . G060 50 / 06 ( 2012 .01 ) Cohn et al. , “WCA & Fort Bend Power Producers : Generating High CO2F 103 / 28 ( 2006 .01 ) BTU Gas from Landfill Gas in Texas, ” dated Jul. 16 , 2013 CO2F 103 /32 ( 2006 .01 ) (Retrieved from https: // www .epa . gov /sites / production / files /2016 05 /documents / 10ftbend .pdf , Dec . 9 , 2016 ) . (52 ) U . S . CI. Deng et al. , “ Techno - economic evaluation of biogas upgrading CPC . C02F 2103/ 32 (2013 .01 ) ; CIOL 2290 / 542 process using CO2 facilitated transport membrane , ” International (2013 .01 ) ; CIOL 2290 /548 (2013 .01 ) Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 4 ( 2010 ) 638 -646 . Grande , “ Biogas Upgrading by Pressure Swing Adsorption ,” Chap ( 56 ) References Cited ter from the book ‘ Biofuel ' s Engineering Process Technology, ( Aug . 1 , 2011 ) 65 -84 . U . S . PATENT DOCUMENTS Haider et al ., " Techno - economical evaluation of membrane based biogas upgrading system , a comparison between polymeric mem 8 , 177 , 885 B2 . 5 / 2012 Wijmans et al . 8 , 999 , 036 B2 4 / 2015 Pierce brane and carbon membrane technology , " Green Energy & Envi 2011/ 0023497 A1 2 /2011 Assmann ronment ( 2016 ) , 1 - 13 , http : // dx .doi . org / 10 . 1016 / j .gee .2016 . 10 . 003 . 2011/ 0189746 A1 * 8 / 2011 Mitariten .. .. .. .. C12P 5 /02 Makaruk et al. , “ Membrane biogas upgrading processes for the 435 / 167 production of natural gas substitute ,” Separation and Purification 2011/ 0229405 Al * 9 / 2011 Guo . CO1B 3 / 323 Technology 74 (2010 ) 83 - 92 . 423 /648 . 1 Persson , “ Biogas up - grading : a technical review ,” IEA Bioenergy 2012/ 0290221 AL 11/ 2012 Arjona Antolin et al . Task 37 , dated Nov . 14 , 2013 ( Retrieved on Dec . 9 , 2016 from 2013 / 0019633 A11 / 2013 Pierce https: // www . iea -biogas .net / files/ daten - redaktion /download / publi 2013/ 0087339 A1 * 4 / 2013 Foody .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. E21B 43/ 16 cations/ Workshops / 2013 _Korea / 7 _ Persson _ Biogas _Up - grading _ 166 / 305 . 1 Technical_ Review _ Task _ 37 _ Biogas _ Workshop _ Seoul _ 11- 2013 . 2013 /0109767 A1 * 5 /2013 Bogild Hansen . .. .. .. C10L 3 /08 pdf) . 518 / 702 Petersson et al ., “ Biogas upgrading technologies developments 2013 / 0209338 A1 * 8 / 2013 Prasad . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. B01D 53 / 75 and innovations, ” IEA Bioenergy Task 37 , dated Oct. 2009 423 / 219 (Retrieved on Dec . 9 , 2016 from https: / /www . iea -biogas . net / files / 2013 /0225885 Al * 8 /2013 Foody . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. C07C 5 /02 daten - redaktion /download / publi -task37 / upgrading _ rz _ low _ final . 585 / 254 pdf ) . 2014 / 0043932 A1 * 2 / 2014 Russell .. .. F23K 5 / 002 Scholz , “ Membrane Based Biogas Upgrading Processes ,” Ph . D 366 / 160 . 1 Dissertation , RWTH Aachen University , 2013 . 2014 /0222698 A1 * 8 /2014 Potdar . .. .. G060 30 /018 Smyth et al ., “ Quantification of the Incremental Cost of Nitrogen 705 / 317 and Oxygen Removal at High -Btu Plants ,” 14th Annual EPA LMOP 2016 /0090910 A1 3 / 2016 Ploeger et al. Conference and Project Expo , Baltimore , Maryland ( Jan . 18 - 20 , 2011) (Retrieved on Dec . 3 , 2016 from https: / /www . epa . gov / sites / OTHER PUBLICATIONS production / files / 2016 -06 /documents / smyth .pdf ) . Vienna University of Technology , “ Biogas to Biomethane Technol “ Expander- compressors , an introduction ” , Turbomachinery Inter ogy Review , ” (Retrieved on Dec . 9 , 2016 from http : // www .aile . national ( Jul. 31 , 2016 ) ; pp . 1 - 3 . * asso . fr/ wp -content / uploads/ 2012 / 06 /wp3 - 1 Schill , S . R . “ The 2014 D3 RIN Leap - For Biogas” , Ethanol Producer 1 _ technologyreview _ english .pdf ) . Magazine (Mar . 16 , 2015 ) , pp . 1 - 4 (attached with previous Office Vienna University of Technology , “ Overview of Lean Gas Treat Action ). * ment in Biogas Upgrading Systems, ” (Retrieved on Dec . 9 , 2016 “ Expander- compressors, an introduction " , Turbomachinery Inter from http : / /www . fvmmi.hu / file / document/ hir / leangas. pdf ) . national ( Jul. 31, 2016 ) ; pp . 1 - 3 ( attached with previous Office Xebec , “ BGXSolutions, Biogas Upgrading Plants , ” [Brochure ] , AdAction ) .* (Retrieved on Dec. 9 , 2016 from www .xebecinc . com ). 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