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Biomethane production and its use in captive fleets

Lille Metropole Experience

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Lille Urban Community :

• Local authority reuniting 85 communes and 1.1 million inhabitants.

• 4th urban area of France after Paris, Marseille and Lyon

• 17 communes are situated at the Belgian border. The co-operation with the Belgian part of the urban area is a major issue to develop a European District reuniting 2 million inhabitants.

• Lille is situated at the crossing between major European routes and is well connected by High Speed Train (TGV and Eurostar) with Paris (1 hour), Brussels (35 minutes) and London (1hour 30 min)

• Pierre Mauroy, previous Prime Minister is the President of the Council of theurban Community .

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Lille Urban Community : responsibilities :• public transport

• households waste collection and treatment

• households waste water collection and treatment

• water supply

• roads, traffic regulation

• urban planning plan, green belt

• housing

• economic development

• cultural and sport facilities

• in France, local authorities are not responsible for energy policy. The responsibilities in waste management and sewage are limited to the households (no industry or agriculture waste treated in public facilities)

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The biomethane project in Lille2 responsibilities of the urban community are reunited in an energy saving project to fight the increase of the Green House Effect :

• Waste water treatment policy, with energy recovered from waste water treatment

•sustainable waste management policy which promotes the optimisation of the recovery of all kind of waste fractions, especially the organic part,

• mobility policy which consists of an increase in the use of clean transport system : metro and gas-powered buses anfdsince recently, the waste trucks.

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Potential of biogas fuel in Europe

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The biological fermentation of any organic matter in an anaerobic reactor produces a gas called biogasBiogas content :– Methane CH4 : 50 to 65 % (depending on the feedstock used)– Carbon dioxide CO2 : 30 to 45 %– Water H2O– Several pollutants like NH3, siloxanes, H2S

What is biogas ?

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Potential of biogas production in the EU15 is estimated between 70 to 136 billions m3

20 to 40 % of the energy for road transport could be replaced by upgraded biogasbiogas powered vehicles respect the highest EU emission standards

(EURO 5)The replacement of 5 % of the European vehicles would use 12 to 24 % of

the potential of biogas production and economise 10 Mt/year of diesel, 32 Mt/year of CO2 (4.8 % of total), 120,000 tonnes of nitrogen oxide (3.7 % of total) and 9,500 tonnes of particles (5 % of total)

Biogas in Europe (data : 2002)

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Lille Metropole and biogas fuel :

1994-1999 : the pilot experiment

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Natural gas and biomethane powered buses in Lille : the History• 1990 : launch of an experiment to recover the surplus of biogasproduced by the digestion of sewage sludge (Marquette Plant). The main usage of this biogas was CHP.

• Design of an upgrading pilot unit to increase the methane content of the raw biogas from 60 to 97 % (water scrubbing to eliminate CO2 and pollutants that could damage the engines). Operational in 1995

• This project was supported by the European Commission (THERMIE Programme), the State (ADEME) and the Region

• 1994 : the first gas-powered buses in operation (199 : 9 vehicles)

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First gas-powered bus in 1994

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Pilot upgrading Plant in Marquette (1)

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Pilot upgrading Plant in Marquette (2)

Production of good quality biogas : Méthane : 97,5 % ; H2S : 2 ppm ; H2O : 3

ppm

Reliability of gas buses : Comparable with diesel buses (rate of brakedown,

wear on the tyres, brakes, oil)

Cost per kilometre equal to or less than that for diesel buses : Fuel

consumption - Gas : 65 Nm3/100 km (0,27 € =0,35 $ /m3) ; Diesel : 50 l /100

km (0,68 € = 0,89 $/l)

Contribution to the environment

Outcomes of the project

DIESEL CO HC NOx Particulates CH4

AGORA Diesel 300ppm 0,56 0,17 4,67 0,041 0AGORA Diesel 50ppm with filter 0,11 0,01 4,94 0,006 0

EURO 4 Standard 1,5 0,46 3,5 0,02

CNG CO NmHC NOx Particulates CH4

AGORA CNG, 2002 model 0,024 0,003 2,432 0,004 0,531AGORA CNG, 2004 model 0,52 0,003 1,21 0,004 0,049

EURO 4 Standard 4 0,55 3,5 0,03 1,1EEV LABEL 3 0,4 2 0,02 0,65

Buses Exhaust Emissions (g/kWh)

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Lille Metropole and biogas fuel :

2000-now : the decision to switch to (bio)gas fuel

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Lille Metropole and biogas fuel :

2000-now : the decision to switch to (bio)gas fuel

1. The development of the bus fleet

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Urban Mobility Plan in Lille and the development of the gas-powered buses fleet• 1999 : decision to replace progressively yet totally the diesel fleet with gas powered buses

• 60 gas-powered Iris-bus buses in operation in 2001, 100 in 2002, 127 in 2004, 200 in the beginning of 2007. Cofinanced under TRENDSETTER project

• Increase of the bus fleet (331 in 2005) : + 100 in 2006, + 200 beyond

• one gas bud depot now ; 2 new bus depots (capacity of 150 buses each) with biomethane supply :

• Sequedin (already in function) : 100 of the 150 buses will be fuelled with biomethane (from 2008)

• Wattrelos : experiment to increase the biogas production with non-easy biodegradable sewage sludge (sept 2007)

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Environmental advantages of using (bio)gas buses• Gas-powered buses are 50 % less noisy compared to diesel

• Exhaust gas emissions of a Euro 3 gas-powered bus vs. a Euro 3 diesel bus are :

• reduction of 96 % on the carbon monoxide

• reduction of 99 % on the residual hydrocarbons

• reduction of 51 % on nitrogen oxides

• reduction of 100 % on particles

• GHG emissions close to zero !

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Lille gas-powered bus in operation

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Gas powered buses and compression unit

(first gas-powered bus depot)

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Gas powered buses

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Natural Gas

Biomethane

Compression Unit

Compressedgas

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Stockholm

Graz

Lille Prag

Pécs

Lille : a Civitas City

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Development of a (bio)gas waste truck fleet

• March 2005 : ESTERRA (Lille Metropole operator for waste treatment) purchases the first (bio)gas waste trucks (Mercedes). Evaluation phase (fiability and gas consumption, security)

• Jan. 2005-Nov 2006 : feasability study on the replacement of the diesel fleet by a biogas powered one

• 2006 : purchase of 2 new vehicules and decision to set up gas compression unit in different trucks depot

• The trucks based in sequedin (location of Waste recovery center) will run on (bio)gas

• 2013 : 70 CBG/CNG vehicles (19 and 26 tons)

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Gas powered service car

One third of the service fleet = clean vehicles (electricity and gas)

Twingo, C3 gas vehicles.

Expanding fleet but difficulty to purchase vehicles !

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Lille Metropole and biogas fuel :

2000-now : the decision to switch to (bio)gas fuel

2. Dévelopment of the biogas production

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Producing biogas fuel from organic waste• 1992 : adoption of “the integrated Scheme for Urban Waste Collection and Treatment” : otimisation of re-use of matter (packaging and organic waste) & energy recovery

• 1995 : feasibility studies of the Organic Recovery Centre (cofinanced by the EC, TRENDSETTER project)

• 1997 : choice of the digestion process

• 2004 : decision to generate biomethane with the raw biogas produced by the O.R.C. (vs. electricity). 100 urban gas-powered buses will be fuelled with biomethane.

• nov 2004 : Beginning of the construction of the O.R.C.

• nov 2005 : start of operation of the Sequedin new bus depot

• June 2007 : start of operation of the O.R.C.

• Sept. 2007 : start of the refuelling with biomethane

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Organic Recovery Centre & bus depot

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Organic Recovery Centre

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New busdepot in Sequedin

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Environmental advantages of the ORC project • The digestion process enables an energetic recovery (vs. composting) and therefore an income (8,5 € / ton ) based on the same price as the natural gas (0,025 €/kWh currently)

• Biomethane does not contribute to green house effect

• 4 million liters of diesel saved per year

• no need of fuel transport because the bus depot is situated next to the O.R.C. and connected with a dedicated pipeline.

• Feasibility study ongoing on the injection of biomethane into the natural gas grid

• health impact assessment

• impact assessment on the reliability of the grid

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Biogas Upgrading2 scrubbing towerscapacity. 2 x 600 Nm3/ h of raw biogas

1 compression unit (9 bar)1 storage tank. Capacity 5000 Nm3

corresponding to ½ day of production

Production : 4 millions Nm3/anHeat value eq. 10,5kWh/ Nm3

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compressor

2 stages

Pressure

9 bar

Raw biogast55-65% CH35-45% COrelative pressure 50 mbar

Dryers>95% CH2% CODew point: -80°C Scrubbing

Tower

>95% CH2% COSaturated in water vapor

Recovery of the methaneFrom the water process

FlashingTank

4 bar

process AirTo biofilter

StrippingTower

COat

atmosphericpressure

Air

Cooled water pump(<15°C)

<1% CHtraces of H S56% N29% CO14% O

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2

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2

2

2

2

CH4Recovery

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Biomethane QualityHeat Value (kWh/Nm3) 10,5 kWh/m3 at 0°CDue Point T<-20°C at 250 barsSulphur and mercaptans <5mg/Nm3

Carbon monoxide < 2%Chlorine < 0,1 mg/Nm3

Fluorine < 0,1 mg/Nm3

Particles Size of particle <1 µg

Biomethane Quality

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Biomethane financial issues • The choice of biomethane production with the raw biogas generated by the new O.R.C was based on the comparison : electricity generation vs. fuel production. In France, renewable electricity generation was not well supported by the State, but it’s changing. Gas is cheap

• Total cost of the investment : 90 Million € (70 + 20 for the depot)

• Biomethane will be sold on the natural gas price basis (0,025 €/kWh)

• This income can reduce the treatment cost by 8 to 9 €/ton (treatment cost = 60 to 70 €/ton) --> not a profitable activity !

• Taxation of biomethane will be the same as natural gas

• Political actions to have a free taxation for biomethane like other liquidbiofuels

• Strong focus of central administration on liquid biofuels

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Biogas production from wastewater treatment : further development• General objective : produce biogas fuel throughout the territory. Develop systematically a feasability study for each wastewater treatment to be built or refurbished

• renovation of the pilot upgrading unit at the waste water treatment plant of Marquette (pilot plant)

• Feasibility study of biomethane production (new waste water treatment plant to be in operation in 2013 ; production of biogas fuel for 100 buses ?)

• study of the production of biomethane with the digestion of non-easy biodegradable sewage sludge generated by the Grimonpont waste water treatment plant. A new gas-powered bus depot in Wattrelos could be fed with this biomethane

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Biogasmax project : an FP-6 cofunded project aiming at developing the biogas fuel in Europe

(http://www.biogasmax.eu)

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More information on Lille Metropole biogas experience ?

Pierre HIRTZBERGER (production aspects), phirtzberger@cudl-lille.fr

Yves BAESEN (fleet aspects), ybaesen@cudl-lille.fr