Table Of ContentGreen Energy and Technology
Marcello De Falco
Angelo Basile E ditors
Enriched
Methane
The First Step Towards the Hydrogen
Economy
Green Energy and Technology
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8059
Marcello De Falco Angelo Basile
(cid:129)
Editors
Enriched Methane
The First Step Towards the Hydrogen
Economy
123
Editors
Marcello De Falco Angelo Basile
University CampusBio-Medico of Rome ITM-CNR
Rome University of Calabria
Italy Rende
Italy
ISSN 1865-3529 ISSN 1865-3537 (electronic)
Green Energy andTechnology
ISBN978-3-319-22191-5 ISBN978-3-319-22192-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-22192-2
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2015951769
SpringerChamHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
©SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2016
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Preface
Themassiveuseofhydrogenasanenergyvectorwouldbethelaststeptowardsthe
energy decarbonisation process, solving once and for all the greenhouse gases and
pollutant emissions in our industrial and civil systems.
On the other hand, technological development of the production processes,
storage, distribution and use of hydrogen is still quite far from a real competi-
tivenesscomparedtotraditionalfossilfuels.Todate,infact,thereisnomarketfor
hydrogenasanenergycarrierand,inthenearterm,hydrogeneconomywillhardly
replace fossil fuels, even if the environmental and societal issues related to energy
productionareperceivedasurgentandsolutionsareabsolutelyrequiredinthenext
years.
Enriched methane could be an intermediate step able to introduce hydrogen in
our energy systems, using the consolidated natural gas infrastructures at competi-
tive costs and leading to a significant reduction of the pollution, immediately
applicable and without high structural costs: the new blend is a necessary step
towards the “dream of hydrogen”.
The scope of this book is to present the most interesting and advanced tech-
nologiesofenrichedmethaneproductionanduse,inordertoupdatethereaderson
this topic and to clarify what is already available and on what the international
scientific and technological communities have still to work at. At the end, the
readers should have a clear panorama of both the enriched methane potentialities
and on the step forward to be taken.
The realization of the book would have been impossible without the support of
Profs. Luigi Marrelli and Prof. Diego Barba, who helped us in understanding and
defining the focal and critical points of enriched methane production and
applications.
v
vi Preface
The book aims to inspire young engineers and scientists to face the next tech-
nological challenges balancing the environmental requirements, the technological
specifics and the marketneeds, always considering that any good idea should then
be introduced in the market respecting its rules and should interact with the envi-
ronment, reducing the impacts and the resources use.
Marcello De Falco
Angelo Basile
Contents
Enriched Methane: A Ready Solution for the Transition
Towards the Hydrogen Economy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Mauro Capocelli and Marcello De Falco
Enriched Methane Production Through a Low Temperature
Steam Reforming Reactor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Marcello De Falco
Methane/Hydrogen Mixtures from Concentrated Solar Energy:
The METISOL Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Giampaolo Caputo, Domenico Mazzei and Mauro Francesco Sgroi
Low Temperature Steam Reforming Catalysts for Enriched
Methane Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Gloria Berlier
Two-Phase Anaerobic Digestion of Food Wastes for Hydrogen
and Methane Production. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Cristina Cavinato, David Bolzonella, Paolo Pavan and Franco Cecchi
Bio-production of Hydrogen and Methane Through Anaerobic
Digestion Stages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Chiara Patriarca, Elena De Luca, Claudio Felici, Luigia Lona,
Valentina Mazzurco Miritana and Giulia Massini
Biological Hydrogen Production from Lignocellulosic Biomass . . . . . . . 111
Sudhanshu S. Pawar, Eoin Byrne and Ed.W.J. van Niel
Purification of Hydrogen-Methane Mixtures Using PSA
Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Rosaria Augelletti, Sara Frattari and Maria Anna Murmura
Emissions and Efficiency of Turbocharged Lean-Burn
Hydrogen-Supplemented Natural Gas Fueled Engines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
James S. Wallace
vii
viii Contents
Using Natural Gas/Hydrogen Mixture as a Fuel in a 6-Cylinder
Stoichiometric Spark Ignition Engine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Luigi De Simio, Michele Gambino and Sabato Iannaccone
Enriched Methane for City Public Transport Buses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Antonino Genovese and Fernando Ortenzi
Exploring New Production Methods of Hydrogen/Natural
Gas Blends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Kas Hemmes
Explosion Risks of Hydrogen/Methane Blends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Prankul Middha
Enriched Methane: A Ready Solution
for the Transition Towards the Hydrogen
Economy
Mauro Capocelli and Marcello De Falco
Abstract The extensive use of hydrogen as an energy vector has the potential to
minimize the world’s addiction to crude oil mitigating the global warming as well
as economic crisis and conflicts. Nonetheless, at least in the near term, hydrogen
economy will hardly replace fossil fuels because of the high production cost, the
difficulty of storing at high energy density, the lack of extensive distribution
infrastructure. R&D advances do not satisfy policies, investors and consumer’s
needs. The potential for methane enrichment by mixing with hydrogen is an
interestingalternativetothecompletereplacementofconventionalfuelsandtothe
increased need of exploiting renewable energies. This solution can rapidly find a
market collocation to renewable production (from gasification and steam reform-
ing), low-cost storage and delivery through existent technologies, whereas
improving the environmental impact of “methane/natural gas” applications. In this
chapter,wepresenttheapplicationpotentialitiesoftheenrichedmethaneinthefour
areas characterizing the evaluation of alternative fuels: production, storage, distri-
butionandutilization.Wepresentthemainadvancesinthisframeworkandthenear
perspectives indicating the enriched methane as a promising route towards the
hydrogen economy and an immediate solution for the mitigation of climate
changes.
(cid:1) (cid:1) (cid:1)
Keywords Hydrogen economy Methane enrichment Energy production
(cid:1)
Storage Distribution and use
List of Symbols
CCS Carbon Capture and Storage
DOE US Department of Energy
EU European Union
FCH JU Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking
GTL Gas to Liquid
M.Capocelli(cid:1)M.DeFalco(&)
UniversityofRome“CampusBio-Medico”,ViaAlvarodelPortillo21,
00128Rome,Italy
e-mail:[email protected]
©SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2016 1
M.DeFalcoandA.Basile(eds.),EnrichedMethane,
GreenEnergyandTechnology,DOI10.1007/978-3-319-22192-2_1
