| Title: | Statistical analysis of trace contaminants measured in biogas |
| Author(s): | Chin KF; Wan C; Li Y; Alaimo CP; Green PG; Young TM; Kleeman MJ; |
| Address: | "Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California at Davis, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, United States of America. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California at Davis, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, United States of America; Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry Graduate Group, University of California at Davis, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, United States of America. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California at Davis, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, United States of America. Electronic address: mjkleeman@ucdavis.edu" |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138702 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1879-1026 (Electronic) 0048-9697 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Biogas is a renewable energy fuel that can be treated to increase purity so that the resulting 'biomethane' can be injected into the natural gas pipeline grid. The trace contaminants in biogas and biomethane make up a small fraction of the total gas but they still have the potential to cause adverse health effects and pipeline corrosion. This study investigates the statistical distributions of 17 trace metals, six mercaptans, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and six additional trace organic compounds. Twelve of these 31 trace contaminants have been previously identified as constituents of concern based on their toxicity profiles and through health risk assessment studies. Untreated and treated samples of biogas were collected from 12 different biogas production facilities using diverse feedstocks throughout California. Results show that most biogas trace contaminants follow a single log-normal distribution or a bi-modal lognormal distribution depending on the type of production facility. Treatment of biogas demonstrates some removal for all trace contaminants, but four constituents of concern (copper, lead, hydrogen sulfide, and methyl mercaptan) are predicted to have a >1% probability of exceeding trigger levels even after common treatments. This finding suggests that enhanced monitoring may be warranted for these contaminants. Several trace metals and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were found to have seasonal trends with greater concentrations in the summer and lower concentrations in the winter suggesting that seasonal variation should be considered in future monitoring plans" |
| Keywords: | *Biofuels Hydrogen Sulfide Natural Gas Volatile Organic Compounds Biogas Biomethane Constituents of concern Mercaptans Metals; |
| Notes: | "MedlineChin, Katherine F Wan, Chao Li, Yin Alaimo, Christopher P Green, Peter G Young, Thomas M Kleeman, Michael J eng Netherlands 2020/06/06 Sci Total Environ. 2020 Aug 10; 729:138702. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138702. Epub 2020 Apr 15" |
