Naturgy and Greene launch Waste to Biomethane pilot plant in Spain
Greene W2BM, a project that started in 2023, proposes the development of innovative solutions for decarbonization through the transformation of non-recyclable industrial waste and biomass into green gas. This would be an important milestone to expand the development potential of green gas in Spain and contribute to more efficient waste management and sustainable energy production.
The pilot plant, which is already in operation, has a treatment capacity of about 10 kg/h of waste and allows to produce synthetic methane through a combined process of pyrolysis – gasification and biological methane.
The W2BM project is based on a joint technology developed by Naturgy and Greene, which integrates waste gasification – through pyrolysis and gasification processes – with the subsequent conversion of the synthesis gas into methane through a biological bioreactor. This approach allows to value waste that cannot be recycled and convert it into a renewable energy with injection potential in the gas network, also contemplating the evaluation of the use of biomass and its combination with industrial waste to analyze its impact on the performance of the process.
Currently, the pilot plant is in the testing and optimization phase of the process, which will be extended during the remainder of the year. The objective is to improve the performance of the system and achieve methane purity levels of 95% or higher, validating the technical feasibility of the process under real operating conditions.
During this phase, different key parameters are being evaluated, such as process stability, quality of the gas produced, the behavior of the microorganisms involved in biological methaneation and the overall efficiency of the system. In addition, operating conditions, including pressure, temperature and inlet gas composition, are being adjusted to maximize methane production.
The biological process has already demonstrated its scalability from laboratory to pilot plant, with conversions of more than 60%, with potential for improvement to levels of 80 or 90% through the optimization of operating variables.
The results obtained in the pilot phase will advance the development of this technology with a view to its industrial scaling in the coming years. In this sense, the project foresees, from 2027, the development of demonstration plants of greater capacity and the design of a first industrial installation capable of treating tens of thousands of tons of waste per year.
Category: Fuels
