Spiral water filters: conditioning feedstocks for higher yield gas production and lower opex

There’s no question that the g lobal market for Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) – also called biogas – continues to grow. Some industry experts predict a sharp increase in its size to more than US$ 130 billion by 2033.

As the market grows, so does the opportunity for superior water filtration and separation technology to positively impact the sustainability and economic vitality of biogas production systems. At the same time, our proprietary technology offers significant advantages when it comes to conditioning feedstocks for higher yield
gas production and lower OpEx.

Biogas results from decomposition of organic matter in anaerobic conditions. This organic matter comes from various sources, including farm animal waste products
(e.g., manure). Water filtration and separation play critical roles in ensuring efficient operations, maintaining the quality of the biogas, and managing the
byproducts effectively. Here are some examples:

  • Substrate Pretreatment for Gas Quality Improvement and Reduced OpEx . Proper water filtration and separation are essential to remove solid impurities such as organic matter and non-digestible materials like sand, stones, and plastics, before they enter the digester. Filtration also helps prevent clogging of pipes and equipment, which can disrupt the digestion process and increase maintenance costs.
  • Digestate Management. Digestate is a nutrient-rich byproduct produced after anaerobic digestion. Separation of water from digestate helps manage its consistency and nutrient content. Separated water can be reused in the process or discharged, while the solid digestate can be used as a valuable organic fertilizer.
  • Preventing Corrosion and Contamination. Water in biogas can lead to equipment corrosion and contamination issues. Effective separation prevents these problems, prolonging the life of the equipment and ensuring the quality of the biogas.
  • Environmental Compliance. Water filtration and separation help confirm compliance with environmental standards by treating and managing water
    used in the biogas production process.

Engineered with our patented technology, Spiral Water’s filters offer a suite of design features that provide powerful and reliable performance for producers of
biogas.

Our high solids conditioning/filtration takes soft and deformable 500 um + volatile suspended solids (VSS) particles and shears/conditions them, creating more
particles in the proper size range and making a more nutrient-rich influent liquor to the digester. In addition, our ability to concentrate solids enables us to remove
larger, unwanted “non-digestible” particles with minimum process liquor loss.

Our filters offer numerous benefits to RNG including:

  • Production of more methane from 10%-30% on existing anaerobic digester systems.
  • Potentially smaller digester footprint on future systems.
  • Less dwell time required.
  • No chemicals.
  • Less energy than a DAF with electro flotation.
  • Less maintenance and labor cost to run than centrifuges, meaning lower OpEx.
  • Green energy or carbon credits/rebates/incentives.

Contact us to learn more.