Osaka Gas launches biogas pilot project in Thailand

Japan’s Osaka Gas Company has launched a pilot project in Thailand to determine the feasibility of supplying natural gas to vehicles by continuously removing carbon dioxide and other impurities from biogas generated from agricultural waste, and refining it into high purity methane gas. The ultimate goal of the pilot is to realise a full commercial operation.

The project has been launched in collaboration with Thai company Agricultural of Basin (ABC).

At its palm oil factory, ABC will digest organic matter contained in factory wastewater to generate biogas, which will be subsequently refined by Osaka Gas into methane. ABC will then use the refined methane as fuel in its own natural gas powered vehicles.

Scheduled to run for approximately a year, the project will see Osaka Gas test operate a 250 Nm3/h biogas refining facility. The focus will be the verification of a long-term based stable operation and methods to minimise the costs of producing methane. It will also aim to determine the effectiveness of the methane produced as vehicle fuel.

Osaka Gas has been developing biogas refining technology since 2012 in a bid to effectively utilise unused biogas, promote energy preservation and help protect the environment. The company claims it is able to produce high purity methane gas with the world’s highest efficiency in methane recovery at a rate of over 99%. This has been achieved through Osaka Gas’ proprietary hybrid biogas refining system, which combines a CO2 separation membrane with PSA (Pressure Swing Adsorption) - a technology that selectively adsorbs and removes CO2.

Thailand has been chosen as the location for the pilot due to the prominence of the country’s agriculture industry, meaning it has an abundance of biomass resources. Natural gas fuelled vehicles are also increasingly prevalent in Thailand.