Mitigazione metano da ruminanti

A full-scale pilot plant has been designed to capture methane and carbon dioxide in dairy cattle farms.

The use of Aspen Adsorption software supported the design of the full-scale adsorption plant. The latter consists of two adsorption beds in series to maximize methane uptake because of adsorption competition phenomena. In particular, two different substances are used in the two adsorption beds, one first capturing CO2 and the second able to capture CH4. The pilot plant has been designed by scaling down the simulated process, is now under construction and will be installed by the end of the 2024.

The pilot plant consists of a 30 meters perforated tube that will be positioned in the barn, in front of cattle cubicles. A central suction fan will be used to derive the collected air through the adsorption system, with the same configuration but scaled-down. This pilot plant will facilitate the in-field testing of the already developed adsorbent materials and the obtainment of fundamental data that will be used for the optimization process. All the developed carbon-based materials will be used as soil conditioner to improve the carbon storage and the soil quality. A stand-alone unit or a system which alternates between GHGs capture from the stable and biogas upgrading will be compared and optimized. This approach it is expected to contribute to the economic sustainability of the plant.

Allevatori ruminanti