Biogas Utilisation for Production of Value-Added Biochemicals Using Perovskite Catalysts(BIOUTIL)

The project at a glance

Start date:

01 Nov 2025
Duration in months:

36
Funding:

Luxembourg National Research Fund
Principal Investigator(s):

Bradley Paul LADEWIG

About

This project aims to valorise the biogenic carbon in biogas by integrating CO₂ methanation with the oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) over advanced perovskite catalysts to produce renewable ethylene. Biogas upgrading currently vents biogenic CO₂, despite its potential as a carbon feedstock for chemicals; here, CO₂ is first methanated to CH₄, then CH₄ is selectively converted to C₂ hydrocarbons in OCM, enabling near-complete transformation of biogenic carbon into value‑added products. The work focuses on designing and synthesising perovskite (ABO₃) catalysts with tailored oxygen mobility, basicity, and coke/sulfur resistance via controlled composition and doping strategies, followed by detailed physicochemical characterisation (XRD, BET, TGA, SEM, TPR, TPD) to link structure and performance. Catalytic testing of CO₂ methanation and OCM will be conducted in a tubular reactor using model biogas feeds, with product distributions quantified by an Agilent 8890 GC, to optimise operating parameters such as temperature, CO₂/H₂ and CH₄/O₂ ratios. Finally, kinetic models for both reactions over bifunctional perovskites will be developed and validated against experimental data to elucidate active sites, quantify carbon conversion and ethylene yields, and guide the design of an integrated single‑reactor process for fully renewable, bio‑derived ethylene.