SoCalGas is furthering research into a tiny organism’s role in producing RNG
A demonstration plant built by Southern California Gas Company at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, Colorado, continues to show promise for the future of renewable natural gas energy.
SoCalGas recently received an additional $700,000 in funding for its power-to-gas project, which was selected by the U.S Department of Energy in 2017 to receive cost-share support for the new technology capable of storing excess renewable energy, SoCalGas spokesperson Melissa Bailey told American Gas.
Power-to-gas technology takes excess renewable electricity that would otherwise go to waste and converts it to hydrogen, which is then combined with carbon dioxide and fed to a bioreactor where organisms produce RNG that can be used in everything from home appliances to industrial processes, engines and power plants.
The conversion of renewable electricity to RNG enables long-term, monthly or seasonal storage of large amounts of carbon-free power, according to officials at SoCalGas.
The project builds on groundbreaking research done at the University of Chicago more than a decade ago to answer the challenge of what to do with the excess energy produced by wind and solar power.
At the center of the power-to-gas technology is a strain of methanogenic Archaea—a microorganism that takes in hydrogen and carbon dioxide and puts out RNG. Laurens Mets, associate professor of molecular genetics and cell biology at the University of Chicago, adapted it for industrial use.
SoCalGas’ ongoing research with NREL hopes to determine if the bioreactor can be operated efficiently and economically and fully uncover the technology’s potential to store large quantities of RNG.
“Archaea are uniquely capable of handling fluctuating levels of hydrogen produced by electrolyzers as wind and solar generation systems cycle up and down,” Kevin Harrison, senior engineer for NREL, said in a news release. “That’s in part why we believe this technology could provide a superior large-scale, cost-effective solution for storing excess renewable energy using our nation’s natural gas distribution system.”