OBIWAN project: turning organic waste into chemical building blocks
Organic waste streams, such as agricultural residues, are not merely something to dispose of; they hold real potential. The OBIWAN Interreg FWVL Project converts these organic residues into biogas and then into valuable chemical building blocks: hydrogen, solid carbon and methanol. These building blocks can then be used as a raw material for advanced chemicals and more sustainable aviation fuels.
OBIWAN is an Interreg France-Wallonie-Vlaanderen-project coordinated by the Laboratory for Chemical Technology (LCT) at Ghent University, in collaboration with partners from Wallonia (Certech) and France (CNRS and UTC). Each partner contributes its own specialised expertise: in France, this includes biogas production and catalysis; in Flanders, chemical/catalytic reaction engineering, reactor and process design; and in Wallonia, gas treatment, separation, and analysis.
Catalisti also contributes to the project as an associated partner, focusing on communication and dissemination of the project results within OBIWAN, bringing relevant actors together, proposing research activities, valorising expertise and supporting network development.
From biogas to building blocks
Organic waste is converted into biogas through anaerobic digestion. This biogas consists of CH₄ (methane) and CO₂ (carbon dioxide) and is still often burned today. However, OBIWAN aims to take a more sustainable approach by converting this biogas, after purification and separation, into chemical building blocks using carbon-neutral or even carbon-negative processes. These building blocks include H₂ (hydrogen), C (solid carbon) and CH₃OH (methanol). Solid carbon, also known as active carbon, can be used for the adsorption of contaminants from gas streams or in the production of car tires. Methanol can be used as a raw material for aircraft fuels.
Putting innovation into action
The main focus of OBIWAN lies in two key innovations:
- The organic waste that is converted into biogas varies in composition. However, the conversion of biogas into chemicals and fuels requires a stable biogas composition of 60% CH₄ and 40% CO₂, with minimal impurities. OBIWAN will develop an innovative numerical tool to simulate the process and control the reactors, enabling stable biogas production, both in terms of production rate and gas composition.
- Biomethane can be broken down into solid carbon and hydrogen, also known as "turquoise hydrogen". OBIWAN will scale up this process from laboratory to larger scale and will demonstrate the proof of concept in an electrothermal fluidised bed reactor (ETFB) pilot plant, which will be installed at Ghent University.
The project also aims to develop improved techniques for gas purification and separation of biogas, as well as for CO2 conversion into methanol.
Together, these innovations aim to transform undesirable greenhouse gases into valuable chemical building blocks, contributing to climate change mitigation.
Budget
The project has a total cost of 2.6 million euros, of which 60% is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through Interreg France-Wallonie-Vlaanderen. Ghent University receives an additional 10% co‑funding from Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO) and 10% from the Province of East Flanders.
More information
The OBIWAN project runs from 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2028. Follow the project’s LinkedIn page to stay up to date.