An "innovative" project that aims to develop a technology for producing renewable natural gas from waste, including forestry waste, will be led by a Portuguese laboratory, in an investment of 10.3 million euros.

The project, called "Hyfuelup", will be developed by the Bioref Collaborative Laboratory, in an international consortium of 11 academic and business entities, including the National Laboratory for Energy and Geology, the Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre (IPP), Dourogás Renovável and Circlemolecule.

"It is a gas that is in all respects equivalent to natural gas, but has a renewable origin. This project will advance according to an innovative technology that is based on a gasification process", explained Gonçalo Lourinho, coordinator of Bioref in Portalegre, through the IPP. According to him, the gasification (biomass) will be placed at a temperature "between 800 and a thousand degrees celsius" to be able to convert biomass into a fuel gas, consisting of a series of gases, including methane and hydrogen. The next step, Gonçalo Lourinho explained, is to transform this gas into "99%" methane. "It is innovative because normally biomethane is not produced this way, but by a biological degradation process," he stressed. 

According to the coordinator, in which the IPP is responsible for the production of hydrogen for the "Hyfuelup", "the focus" of the project is to respond to the sectors of transport and mobility. "We want to innovate and prove that it is possible to produce this biomethane and transport it to areas where there are no connections to the natural gas network," he said. The project, which is accompanied by the National Innovation Agency (ANI), will begin at the end of this year and will be developed over four years, with the production unit of this gas installed in Tondela. 

Check the full article at: dinheirovivo.pt