Application of water based nanofluids in bioscrubber for improvement of biogas sweetening in a pilot scale

In this paper, comprehensive examinations were performed to investigate the effects of nanoparticles on sweetening of biogas which is produced in North Isfahan Waste Water Treatment Plant (NIWWTP) through novel bioscrubbing (BS) method in pilot scale. In the present study, two various nanofluids: Synthesized Silica-water nanofluid with nanoparticle mass fraction of 0.1%wt. (SS100), and Exfoliated Graphene Oxide-water nanofluid with 0.02%wt. (EG0020) were used to intensification of H2S absorption in the first part of BS process. The results showed that absorption capacity of the SS100 and EG0020 nanofluids is far more than the base fluid (distilled water), so the absorption column performance was enhanced. This work also reveals that the significant influence of the nanoparticles in the performance of second part of the bioscrubber (the bioreactor) and it was found that H2S removal was achieved to 98%, 97% and 86% when the BF, SS100 and EG0020 respectively were used as agent fluids. Due to the fact that the absorption of H2S in SS100 nanofluid is higher compared to pure BF and removal efficiency in the bioreactor for this nanofluid is similar to BF, the aforementioned nanofluid (SS-100) was found to be the best choice for enhancement of bioscrubber performance.