IMSPEX Diagnostics Ltd advances testing of biomethane as green energy source - Case Study

Technology business IMSPEX Diagnostics Ltd partnered with NPL to advance its testing capability of biomethane. The project aimed to unlock major commercial potential for IMSPEX, drive forward European industry standards and advance the use of biogas as a renewable energy source.

Challenge
The UK is increasingly harnessing the potential of biogas produced naturally at wastewater treatment plants and landfill sites as a source of green energy.

Biomethane is produced by the anaerobic digestion of organic matter such as sewage, manure and plant material. But within biomethane are siloxanes which, when found at higher levels, can cause damage to the power generation equipment being used to turn the gas into electricity.

Siloxanes are found within many personal care and industrial products such as shampoo and are silicone-based compounds that are generally used for their softening or moisturising action.

IMSPEX, which is based in Abercynon, Wales, looked to deploy its existing GC-IMS testing platform to analyse and measure the levels of siloxanes.

The project focused on detecting siloxanes at amount fraction in the low nmol mol-1 range.

IMSPEX’s proprietary analytical instrument platform combines Gas Chromatography (GC) with Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS) to detect gaseous compounds in a mixture of analytes, in a highly sensitive and accurate way.

IMSPEX joined forces with NPL through an Analysis for Innovators (A4I) project to measure siloxanes at trace concentrations and ensure robust validation of these results.

Through the scheme, IMSPEX aimed to build confidence in the accuracy of its GC-IMS Silox device, which has been developed to be used onsite at landfill and wastewater plants.

The project also provided IMSPEX with an additional opportunity of increasing the credibility of their technology with respect to industry ISO standards, which are driven by the industry’s current measurement capability.