Periodic Reporting for period 2 - CANMILK (Carbon Neutral Milk)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2024-03-01 al 2025-08-31
The European farming is facing a great challenge: How to maintain domestic agricultural production while cutting down greenhouse gas emissions? Agriculture accounts for about 10% of total greenhouse gas emissions at European level. A significant proportion of these (around 54%) is methane, most of which is produced by rumination and belching by cattle. In the EU area there are around 77 million cows on 1.8 million cattle farms. Each of these is a tiny point source of highly dilute methane, but the combined contribution reaches to total 158 MT CO2eq. of methane emissions annually. The CANMILK project is developing an innovative technology based on non-thermal plasma. This will help the cattle farms to cut down methane emissions and achieve carbon neutrality by 2035.
The challenge of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions is that they are either produced outside in open air or, when produced indoors, diluted in high amount of ventilation air. This makes them technically difficult to tackle. The concentration of methane in the indoor air of a cattle barn is in the range of tens to hundreds of parts per million (ppm). Therefore, neither commercial utilization of methane nor the direct thermal combustion is feasible.
Currently there is no suitable way to treat dilute methane in animal barns. In order to reduce methane emissions quickly and reach the carbon neutrality by 2035, the new technical solutions must be efficient, have high potential for fast commercialization, and have investment and operation costs that are affordable for the farmers. This is the primary target of the CANMILK project.
The ambitious goal of CANMILK is to develop novel technology for methane conversion to CO2 which is less harmful compound with 28 times lower global warming potential than methane. Non-thermal plasma, a.k.a cold plasma, is today in everyday consumer use for example in fluorescent lamps and in ozone generators. The CANMILK project converts this technology to an innovative high-tech and low-cost solution to fight against ppm level methane emissions.
In working towards this challenge, the CANMILK consortium aims to develop a concept, technology and network that can have significant impact in the following areas: 1) a simple, efficient, and cost-effective equipment for methane abatement at the dairy and meat farms; 2) targeted overall cost below 80 €/T CO2eq; 3) targeted methane conversion of 90%; 4) a good understanding of the socio-economic and environmental feasibility of plasma-based methane abatement; 5) increased awareness of environmental solutions available for GHG-abatement in agriculture.
CANMILK project is organized in 6 Work Packages which have been carefully designed to allow the realization of the project objectives in an effective and timely manner and promote cooperation between partners. Besides Work Packages dedicated for Management, Dissemination and Exploitation, CANMILK has four Work Packages focusing on the technical development. The development of specific units will be carried out for adsorber, catalyst and plasma technologies. All of these components will be brought together to build a proof-of-concept unit which will be tested with simulated barn air. The techno-economics and modelling of the system will also be carried out.
The challenge of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions is that they are either produced outside in open air or, when produced indoors, diluted in high amount of ventilation air. This makes them technically difficult to tackle. The concentration of methane in the indoor air of a cattle barn is in the range of tens to hundreds of parts per million (ppm). Therefore, neither commercial utilization of methane nor the direct thermal combustion is feasible.
Currently there is no suitable way to treat dilute methane in animal barns. In order to reduce methane emissions quickly and reach the carbon neutrality by 2035, the new technical solutions must be efficient, have high potential for fast commercialization, and have investment and operation costs that are affordable for the farmers. This is the primary target of the CANMILK project.
The ambitious goal of CANMILK is to develop novel technology for methane conversion to CO2 which is less harmful compound with 28 times lower global warming potential than methane. Non-thermal plasma, a.k.a cold plasma, is today in everyday consumer use for example in fluorescent lamps and in ozone generators. The CANMILK project converts this technology to an innovative high-tech and low-cost solution to fight against ppm level methane emissions.
In working towards this challenge, the CANMILK consortium aims to develop a concept, technology and network that can have significant impact in the following areas: 1) a simple, efficient, and cost-effective equipment for methane abatement at the dairy and meat farms; 2) targeted overall cost below 80 €/T CO2eq; 3) targeted methane conversion of 90%; 4) a good understanding of the socio-economic and environmental feasibility of plasma-based methane abatement; 5) increased awareness of environmental solutions available for GHG-abatement in agriculture.
CANMILK project is organized in 6 Work Packages which have been carefully designed to allow the realization of the project objectives in an effective and timely manner and promote cooperation between partners. Besides Work Packages dedicated for Management, Dissemination and Exploitation, CANMILK has four Work Packages focusing on the technical development. The development of specific units will be carried out for adsorber, catalyst and plasma technologies. All of these components will be brought together to build a proof-of-concept unit which will be tested with simulated barn air. The techno-economics and modelling of the system will also be carried out.
Over the first three years of the CANMILK project, extensive research and development efforts have focused on advancing a plasma-based system to reduce methane emissions in barns. Core activities included modeling and experimental studies of plasma–catalyst interactions, the development of adsorbents to concentrate dilute methane, and the optimization of catalysts for CH₄ oxidation. The University of Antwerp developed chemical kinetics models and a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model to simulate gas-phase reactions and flow dynamics in O2 and H2 plasma reactors. Combined with experimental studies at the University of Maastricht, these findings revealed that warm O2 and H2 plasmas are ineffective for removing the low methane concentrations typical of barn air. Based on this evidence, the consortium identified barn-air plasma as a more feasible and scalable solution. This shift led to the development of a novel fluid model for microwave air plasma, which will be benchmarked against experimental data to define optimal conditions for integration into the proof-of-concept system.
Further progress was achieved in adsorbent development, enabling methane concentration increases from 20–200 ppm to 200–2000 ppm, and in designing catalysts compatible with the plasma system. Técnico Lisboa advanced theoretical and experimental understanding through mesoscopic models of plasma–catalyst interactions. At VTT, construction of a movable proof-of-concept unit integrating plasma and catalyst components is underway, with commissioning and testing scheduled for late 2025. Additionally, barn modeling has provided valuable insights into methane dispersal and ventilation requirements, supporting ongoing techno-economic assessments to estimate system costs and identify viable configurations for large-scale implementation.
Further progress was achieved in adsorbent development, enabling methane concentration increases from 20–200 ppm to 200–2000 ppm, and in designing catalysts compatible with the plasma system. Técnico Lisboa advanced theoretical and experimental understanding through mesoscopic models of plasma–catalyst interactions. At VTT, construction of a movable proof-of-concept unit integrating plasma and catalyst components is underway, with commissioning and testing scheduled for late 2025. Additionally, barn modeling has provided valuable insights into methane dispersal and ventilation requirements, supporting ongoing techno-economic assessments to estimate system costs and identify viable configurations for large-scale implementation.
The project introduces an innovative approach by developing an integrated plasma-based system designed to directly treat highly dilute methane emissions within the barn environment. Extensive research has resulted in multiple scientific publications, advanced kinetic and computational fluid dynamics models, and the identification of suitable adsorbent materials and catalysts for methane capture and conversion. This work has established a unique interdisciplinary workflow that combines plasma modeling, catalyst and adsorbent design, and process integration.
A major milestone is the ongoing construction of a movable proof-of-concept unit, representing the first practical attempt to integrate these components into a single system for real-world testing under barn-like conditions. This prototype marks a significant step toward scalable plasma-based methane mitigation and will generate critical experimental data for further optimization.
In parallel, detailed barn-air models and on-site air monitoring campaigns have been developed to better understand methane dispersion and airflow patterns in dairy barns. These studies provide essential input for techno-economic assessments and support the design of efficient, cost-effective strategies for methane reduction.
A major milestone is the ongoing construction of a movable proof-of-concept unit, representing the first practical attempt to integrate these components into a single system for real-world testing under barn-like conditions. This prototype marks a significant step toward scalable plasma-based methane mitigation and will generate critical experimental data for further optimization.
In parallel, detailed barn-air models and on-site air monitoring campaigns have been developed to better understand methane dispersion and airflow patterns in dairy barns. These studies provide essential input for techno-economic assessments and support the design of efficient, cost-effective strategies for methane reduction.