<p>Biogas upgrading is a crucial step in the production process to achieve high biomethane purity conforming to the fuel standards. Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) technology, alongside absorption methods, has emerged as a leading choice for biogas upgrading in recent years. The effectiveness of PSA hinges on the affinity of the adsorbent, particularly for CO₂ molecules, in order to minimize the methane loss. In this study, we synthesized and evaluated aluminum formate (ALF) as a potential adsorbent for upgrading palm oil mill effluent (POME) biogas containing 45% CO₂ and 55% CH₄ to meet the fuel quality standard of 96%. Characterization of the adsorbent was conducted using SEM, FTIR, XRD, and CO₂ adsorption isotherms. Results from the characterization were then integrated into an Aspen Adsorption model to emulate the PSA system and assess the performance of the synthesized ALF under the actual industrial process conditions. The PSA system using ALF has been evaluated under three different heat transfer systems. Results from the findings demonstrate that ALF exhibited favorable CO₂ adsorption properties, which lead to the production of biomethane with the highest bio-methane purity of 98.35% surpassing the methane purity in natural gas fuel standard of 96% under a non-adiabatic or thin wall heat transfer mode. The present state of the industrial PSA system produced 86.48% methane purity, which would not be able to meet the natural gas fuel standard for transportation if it were to be used to upgrade POME biogas. Future research should explore the long-term stability and regeneration capacity of ALF to ensure its viability for continuous industrial application.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>