ANAEROBIC DIGESTION

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a technology that has made a huge impact to the green energy market helping to produce bio-methane gas. IMEM offers a fantastic pre-treatment solution to further unlock the potential of this industry. By applying our industrial high-strength microwaves we can break down and hydrolyse tough-to-digest feedstocks. This makes the AD process more productive and helps to increase the return on investment.

Increase gas generation

By providing high-strength microwave energy directly into the feedstock we are able to hydrolyse cellulose, hemicellulose and starch components present in most feedstocks. Typically, in a normal AD system, these components require a long time to break down. This, combined with the nature of mixing in AD processes, means that these compounds are often not digested effectively. However, with an IMEM microwave breaking down these components, we are able to generate more methane per tonne of feedstock used. Typically we see increases in gas generation of 25-35%, more than enough to offset the energy costs of running our technology.

Speed up digestion

As well as increasing the quantity of methane gas generated, IMEM technology is able to speed up the generation of that gas. This allows operators to effectively reduce the retention time of their vessels or increase their throughput.

With IMEM technology a new AD plant can be constructed to be much smaller and more compact allowing for reduced capital costs In turn this helps to reduce the payback time and increases the rate of return for a potential AD process.

For existing AD sites operating with a gate fee structure, the opportunity is to reduce the retention time with IMEM technology and increase the feedstock flow rate to help generate more income from your existing asset.

Process difficult feedstocks

IMEM microwaves work particularly well on tough-to-digest waste feedstocks with high cellulosic contents. Typically these feedstocks are not used extensively due to the fact they give low gas yields and require high retention times. However, with the benefits laid out above IMEM can enable the use of these more abundant but less productive feedstocks.

This opens up new opportunities for the industry to grow sustainably as opposed to relying on purpose-grown energy crops as it has done in the past. Indeed we have already conducted many tests on various tough feedstocks including potato peelings, grass/rye silage and abattoir waste (along with many others). We may already have results for a waste material like yours. Contact us today to get more information on the tests we have completed as well as information on our facilities and partners for conducting new tests.