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Supercharge Biogas Production

Boost Digester Biogas Production and Methane Content for Higher Methane Capture

Accelerate, Increase, and Stabilize Digestion Process at Any Facility

iBioBooster Systems™ (iBB Systems™) apply bioacceleration and bioaugmentation to increase a digester system’s methane capture

At industrial-scale digesters in Italy and China, iBB Systems have raised production of biogas and percentage methane content, increasing digester methane capture in the range of 10% to 25+%

The iBB System

A process comprising biotechnologies, hardware, and software
Developed specifically to realize the full energetic potential of organic wastes by prioritizing increase of a digester’s production of biogas and methane content as much as possible
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Typically is housed in a container-sized unit (fermenter tanks can be located outside container) sited near an existing digester, operating off-line of the digester but connected to it.
Uses only microbes already present in the host digester system and standard nutrients.
Complements other measures that enhance host digester efficiency.
Can be applied at digester systems of any design processing any organic feedstock or combinations.
BB functionalities can be integrated in the design of new digester systems.

Graphic Video illustrating Positioning, Scale, and Main Components of iBB System at a Two-Tank Digester System (fermenters positioned outside container)

What an iBB System Does

Combines bioacceleration and bioaugmentation to increase a digester system’s biological resiliency and methane capture

Accelerates Microbial Multiplication

Rapidly multiplies and sustains microbial populations already present in a digester’s microbiome central to the methanogenic process and its stabilization

Enhances Microbial Resilience

Improves the stability and resilience of a digester feedstock’s native methane-producing microbial populations

Boosts Methane Capture

Accelerates and increases a digester’s production of biogas with higher methane content
Our BIE technology applies intelligent, automated control of oxygen-requiring microbial communities to improve a variety of aerobic bioconversion processes.

How iBB Systems Work

iBB Systems use bioacceleration and bioaugmentation approaches to improve digester performance.

Sample Withdrawal

Samples (1-3 cubic meters each) of a digester’s organic material are regularly withdrawn and sent to the iBB unit for analysis and methanogen enrichment.

Accelerated Microbial Growth

Under optimized conditions — using only indigenous microbes present in the sample, and common nutrients and chemicals — an iBB System accelerates reproduction of methane-producing microbes, increasing populations in the sample as much as 100 thousand times or more in a few days.

Bioaugmentation

Each enriched sample is returned to the digester system, bioaugmenting the digester system’s microbiome with boosted populations of its own native microbes.

Ongoing Cycle

The cycle repeats, building and sustaining the digester’s methanogenic microbiome and biogas production with higher methane content.

Phased Digester Systems

Multiple separate coordinated iBB Units can continually manage different microbial populations optimized for each phase or for combined phases of biogas production.
Interior views of an iBB System in a container unit

Improve Anaerobic Digester Performance with iBB Systems

iBB Systems offer digester owners, operators, investors, and developers multiple possible economic, environmental, and system management benefits

Increased Revenue from Same Digester and Feedstock

  • More complete digestion of organics
  • Increased biogas production with higher methane content, increasing methane capture
  • Increased revenues from biogas, electricity, and biomethane sales
  • Increased revenues from LCFS, REC and methane emission reduction credits

Enhanced Digester Stability and Reliability

  • Improved digester stability and reliability
  • Increased resistance to shocks and system imbalances
  • Faster recovery from system upset or failure
  • Improved host digester monitoring and process control

Additional Benefits

  • Reduced reliance on offsite sources for onsite energy demands
  • Increased throughput capacity for existing digesters and reduced size requirements for new digesters allowed by accelerated digestion
  • Easier environmental management of digestate and wastewater
  • Reduced costs for external-source biota and enzymes

Improved Digester Control, Automation, and Testing

  • System automation and remote monitoring capabilities
  • Easy pre-testing of proposed digester system changes
  • Greater transparency of biological process performance

Proven iBB System Success in the Field

Expanding Applications Beyond Anaerobic Digesters
Our advanced microbial acceleration technologies can benefit other processes by accelerating and improving biological reactions across a variety of large-scale applications.
Potential Applications

IT Iraci Borgia Farm

Perugia, Italy
  • → 1 MW biogas-to-power plant
  • → Digester System: Twin CSTRs (Continuous Stirred-Tank Reactors) plus post-digester reactor
  • → Feedstock: Dairy by-products & winery/ag waste
  • → See footnote 1, below
>30%
Methane Capture per unit of feedstock

CN Hubei Jian Feng Pig Farm

Huangshi, China
  • → Evaluating 1.4 MW biogas potential
  • → Digester System: Single Horizontal Plug-Flow Digester
  • → Feedstock: Swine manure & slaughterhouse waste
>40%
Methane Capture Over Baseline

CN Cassava-to-Alcohol Distillery

Jiangsu Province, China
  • → Single 5,000m³ tank digester
  • → Digester System: Inter-circulation (IC) digester
  • → Feedstock: Distillery wastewater
  • → See footnote 2, below
>25%
Methane Capture Over Average of 19 Identical Digesters at Facility

IT Biogas-to-Power Plants

Ravenna & Campiano, Italy
  • → 1 MW biogas-to-power plants
  • → Digester System: Primary CSTR Digester + Post-Digester
  • → Feedstock: Corn silage, beets, & other ag waste
>25%
Methane Capture Over Baseline
1 – Independent performance verification conducted at the Center for Biomass Research, University of Perugia.
2 – Independent verification: Technical paper available (Abstract link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479721024464?via%3Dihub)

iBB Systems Can Enhance Other Bioconversion Processes

Expanding Applications Beyond Anaerobic Digesters
Our advanced microbial acceleration technologies can benefit other processes by accelerating and improving biological reactions across a variety of large-scale applications.
Potential Applications

Biofuels Production

Increase efficiency of large-scale processes that use microbial action to generate methanol, hydrogen, and other renewable fuels or fuel precursors.

Environmental Cleanup

Accelerate breakdown of organic pollutants in municipal wastewater or in industrial fluids such as those used in hydraulic fracturing.
Bio-Improved Efficiency Systems (BIE) for Aerobic Processes
BIE Systems extend iBB principles of automation, bioacceleration, and bioaugmentation to aerobic processes (those requiring oxygen), for rapidly increasing aerobic microbial populations.

Boost Performance

Accelerate and elevate performance in processes where oxygen-using bacteria are essential, including wastewater treatment aerobic digestion and commercial-scale composting.

Improve Stability

Improve process stability and consistency, even under changing operating conditions.

Reduce Costs

Lower operating costs by improving throughput and reducing the need for chemical additives.

Integrate Advanced Controls

Integrate advanced hardware, software, and biological controls to increase process efficiency.
“Although academic knowledge about the microbiome, the engine driving the AD process, has been accumulating, the use of this knowledge for the innovation of anaerobic digestion technologies is still scarce.”
Kretschmar, Nikolaous M.* · Anaerobic Digestion in the 21st Century, Bioengineering, 2020; 7(4):157
Primary Benefits

ENHANCING ANAEROBIC DIGESTION OF ORGANIC WASTES TO PROVIDE:

INCREASED BIOGAS PRODUCTION

INCREASED METHANE CONTENT IN BIOGAS

Increased Profit Margins
Increased Revenues
Reduced Operating Costs
ADDITIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS