ABOUT BIO-TRONIC ENERGY-CA, LLC (BTE-CA)
THE IMPORTANCE OF MAXIMIZING METHANE CAPTURE FROM ORGANIC WASTES
BTE-CA’S MISSION AND BUSINESS MODEL FOCUS ON IMPROVING METHANE CAPTURE BY EXISTING AND NEW ANAEROBIC DIGESTERS TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVE USE OF THE METHANE CONTENT OF ORGANIC WASTE AND REDUCE UNCONTROLLED METHANE EMISSIONS.
“Methane is the next crucial, fast, climate-stabilization prize. There’s simply nothing that comes close for securing our near-term climate future…”
– Rick Duke, Special Envoy for Climate
“Cutting methane emissions is the single fastest, most effective way there is to slow the rate of warming right now.”
– Ilissa Ocko, Senior Climate Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund
“METHANE IS MORE THAN 25 TIMES AS POTENT AS CARBON DIOXIDE AT TRAPPING HEAT IN THE ATMOSPHERE.”
– United States Environmental Protection Agency
“Cutting methane is the strongest lever we have to slow Climate Change over the next 25 years…We need international cooperation to urgently reduce methane emissions as much as possible this decade.”
– Inger Andersen, Executive Director of United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)
The Role of Anaerobic Digesters in Reducing Methane Emissions
When organic materials are left to decompose naturally in oxygen-free (anaerobic) environments like landfills and manure lagoons, methane-generating microorganisms (“methanogens”) digest some of the material and produce a biogas consisting primarily of methane. Anaerobic digesters allow that process to take place in a closed environment that captures the methane so it can be used in a beneficial way. BTE-CA offers integrated technologies that significantly increase the ability of existing and new anaerobic digesters to capture methane.
When the methane captured in anaerobic digesters is burned for useful purposes such as transportation, heating, or generation of electricity, it leaves CO2 – in the short term, a much less potent greenhouse gas – as a waste product. The net result is a much lower impact on global warming than would have resulted if the organic materials had been left to decompose naturally, without anaerobic digestion, as still is allowed to occur at the majority of the world’s dairy and livestock farms and related operations, urban landfills, and wastewater and sewage treatment facilities.
The iBB System for Anaerobic Digesters:
- Accelerates multiplication of methane-producing microorganisms (methanogens) in the host digester, increasing the amount and methane content of biogas the digester produces, and thus the total amount of methane captured.
- Is delivered and operated in shipping container-sized units positioned adjacent to or near any existing or new digester and connected to the digester with two small pipes.
- Can be back-fitted to any operating digester without interrupting its operations.
- Can be planned / designed into new digesters.
- Is connected to a host digester to (1) extract small samples (e.g., 1 cubic meter) of organic matter for analysis and methanogen culturing and enrichment in small (1-3 cubic meter) incubator tanks in the iBB System unit; (2) return the methanogen-enriched material to the digester after the methanogen concentration has increased by a factor of 10³-10⁸, significantly boosting the methanogen concentrations and the amount and methane concentration of the biogas generated in the digester; and (3) repeat such cycles at optimized intervals.
- Enhances anaerobic digester production of biogas with high methane content in processing diverse organic feedstocks:
- Dairy, livestock, and poultry manure
- Agricultural crop wastes, agro-industrial residues, and energy crops
- Sewage and waste water at Water Resource Recovery Facilities (WRRFs)
- Municipal organic wastes (e.g., food waste, plant clippings, fats/oil/grease)
- Optionally, an iBB also can be connected to the host digester’s automated control system to provide enhanced monitoring, control, and stability of digester operation.
How We Work With Digester Owner/Operator Clients
A potential digester performance services project typically begins with a Feasibility Study (FS) (3-4 weeks) to assess current system performance, identify issues, and outline candidate solutions. If the potential project is a digester system performance improvement project, the FS will estimate the potential for improvement in digester methane capture obtainable through the iBB System technology.
An FS is conducted under a mutual non-disclosure agreement. The digester system owner/operator provides us a basic schematic of the subject digester system, small samples of feedstock and digestate, and available data on current digester system performance. A digester plant site visit is helpful.
The FS Report will provide a projected estimate of the potential for improving biogas production quantity and quality (percentage CH4, CO2, H2S content) obtainable through the iBB System technology. The report will suggest possible modes of connecting an iBB to the digester system and operating the iBB to optimize digester system performance.
iBB Services digester performance improvement projects are provided on a negotiated project- specific basis.