CH4 Biogas LLC
CH4 Biogas plants produce renewable energy by anaerobically digesting livestock manure and food-grade organic wastes. Our partner, Bigadan A/S, pioneered the co-digestion concept that has been the operating model for the Danish biogas industry for over 25 years.
Company details
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- Business Type:
- Manufacturer
- Industry Type:
- Bioenergy
- Market Focus:
- Internationally (various countries)
- Year Founded:
- 2008
About Us
CH4 Biogas
Paul Toretta, Bob Blythe and Bigadan A/S formed CH4 Biogas, LLC in 2008 in response to market demand for anaerobic digestion and alternative energy in the United States. The Company has exclusive rights to market, supply, manufacture, install and use Bigadan technology in the United States. CH4 Biogas has a mature and experienced management team, a proven technology and business model, a pipeline of developed projects and access to debt financing guarantees.
Bigadan A/S
Bigadan A/S is a privately held Danish corporation. The company has over 25 years of practical experience designing, building and operating biogas plants. Bigadan’s engineering team developed the first mixed waste biogas plant in Denmark in 1984. Today, it has a reference list of more than 40 facilities worldwide. The Company’s sole focus is building and operating mixed waste biogas plants.
Market Potential
In the US, market and political forces are driving increased development of renewable energy sources. Currently 22 states, including New York, Texas and California, have enacted renewable portfolio standards (RPS) or other state mandates requiring electric utilities to increase their use of renewable energy resources such as wind, solar, and biomass creating a market for renewable energy credits (REC) and increasing the value of energy generated from renewable sources. On the federal level, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 provides a number of incentives designed to spur development of renewable energy facilities, including accelerated depreciation provisions and production tax credits.
American dairy and hog farms generate more than 500 million tons of manure each year. Food processors, restaurants, households and supermarkets generate about 50 million tons of organic waste annually. Only a small fraction of this biomass is producing energy today. Environmental concerns related to waste management along with a desire to be perceived as supporting “green” projects motivate livestock producers and food processors interest in renewable energy.
In the US market, a single large dairy farm produces enough manure to support a profitable renewable energy facility. There are more than 500 dairies in the US milking more than 2000 cows that are potential sites for mixed waste biogas plants. The Company’s first biogas plants will be located on dairies in the Northeastern and Northwestern US where there are clusters of livestock agriculture along with food processing facilities and relatively high energy prices.
Alternate siting opportunities are cattle or hog slaughter facilities and food processing facilities. There are more than 700 federally inspected meat processing plants in the US and in New York State alone more than 300 food processing facilities. The Company believes that several hundred mixed waste biogas plants will be built in the US over the next few years to tap the energy potential of livestock manure and food processing waste.
Partners
Bigadan A/S has more than 25 years of international experience in biogas technology. Bigadan and its team of engineers and technicians have built more than 30 large biogas plants in 11 different countries.
Bigadan specializes in practical biogas application technology with main emphasis on large co-digestion biogas plants with a typical plant size/capacity of 200-600 t biomass/day.
Bigadan's products include:
- large turnkey plants
- engineering
- process equipment
- service and maintenance
- operation of biogas plants - Bigadan owns and operates 3 biogas plants
At the biogas plant the typical input is liquid manure/animal slurry and organic industrial waste, typically from a group of suppliers. In the biogas plant the biomass is transformed into environmentally friendly fertilizer and CO2 neutral biogas. Afterwards the biogas is used in gas engines for production of electricity and district heating or upgraded to natural gas.
Increasing environmental requirements for the reduction of phosphorous, nitrogen and CO2 emissions from farming and industries are met with Bigadan's biogas plants.