Group items tagged

The world's third largest ice cream manufacturer R&R Ice Cream collaborated with Iona Capital and Veolia to convert inedible ice cream waste - the sugar, fat, and protein left behind after cleaning - into biogas that generates power for the UK National Grid. The company uses an anaerobic digestion facility to convert the ice cream waste into biogas.

Elsewhere, a number of high-profile companies, including Apple, Disney, Microsoft and PepsiCo, are experimenting with small renewable energy projects fueled by biogas generated through organic waste. General Electric is another vocal advocate - mainly because it provides a line of industrial generators and combined heat and power systems that can operate using this fuel source.   

This morning, UPS announced that it has entered into an agreement to purchase up to 11.5 million gallon equivalents of renewable biogas a year well into the next decade. This gas, which is also known as renewable natural gas (RNG) or biomethane, is interchangeable with conventional natural gas, by which much of UPS' fleet has long been fueled.

BCC Research reports the global market for anaerobic digestors and landfill gas equipment was estimated at nearly $4.5 billion for 2013. Its study, Waste-Derived Biogas: Global Markets for Anaerobic Digestion Equipment, projects the market to grow to $7 billion by 2018, and register a five-year compound annual growth rate of 9.4 percent 2013 to 2018.

South Africa, where gas and oil company, Sasol, has partnered with GE Power & Water to develop a new system for providing a high level of treatment for industrial wastewater that also recovers biogas for power generation. The new system, called Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor Technology (AnMBR), is transferrable to other industries

U.K. supermarkets Sainsbury announces that one English store is now powered entirely by biogas.

A company created by Stanford University is developing a self-sustaining community in the Netherlands. The 25-home neighborhood will produce its own energy from biogas, solar and geothermal sources and will grow its own food. ReGen Villages describes its focus as "[d]esirable, off-grid-capable neighborhoods comprised of power positive homes, renewable energy, water management, and waste-to-resource systems that are based upon on-going resiliency research -- for thriving families and reduced burdens on local and national governments."

Bear Republic is taking things a step farther: In January, it was the first brewery to buy Cambrian's EcoVolt system, which uses electrically active organisms to clean wastewater for reuse while creating a high-quality biogas that helps offset the heat and electricity needed for Bear's production process

A biogas process being used in Turkey reduces plant operations while providing potato farmers with more sustainable soil nutrients.

IKEA, the world's leading home furnishings retailer, today announced it officially has 'flipped-the-switch' on a fuel cell system installed at its retail location in Emeryville, CA - one of two San Francisco-area stores for the Swedish company. Consistent with the IKEA focus on emerging energy technologies, this project represents the first IKEA endeavor globally to convert biogas into electricity through a clean electro-chemical process