Brazilian biomethane company Zeg Biogas and technology developer W2E Cleantech have teamed up to study new technology to more efficiently generate biogas and biomethane from organic waste. Argus spoke to Zeg chief executive Eduardo Acquaviva about what to expect from the new technologies and the future of the biomethane market after the approval of the fuel of the future bill.
What challenges does this new technology address?
We launched a new technology and business development partnership with W2E Cleantech, a specialist in solutions for waste treatment. These can control temperature, overcoming limitations of horizontal biodigestors, especially with organic matter that has higher solid content.
W2E also brings to the table the biopulp technology, which cuts and separates organic matter allowing the use of more concentrated feedstock and opening more possibilities for types of waste to be digested.
How can new technologies contribute to the biomethane sector?
The use of these technologies opens new possibilities for biogas generation. We have some other partnerships for the purification of this biogas into biomethane, which opens new possibilities for scaling up production.
So, with one of the technologies we use, the minimum volume of biomethane generated is [very high]. Combining technologies, such as membranes and biopulp together with proper management, can also generate biomethane on a smaller scale. This allows the optimization of the investment, because a production project based on a machine that can generate more gas than is needed is not financially feasible.
What does Zeg expect now that the "fuel of the future" bill is law?
The biggest challenge in this market is to be more competitive as we often will compete with fossil fuels. Optimizing investment and being efficient is what will allow biogas to be a better contender product.
