Industrial biogas
In contrast to landfill gas and even agricultural biogas where many projects are underway, biogas projects that use industrial substrates and work closely with their ‘host’ are still relatively rare. However, particularly in the food and beverage industry, whether in distilleries, breweries, sugar plants, meat processing or other forms of food preparation, the logic for such projects is often compelling. For example they can help companies reduce the cost of disposing of unwanted ‘byproducts’ or waste from their processes, while providing an environmentally friendly source of process heat that avoids reliance on fossil fuels – where volatile and increasing prices and environmental factors pose many problems.
Visualisation of industrial waste biogas project
Vireo Energy and industrial waste biogas projects
Vireo Energy is able to provide the full set of services to build, own and operate an industrial waste biogas installation, including seeking approvals, managing construction and ongoing operations, and can fully finance such investments.
The key to success
The key to success with such projects is a close integration between the industrial supplier of the waste and the energy plant, to design a system that is ‘fit to purpose’ and provides a high reliability of the total system. Such projects typically take around 2 years from start to finish and require large investments for tailored design, environmental and building approvals. Thus, such projects require the resources of a larger company with long term ambitions. At Vireo Energy, we develop such projects in a collaborative manner with our industrial partners, typically as follows:
1. An initial discussion around project concept and ‘pre-feasibility‘
We assess the suitability of the substrate, the volumes and logistics of it, the energy needs of the industrial partner etc. From this, we can establish if there is a basis for further investigation. If so, we sign a LOI as a basis to commence a more active commercial and technical evaluation phase.
2. A joint feasibility study
This is led by Vireo Energy and in the process we develop a business plan and feasibility study. We address all the key issues such as substrate supply and suitability, the technical biogas solution, the energy production system etc. This is used as the basis for investment decision.
3. Investment decision
We move into project execution where Vireo takes the lead. We are open to a variety of models for such projects with our partners, from ‘arms-length’ commercial agreements, to joint venture models.
