Electrochaea honored with the AD and BiogasIndustry Award

Aafko Scheringa, Senior Director of Sales, accepts the AD and Biogas Industry Award for Electrochaea. © Electrochaea

Electrochaea, one of the world’s leading providers of Power-to-X technology, has been awarded the AD and Biogas Industry Award in Birmingham, UK. The award, presented by the World Biogas Association in collaboration with the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association, recognizes global excellence and innovation in the anaerobic digestion and biogas sector. Electrochaea received the award in the Research and Innovation category. The company offers technology to produce synthetic methane, a CO₂-neutral, renewable energy source that replaces fossil natural gas and can be stored and transported in the existing gas grid.

For the international jury of experts from the biogas sector, Electrochaea was an example of the innovation, commitment and progress that are driving the global shift towards sustainable circular economy solutions for energy supply. The jury was impressed by the innovative use of archaea, billion-year-old microorganisms, to produce synthetic methane from hydrogen and recycled CO₂ in bioreactors. The CO₂ can come from various sources. This includes CO₂, which is emitted during the production of organic biogas. This way, around twice as much renewable methane (biomethane + synthetic methane) can be produced from the same initial quantity of organic residues. The BioCat methane produced using Electrochaea technology has the same utilization properties as fossil natural gas. It can be used flexibly as an energy source, storage medium and fuel, for example for gas-powered ship engines. In contrast to fossil natural gas, however, BioCat gas has a significantly lower CO₂ footprint. The effectiveness and market readiness of Electrochaea technology has been successfully demonstrated on an industrial scale in pilot plants in Denmark and Switzerland.

“In just a few years, our research and development team has developed a key technology for a sustainable energy supply and brought it to market readiness. We are very proud of this,” says Dr. Doris Hafenbradl, Managing Director and CTO of Electrochaea. “Our biological methanation technology enables CO₂-intensive industries and municipalities to make their energy supply economical, safe and sustainable and significantly reduce their CO₂ footprint. Receiving the AD and Biogas Industry Award is a great acknowledgment for the entire Electrochaea team.”