Ductor links up with ES Engineering Services to boost biogas in North America
Finland-based biotechnology company Ductor Corp. has announced a new partnership with California-headquarted ES Engineering Services to boost the biogas industry in North America.
Together, Ductor and ES will work to integrate Ductor fermentation technology within existing and new biogas plants located in North America.
ES will provide all technical design and project management services required for the implementation of Ductor’s technology.
Alongside the production of biogas, Ductor’s microbiology-based technology can improve waste management and nutrient recycling.
In a statement, Ductor said: “Ductor and ES believe that Ductor fermentation technology is exciting news for the biogas industry, which has struggled with high operational costs and is in need of new solutions to help provide long-term stability and growth.
“The microbiological method developed and patented by Ductor improves the profitability of biogas plants significantly through enabling the use of high-grade, yet incredibly economical, feedstock in the production of biogas.”
Biogas power
Ductor’s technology harnesses the power of underutilised biomass with high nitrogen content, such as poultry manure and many other organic materials. The fermentation technology extracts nitrogen at an early stage, prior to the biogas production process. It then simultaneously creates by-products with commercial value, specifically, ammonia or ammonium sulfate.
In addition, Ductor’s method is able to recover nitrogen and phosphorus from organic material, which are problematic from an environmental perspective. As a result, the biogas production process becomes cleaner, more manageable and can have an even great environmental benefit.
Ductor is headquartered in Helsinki and has been investigating the ammonification of high nitrogen substrates since 2009. Currently, Ductor has ongoing projects in Europe, and the team is in active discussions with customers in Asia Pacific and North America.
“We are confident in the cooperation with ES Engineering within North America based on their competence and long-term experience in the biogas industry,” said Ari Ketola, CEO of Ductor Corp. “We fully trust ES Engineering to be successful in their role as our system integrator and we strongly believe that through partnering with them we will not only achieve our growth targets, but exceed them.”
“We have been very impressed with the technical capabilities and vision of the Ductor Team and believe that they represent what we believe to be a game changer for upgrading and new construction of anaerobic digestion facilities,’’ said Bernard Sheff, PE, Vice President of Engineering for ES Engineering Services and chairman of the American Biogas Council.
