Anaergia to build one of Japan’s largest biogas facilities

The Kasaoka project is Anaergia’s second with Toyo; the company also recently built a waste-to-energy facility for Toyo in Yabu City, Japan. (Photo: Anaergia)

Anaergia Inc. has been commissioned to build one of Japan’s largest biogas plants in Kasaoka, Okayama. The facility, constructed for Toyo Energy Solution Co. Ltd., will produce renewable electricity using biogas made by anaerobically digesting cow manure from Okayama Prefecture farms. Anaergia will design, engineer, install and commission the plant, with Toyo serving as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor.

The plant is expected to consume approximately 250 tonnes per day of cow manure from the region and use the resulting biogas to fuel a combined heat and power (CHP) generator system capable of producing roughly 1.2 MW of clean renewable energy. It is estimated the plant will generate sufficient electricity to power about 2200 homes each year, while preventing about 13500 tonnes of CO2e in emissions from the manure and from fossil fuels used to generate energy.

“Wastes such as manure, sewage biosolids and food scraps create two-thirds of all point source emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas that is 85 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Stopping these methane emissions from waste must be a central tactic in curbing global warming,” said Andrew Benedek, chairman and CEO of Anaergia. “This new bioenergy plant will not only help Japan reduce methane emissions from manure, it will also reduce the need for LNG to generate electricity.”

Anaergia recently built a facility for Toyo in Yabu City, Japan, that converts farm and food waste into renewable energy. This latest facility will use Anaergia’s advanced anaerobic digestion technology and other proprietary resource recovery and treatment equipment.

“Toyo Group is pleased to partner once again with Anaergia to develop a new biogas plant, as we consider them to be the global leader in anaerobic digestion technology,” said Yoshimitsu Okada, president director of Toyo Group. “We look forward to building many more biogas plants with Anaergia to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, produce renewable power and help Japan achieve net-zero by 2050.”