A Lincolnshire food waste recycling operator has launched a spin out company to boost production of sustainable oil-based fuels.

BioteCH₄ uses anaerobic digestion (AD) to recycle food waste into green energy and biofertiliser, a nutrient-rich organic material used to fertilise farmland. As the leading AD operator in the UK, in 2022 BioteCH₄ recycled 555,000 tonnes of organic waste across their six sites, into 280,000 MWh of energy – enough to power 78,000 UK homes for a year.

To enhance the process even further, BioteCH₄ have launched Bisviridi, a new company focused on technological advances within anaerobic digestion, which has developed and patented a process to turn oil and fats waste into biofuel.

The product is called Bio Crude and is a sustainable alternative to oil-based fuels, with a potential for it to be further refined into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

Lee Dobinson, Chief Commercial Officer of Bisviridi, said:

"Not all fats, oils and greases are consumed by the AD process but can still be used for good. The need for large biodiesel companies to find new sources of sustainable waste-oil streams has led us to develop a way of harnessing this waste material and diversify the output of the BioteCH₄ business, increasing revenues and their sustainability.

"It's particularly exciting that the product can be further refined into aviation fuel and could help the aviation industry meet the mandate for 10% SAF by 2030."

Bisviridi has partnered with Alfa Laval, a world leader in heat transfer, centrifugal separation, and fluid handling, who have provided the technology (the Prodec Oil Plus decanter) to turn the fats, oils and greases into the sustainable fuel.

Bisviridi, is borne from BioteCH₄ extensive expertise in AD, the sustainable process of recycling food and organic waste into methane-rich biogas and has been working on the patented process for the past three years. The idea that using the waste oils, fats, and grease and turning into fuel, led to Bisviridi's name - bis viridi means ‘twice green' in Latin.

The Bisviridi process can be incorporated into any AD facility or wastewater facility using the Alfa Laval Prodec Oil Plus decanter. The oil is siphoned off from the organic waste going through the AD process prior to the methanogenesis stage. Once the oils, fats and grease content has been removed from the feedstock, the remaining solid and liquid content is seamlessly recombined, and continues back into the AD system with minimal impact on biogas production. The bio crude that has been separated can have a purity up to 99.5% and can then be sent to refineries to contribute to biofuel production and the SAF market. Using the Bisviridi process together with the Alfa Laval Prodec Oil Plus decanter, BioteCH₄ produces up to, but not limited to 300 litres of oil per hour. This can be turned on and off with no interruption to the existing AD system at the operator's discretion.