CH Four Biogas Inc.
CH Four Biogas, industry leaders dedicated to the development and implementation of innovative and progressive anaerobic digestion technology throughout North and South America. CH Four Biogas specializes in the design, installation, optimization and maintenance of anaerobic digestion systems for the agricultural, industrial and municipal sectors, and offers complete system engineering and design, construction management and system optimization and maintenance services to forward-thinking agricultural, municipal and industrial managers.
Company details
Find locations served, office locations
- Business Type:
- Service provider
- Industry Type:
- Bioenergy
- Market Focus:
- Internationally (various countries)
This company also provides solutions for other industrial applications.
Please, visit the following links for more info:
About Us
Biogas technology: converting organic waste to valuable by-products.
Biogas technology uses a biological process to produce a combustible gas from the decomposition of organic waste in an anaerobic setting. The gas, known as biogas, contains roughly 60% methane and 40% carbon dioxide, can be converted to provide heat and energy. Other valuable by-products include pathogen-free organic fertilizer and animal bedding.
CH Four systems are specifically designed for the co-digestion of a wide range of material, including the waste stream from the entire food industry, as well as other organic products. Farms, municipalities, waste water treatment facilities, as well as industrial complexes have successfully utilized our expertise and experience to develop and add high-value biogas systems to their operations.
CH Four Biogas specializes in the design, installation and optimization of anaerobic digestion systems for the agricultural, industrial and municipal sectors throughout North and South America.
History/Background
Since the mid-19th century, biogas technology has been successfully implemented thousands of times around the world, with system sizes ranging from single-family and single-livestock units to multi-megawatt community facilities. CH Four Biogas has integrated more than 20 years of Swiss biogas know-how and successfully adapted and introduced the technology to the North American market.
CH Four Biogas is a design and consulting firm dedicated to the development of innovative and progressive anaerobic digestion technology. The company is a proud member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario. We specialize in the development of anaerobic digestion and biogas projects including technical studies, complete system engineering and design, construction management, and system optimization. Our roots are in the development of agricultural projects; however, we have been increasingly involved with municipal and industrial projects as well.
CH Four Biogas was originally incorporated in 2006 as Genesys Biogas Inc. as part of the Genesys Group, an international bioenergy consortium. On January 1st, 2009, CH Four Biogas Inc. was officially launched as the independent, wholly Canadian-owned successor of Genesys Biogas Inc. Since its launch, CH Four Biogas has staked its place as a leader in the Canadian biogas market.
CH Four Biogas has its head office in Ottawa, Ontario, and a field offices in North Vancouver, British Columbia and Rensselaer, New York. CH Four Biogas Inc. employs five professionals. In support of its staff, CH Four Biogas Inc. also employs the services of its sister company, Keller Engineering Associates Inc., a civil engineering firm with over 25 years of experience.
Vision & Mission
Vision
CH Four Biogas is an industry leader in anaerobic digestion.
- Our vision is to see clients across North America fully realize their organic energy potential through bio-diversion.
Mission
We design and implement biogas systems that perform as designed and often exceed expectations. Through continuous research we expand our knowledge and expertise in all things related to anaerobic digestion systems. Our experience and strategic alliances with competent partners enable us to offer a comprehensive service package that includes initial feasibility studies, planning and design, permitting, construction, operation, feedstock suitability modeling, feedstock sourcing and consultation regarding all biogas-related aspects.
Research Focus
CH Four Biogas continually strives to improve biogas technology and systems. We are proud to have been pioneers in our field, and we continue to seek to combine what we know is established with what we know is innovative in our arena. All of which is to benefit our customers.
CH Four Bag Development
CH Four Biogas has developed a cutting-edge anaerobic digestion system capable of digesting high- strength and high-solids feedstocks typically not suitable for traditional anaerobic digestion. The CH Four Biologically Advanced Generation (BAG) system incorporates a dual-membrane system to effectively treat difficult organic wastes and produce usable biogas. This system is ideally suited for high-protein and high-solids material, such as poultry manure, aquaculture mortalities, and many industrial wastes. This technology is patent pending.
Computer Modelling
As a result of our ongoing research, we have developed a highly progressive computer simulation program that models the effects of different feedstocks on the anaerobic digestion process. This program determines the feasibility of using a wide variety of materials in an anaerobic digester, and results are rendered in a fraction of the time traditional lab-scale tests require. Furthermore, this allows us to fine-tune the feeding regime which is so critical to the optimization of system performance.
The program, AQUASim, accurately predicts biogas composition and yields, pH, acids, and ammonia inhibitions. The results produced by AQUASim have been closely matched in laboratory results.
The graph below shows how closely our simulation model correlates to values produced in a laboratory setting. The test measured pH values of a bioethanol by-product in a 4L continuous flow reactor.
Successes and Milestones
- More than a dozen projects, located in Canada and the US, that are successfully operating today. This equates to over 4 MW of electricity being fed into the power grid
- Awarded the first Feed In Tariff (FiT) and Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program (RESOP) contracts
- Installed the first municipal anaerobic septage treatment facility in Ontario
- Awarded the first-ever issued Renewable Energy Application (REA) and Certificate of Approval (CoA) for accepting off-farm substrates
- Continued support of the foundation of the Agri-energy Producer’s Association of Ontario
- Lobbied in support of the OMAFRA financial assistance program
- Participated in research projects with Ottawa University, University of British Columbia and La Cité Collégiale
Our Technology
CH Four Biogas offers complete-mix anaerobic digester designs in three standard sizes:
- 500 cubic meters (130,000 gallons)
- 1,000 cubic meters (260,000 gallons)
- 1,500 cubic meters (400,000 gallons)
Our systems are designed to accept a wide range of organic feedstocks, including pre- and post-processing waste products, and operate in a mesophilic environment (around 40º Celsius). This temperature offers maximum stability to the methanogenic bacteria and thus the biogas production process.
There are no unusable waste products associated with a biogas system. The biogas produced can be scrubbed and used as fuel in specially designed motors. Often it is used in CHP (combined heat and power) units where it is turned into electricity and heat. It could also be upgraded to biomethane.
The produced heat can be recycled to the system as well as used in another process or the surrounding facilities.
After the digestion process, the slurry - or digestate - itself is an organic fertilizer that can be land-applied as is. It has shown to improve soil fertility and crop yield over time. Additionally, the solids from the slurry can be seperated out and used as animal bedding or compost. Most noteworthy is that the digestate presents with minimal odor - a reduction of up to 97% - in comparison with conventional manure.