biogas | International

Bonfiglioli backs biogas

We are playing our part in helping the world transition to sustainable energy and have identified a growing sector where our products and services can add value.

Bonfiglioli is developing a strong track record in the green energy sector, with six production plants around the world serving the wind turbine industry. But we are now pushing into another customer sector that is helping cut greenhouse gas emissions: biogas. Instead of harnessing the wind, biogas operators take organic and agricultural waste and recycle it into a sustainable energy source.

This is a process which requires two key things:

A large plant in which such waste gets mixed with water and bacteria
A broken down into biogas and heavy-duty machinery capable of reliably handling the non-stop and controlled mixing required.

This is where Bonfiglioli comes in, with our range of trusted products and innovative maintenance services, combined with the ambition to lead the biogas market. And the market in Europe is particularly big. It’s home to the largest number of biogas and biomethane plants on any single continent: over 20,000.
Over the next eight years this number is predicted to grow by a total of 5,000 more plants, according to the European Biogas Association. The sector’s growth is being driven by the push to decarbonise energy use and, particularly following Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, reduce dependence on foreign natural gas.

Biogas is among the sustainable energy sources incentivised by the Green Deal policy package that Europe hopes will help it become climate-neutral by 2050.

Biogas operators tend to specialise in processing either agricultural waste, with plants located within or near farms, or urban waste gathered through recycling channels, with plants located near cities.

Bonfiglioli’s solutions are especially effective for operators that prioritise return on investment through a lower cost of operation and as little downtime as possible.

For example, our gearmotors can handle material mixing at variable power and speed ratios, threshing and transport of both solid and grain material. Their reliability and durability is already trusted by German machinery companies, which uses them in the agitators it supplies for biogas mixing tanks.

We also deliver additional value through advanced preventative and prognostic maintenance services, which keep plants running. Our IoT (Internet of Things) sensors, which allow remote monitoring and maintenance of our components, can easily be planned into new plants at the design stage. As a global company, we are tracking the biogas sector’s development in other parts of the world. India, a market that we entered in 1999, is already starting to see the fruit of its recent investment in biogas infrastructure. And the United States government has just introduced the Inflation Reduction Act, which contains incentives to develop domestic biogas plants.

At a global level, the biogas market is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of up to 8.4% between 2022 and 2030. We are ready to help drive this exciting green trend.