What is biogas?

It’s easiest to just think of biogas and natural gas as the same thing. Biogas is NOT the same as biofuels or biodiesel, which are for cars and trucks; although it can be used in natural gas vehicles.

One of the main differences between natural gas and biogas is the methane content – biogas has less, meaning the energy value is lower.  But otherwise, they are the same and can be used in the same way.

The other, more obvious, difference is in how they are produced. Biogas is produced through the decomposition of organic materials, no drilling is required. The feedstock (manure, food scraps, agricultural waste, waste water sludge, etc.) is fed into an anaerobic digester (like a big stomach) for a period of 7-20 days, slowly producing gas that is fed into storage tanks. Once the process is complete, nitrogen rich high quality fertilizer is left.  This gets removed and is replaced with the next batch of waste.