FCC Medio Ambiente is leading the project ‘Optimisation of the production of biomethane from biogas using high-performance biotechnologies’, in which the Institute of Sustainable Processes of the University of Valladolid is also participating, in the context of 2023 Public-Private Projects Partnership.

BIOMET seeks to develop and optimise a new generation of biotechnologies for pre-treatment and biomethanisation of biogas (both landfill and digester) in biomethane. Initially, a mapping of the different biogas compositions of FCC Medio Ambiente plants in Spain will be carried out.

In parallel, an optimisation of the microbiology of the process will be carried out with the aim of obtaining extremophilic microbial communities capable of removing the main pollutants from the biogas (H₂S, VOCs, CO₂) in a more efficient and sustainable way than conventional technologies. These communities will be evaluated in new high-transfer gas phase bioreactor configurations at laboratory scale. These biotechnologies will be validated in the last year of the project in a relevant environment at FCC Medio Ambiente's facilities.

It is also intended to develop a business model for the entire waste conversion process for the industrial development of biomethane production and its commercialisation, and to generate an economic study of the entire process.

The project has a duration of 3 years and one month, starting in December 2024 and is expected to end in November 2027. It is funded by the State Research Agency, within the Public-Private Partnership 2022 programme.