Innovation Spring 2025

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into high-quality compost that is used in farming and landscaping. Kedarnath Krishnankutty Nair, a process EIT with Convertus, helps oversee the day-to-day system processes. He explained that once the biomass is received, it is shredded and placed into a reactor for 21 days where it begins to produce methane, among other gases. From there, “it is sent to an upgrader where the biogas gets upgraded to renewable natural gas which is 98 to 99 percent pure. This is sold to FortisBC,” he said. The leftover solid waste also gets upcycled into pre-treated compost – after another 14-day period in a different composting reactor – that is sold to a composting company, adding further value to otherwise waste materials. Depending on the exact input material composition, “97 to 98 percent of our inputs get converted to valuable products, and only two percent goes to the landfill,” Nair said. What makes projects like Surrey’s facility work well is RNG’s ability to plug-and-play into the gas system,

meaning there are no infrastructure upgrades or changes that need to be made to use RNG – much like bioethanol can be blended with gasoline for use in combustion engines. “We see RNG as a drop-in replacement to conventional natural gas,” said Scott Gramm, senior manager of renewable and low-carbon fuel development at FortisBC. As opposed to bioethanol additions to fuel, FortisBC is not yet mandated to reduce its reliance on conventional gas in favour of renewable fuels like RNG. “It’s something we feel is important in terms of looking toward the low-carbon future,” Gramm noted, adding that, currently, approximately two percent of the natural gas FortisBC distributes is RNG. “We also have a customer-facing program where customers can voluntarily pay additional and we get that amount of RNG into the system on their behalf,” Gramm said. This program can help consumers – and the overall grid – reduce their carbon footprints. Biofuel’s potential For biofuels, the hyper-local aspects must be considered with each project. Organic feed sources and composition, local climates, weather, and impurities can all impact the processes’ efficiency and profitability. “Depending on the time of year, our waste composition and volume fluctuates greatly,” said Felicia Crozier, a Convertus process leader at the Surrey facility, who troubleshoots and optimizes the company’s digestion systems. “We have to change how we’re operating based on the incoming waste, even things like weather conditions will affect our water balance. We have to change how we’re managing our water system and material mixes ” Ninety-seven to 98 percent of our inputs get converted to valuable products, and only two percent goes to the landfill. Kedarnath Krishnankutty Nair, EIT, Convertus Group

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Spring 2025

Innovation