In some global markets, biogas is the common source of methane, otherwise called natural gas, which is used to heat our homes, supply industry with a combustible fuel, and a feedstock agent.
It is also a supply of carbon dioxide (CO2), which is significant in the by-product of biogas digesters, which are used to anaerobically decompose biodegradable materials such as kitchen waste, human and animal excreta to produce biogas. From the digesters, about 60-70% is methane, and 30-40% is CO2, plus other constituents, like hydrogen sulfide (the foul odor), and trace substances. The products from digesters are all useful, including the solids and liquids which go back to the soil.
There are over 2,200 sites producing biogas in all 50 US states (per the American Biogas Council), 250 anaerobic digesters on farms, 12,690 water resource recovery facilities using an anaerobic digester, of which about 8,670 currently use the biogas they use; 66 stand alone systems from food waste, and 652 landfill gas projects. When comparing with Europe, with 10,000 operating digesters and some communities are fossil free due to these digesters.
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