Ammongas
Ammongas is Denmark’s leading engineering company providing solutions for biogas upgrading. Denmark stands out for its incorporation of renewable natural gas (RNG) into the natural gas grid with 28% of the gas currently comprised of RNG. Currently, Ammongas is delivering more than half of Denmark’s RNG into the grid.
The company was founded in 2002 by Anker Jacobsen. Anker holds M.Sc in chemical engineering and in 1982 invented and patented a stripper-absorber for petrol vapor recovery. In 2002 he sold his company and was set to retire, however he felt that there had to be a better way to build biogas upgrading plants at the time and found Ammongas based on the same principle as his original invention. Today, Ammongas is located in Copenhagen with representatives in various countries, including Canada.
Ammongas can supply a variety of different environmental plants for cleaning of gas and air, including CO2 separation systems for biogas upgrading. They use the well-known absorber-stripper system for upgrading biogas and the absorption process is so efficient that the methane slip to the atmosphere is less than 0.05%. Ammongas provides a complete, customizable turnkey plant to its customers, including designing, building, installation, commissioning, and start-up. 98% availability is guaranteed with their planned service package.
Ammongas was the first company to build a biogas upgrading plant in Denmark. They are currently building biogas upgrading plants in many countries including, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Germany, and the United States. Ammongas is interested in Canada as in many ways it looks like Denmark, Anker notes “Canada has the same kind of culture and awareness about environmental issues, similar climate, and also has a big farmland sector.” Ammongas is currently investigating the Canadian market and is having productive dialogues with key Canadian partners.
Ammongas provides value to customers by being a flexible engineering company with the ability to customize everything. The technology also has many advantages over other upgrading technologies. The system is very robust and can take in the biogas completely raw and since the biogas is upgraded first, only the methane requires compression at the end. This is a major selling point as it required less than half the electricity of other upgrading technologies. Another benefit of the technology is that the CO2 from the plant is highly concentrated, which can be used for various applications. This is becoming an interesting business case since over the last couple of years there is more interest in biogenic CO2.
Over the last 20 years, Anker has seen the biogas industry grow with his company, “We were the first company in Denmark upgrading biogas and we kept pace with the growing market. Even though Denmark has 28% RNG in the gas grid, we will not stop there. The area is projected to be completely green in 10 years. Denmark is a very little country and there is no reason for us to be special in this area. All people around the world are creating organic waste and other countries have the potential to produce the same amount of biogas relative to its population.” In Denmark plants began at the small farm scale, but with more industrialization of the process the farmers began to work together to build bigger plants that can handle different waste sources.
Ammongas became a member of the CBA in February 2022. They joined because the CBA provides a platform for them to get familiar with the market and have a network and connections with the supplier and consumers.
