South Korean cities to convert food waste into biogas

Scandinavian Biogas Fuels AB will open a facility in the South Korean city of Ulsan that will be capable of converting waste water to biogas. Instead of letting water from processing food waste run off into the ocean, the waste will be processed to produce methane. The dumping of waste water into the sea, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said, will be banned starting 2013. The Ministry of Environment, meanwhile, has increased its budget this year for waste energy, including biogas plants, by five times to 178 billion won (US$143 million), according to ministry official Choi Byung-chul. Scandinavian Biogas is investing about €10 million (US$13.88 million) to upgrade a waste water treatment plant in Ulsan and will soon start accepting food and other waste for processing into biogas, said Scandinavian Biogas President and CEO Thomas Davidsson. He said the company plans to initially sell the biogas to an industrial user in Ulsan for internal heating. The company has an agreement to run the facility for at least 15 years. (May 21, 2009)