CycleØ Acquires Biogasclean to Increase Fully Circular Green Gas Production by Capturing CO₂

February 29, 2024

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(CycleØ/PR Newswire) Acquisition puts CycleØ at the forefront of synthetic green gas innovation via carbon capture and utilisation (CCU); CycleØ now offers a fully circular biomethane solution which captures methane emissions and CO2; Biogasclean is one of the few companies worldwide pioneering a biological methanation process; Biomethane production could replace up to 40% of the EU's total fossil natural gas consumption by 2050

LONDON, Feb. 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- CycleØ Group Limited (CycleØ) today announces its acquisition of Biogasclean, a leading Danish supplier of biological methanation and desulphurisation systems. A prominent, pan-European biomethane platform, CycleØ develops, builds, owns and operates renewable natural gas (RNG) projects in Europe and Latin America.

Ara Partners, a private equity and infrastructure investment firm at the forefront of industrial decarbonisation, provided additional capital to facilitate the transaction.

Adding Biogasclean's biological methanation systems to existing biomethane plants can capture biogenic CO₂, increase green gas production by ~70%, and complete the biomethane carbon loop (PRNewsfoto/CycleØ Group Limited)

This strategic acquisition is a significant milestone for CycleØ and the biomethane sector in general. It will enable more efficient and fully circular green gas solutions by capturing the biogenic CO2 contained in biogas and converting it into e-methane—a sustainable, synthetic gas derived from green hydrogen that can be stored or used as an alternative to fossil natural gas.

The ability to capture naturally occurring CO2 and convert it into e-methane increases the efficiency of biomethane sites, further reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing green gas production by ~70%.

Laurence Molke, CEO, CycleØ, said: "We are delighted to welcome Biogasclean's talented and experienced team to our Group and look forward to deploying their patented biocatalyst technologies to produce more carbon-negative fuels for the hard to electrify energy, heat, transport, and industrial sectors."

Biogasclean is a global player in the biological desulphurisation field, with five offices in three continents, and over 350 systems operating or underway in 40+ countries.

The company's trailblazing biological methanation technology is proven at scale as an integral part of the world's largest plant to commercially produce e-methane via electrolysis and biological methanation. Located in Sønderborg on Als in Denmark, these facilities inject 33 GWh of sustainable e-methane into the gas grid annually.

"We stand at a pivotal moment, and the window to avoid the worst effects of climate change is getting narrower by the day," said Niels Holst Jensen, CEO of Biogasclean. "The combination of CycleØ and Biogasclean is uniquely positioned to reduce methane emissions and capture CO2 from the atmosphere, at scale."

Chris Picotte, Partner at Ara Partners, said: "CycleØ's acquisition of Biogasclean completes the group's biomethane carbon loop, and helps Europe to meet its aggressive 2030 decarbonisation targets.

"This deal is a further reflection of Ara's sustainability principles and our ongoing focus on decarbonising key sectors with proven technologies."

About CycleØ

CycleØ is a pan-European biomethane platform, and a portfolio company of Ara Partners. As an integrated producer of compressed and liquefied biomethane, the company captures methane emissions from the agri-food sector, transforming them into renewable natural gas, or biomethane. This gas is then utilised to decarbonise both the transport and maritime sectors and the gas grid. The company currently has sites in planning and operation in Spain, Italy and Ireland—with ambitions to build, own and operate at least 50 plants across Europe by 2028. With its manufacturing subsidiary, FNX, CycleØ employs proprietary, market-leading technology for biogas upgrading and liquefaction.

To learn more about CycleØ, visit www.cycle0.com.

About Biogasclean

Biogasclean is specialised in biological methanation and desulphurisation of biogas and CO2. Biogasclean develops, manufactures and supplies fully automated gas treatment systems combining low operating costs with high availability. The company's track record comprises +350 plants in operation or under construction in +40 countries. Biogasclean supplies clean gas to +700 MW gas engines and boilers and removes sulphur from +40 biogas upgrading plants for biomethane (RNG).

To learn more about Biogasclean, visit https://biogasclean.com.

About Ara Partners

Ara Partners is a global private equity and infrastructure investment firm focused on industrial decarbonisation. Founded in 2017, Ara Partners seeks to build and scale companies with significant decarbonisation impact across the industrial and manufacturing, chemicals and materials, energy efficiency and green fuels, and food and agriculture sectors. The company operates from offices in Houston, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Dublin. Ara Partners closed its third private equity fund in December 2023 with over $2.8 billion in capital commitments. As of September 30, 2023, Ara Partners had approximately $5.6 billion of assets under management.

For more information about Ara Partners, please visit www.arapartners.com. READ MORE

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€100m investment plans for 4 new innovative biomethane plants in Ireland (Cycle0)

Excerpt from Cycle0: CycleØ Group, the leading end-to-end biomethane platform that builds, owns and operates plants across Europe today announced its intention to make a significant investment in new innovative biomethane plants in Ireland. The group, which boasts a portfolio of hundreds of successful biogas/biomethane installations in more than 40 countries globally, stated its intention to initially build 4 new agri-based plants across Ireland. This requires an investment totalling more than €100m to bring sustainable, renewable energy to the country which will support decarbonisation, provide a solution to the challenge of waste management and bring new green jobs to rural communities.

The investment means that CycleØ group will equity-finance, build and operate new plants, at 4 sites initially identified in Kildare, Cavan, Galway and Limerick. These plants are expected to generate around 40 GWh each of biomethane in total per annum, enough to heat over 3,000 homes for a year in Ireland. The new biomethane plants will help support the Irish Governments’ ambition to produce 5.7 TWh of indigenously produced biomethane by 2030, and the EU’s target to produce 35BCM in Europe by 2025. The building and operation of the plants will be managed and overseen by a team led by James Manley, the company’s Country Manager for Ireland, who lives and works in County Cork.

There is no up-front cost to participate and, as CycleØ both owns and operates the plant, there is no financial risk for farmers working with the company.

The plants are innovative as they will include the company’s ammoniacal nitrate stripping solutions, which, after upgrading the gas to create biomethane, means that the nutrient-rich byproduct known as digestate can be converted to an organic fertiliser by contracting farmers. Nitrogen stripping is an optional component of the biomethane production process that removes nitrogen from the digestate, so farmers can potentially apply it to crops to ensure maximum uptake and productivity. This technology has already been successfully deployed in Spain by CycleØ.

The development of these projects will generate long-term additional revenue for farmers and their communities and will deliver decarbonisation solutions for them and for Ireland:

Contracting to provide stock for the plants provides farmers with a solution to the long-term management of slurry, manure and agri-waste. That means peace of mind for farmers concerned by the nitrate derogation limiting their ability to manage manure within existing land resources.
The selling of waste for processing at the plants will generate long-term additional revenue with 15-year contracts available as standard.
Farmers may sign agreements with CycleØ to sell or lease land for plant construction and to sell their waste for processing into biomethane, with the right to purchase the nutrient-rich fertiliser produced as a byproduct of the AD process known as digestate, at low cost.
The building of each plant will generate new green jobs during both the construction and operational stages of the plants, helping to support rural communities with well-paid and sustainable employment

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Speaking about the investment, Ireland Country Manager James Manley said “Using agri-waste to produce biomethane ticks so many boxes – it helps farmers solve their waste management problems, delivers low-cost nutrient-rich fertilisers to support Irish agriculture and brings new green jobs to rural communities. As an Irishman, born and bred in Cork in a farming family, I am proud to bring this renewable energy solution to my home turf.”

“This is a great day for Ireland – both for farms and for Ireland’s overall net zero ambitions.” continued Laurence Molke, CEO of CycleØ. “Ireland represents an important, long-term investment destination for CycleØ and so we are excited to announce this fully funded programme, which enables us to start talking to the local communities and farmers who’ll be working with us to make this investment ambition a reality. “We’ll be organising a series of local, face to face meetings and working with leading Irish farming and local media to share more information about our plans and how farmers will benefit from working with us”.

Farmers interested in becoming a slurry partner can find out more in our Farmers page, and follow up on Facebook and Instagram to learn more about the plans, their benefits and how to get involved. READ MORE