In Australia, Growcom is looking to turn waste bananas into biogas via on-farm anaerobic digesters.
Growcom has validated its technology during projects with the Banana Waste to Energy project, funded by the Sustainable Industries Division of the Queensland Environmental Protection Agencies, and a University of Queensland study in collaboration with the Australian Banana Growesr’ Council.
In the later work, Growcom’s technology yielded about 204 liters of biogas per kilogram of dry banana. The biogas was of sufficient quality to replace diesel in combustion engines, and the remaining biomass could be used as fertilizer.
About 20% of Australia’s annual banana crop—some 60,000 metric tons–ultimately become too damaged for sale.
Company CEO Pat Hannan says the company is looking for a strategic investor to help with industrial design and commercialization.