NGB began life in 2009 as a project to develop a high-output, modular AD (Anaerobic Digestion) plant by combining factory automation technology with advances in microbial monitoring and management techniques.

An early success was the award by Defra under the ‘Link’ research programme to commission a two year programme at Rothamsted Research, North Wyke, near Okehampton in Devon, to build on earlier EU-funded research on the optimisation of the methanogenesis process.

In parallel with the work at Rothamsted Research, NGB was also awarded a series of grants by the Technology Strategy Board to advance other aspects of the AD process, most notably a programme that has resulted in a significant acceleration in the rate of hydrolysis of recalcitrant materials, including grass silage. This has resulted in the development of a process whereby grass silage and other similar organic materials can now be broken down in days rather than months.

NGB’s in-house developed processes and systems have been brought together in a manufacturing facility that is now rolling out commercially available, production run AD systems, primarily aimed at small-to medium-sized farms under the brand name Archemax®.