South Korea to develop homegrown biogas generators powered by food waste, livestock manure

South Korea is moving ahead with a project to develop domestically produced generators that convert biogas from food waste and livestock manure into electricity.

The Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy and the Korea Environmental Industry and Technology Institute announced Monday they will hold a forum on localizing biogas power generation equipment Tuesday at the Samkyung Education Center in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

Biogas is a gas composed mainly of methane and carbon dioxide, produced when organic waste — including food scraps, sewage sludge and pig manure — breaks down through microbial decomposition.

Methane content varies depending on the type of organic waste being processed, and the gas often contains impurities such as hydrogen sulfide. Power generation equipment using biogas must therefore be highly corrosion-resistant and equipped with automatic control functions.

In response, the ministry plans to invest 36.6 billion won ($24.1 million) through 2029 to localize biogas generator components that currently rely on imports and to develop an intelligent power generation system dedicated to biogas.

Specific development targets include valves that uniformly regulate the mixture of gas and air based on methane content, engines and bearings engineered to minimize corrosion from impurities such as hydrogen sulfide, and technology to detect contaminants in biogas before they cause damage.

The ministry also plans to build an intelligent control system capable of operating generators according to biogas composition and identifying signs of malfunction in advance.

Kim Go-eung, director general of the ministry's resource circulation bureau, said the time has come "to go beyond simply processing organic waste and convert it into a high-value energy resource," adding that the ministry would "actively support technology development so that South Korea's biogas industry can become competitive."