HOUSTON, Nov. 18, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Element Markets, LLC, a privately held alternative energy development and environmental commodities marketing company, announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary EM Biogas, LLC has acquired the Huckabay Ridge Anaerobic Digestion Facility from the estate of Environmental Power Corporation. Huckabay Ridge is one of the largest plants of its kind in the North America and processes agricultural manure and organics (residues from food, grease, and other organic compounds) into pipeline quality renewable natural gas. The acquisition of the Stephenville, TX plant positions Element Markets as a leader in the biomethane market and allows the Company to capitalize on its commodity expertise in the energy and environmental markets.
Randy Lack, a founding member and Chief Marketing Officer of Element Markets, notes that, "The agricultural-based alternative energy market has had a number of technological success stories but very few commercial successes. The commercialization of alternative energy projects requires more focus on identifying market niches where green energy can compete with brown energy. Element Markets believes that the biomethane market can provide clean energy and reduced emissions while being commercially successful. We are very excited about the future of the Huckabay Ridge Anaerobic Digestion Facility."
The Huckabay Ridge facility contains 8 digester tanks each with a capacity of 916,000 gallons and converts manure and organics into methane-rich biogas through the process of anaerobic digestion. Anaerobic digestion technology produces biogas by enhancing nature's organic degradation process via microbial activity. By creating a hospitable environmental for bacteria to consume the organic material in manure and the organics, methane is created along with an nutrient rich effluent that is beneficial for agricultural crop production. The methane -rich biogas is compressed and conditioned for pipeline injection and can be used to produce power, fuel industrial facilities, and as a clean fuel for vehicles.
The Huckabay Ridge facility, built in 2006, reached full capacity in 2008. The facility is vital to the local community as it helps farmers manage manure, reduces odors and minimizes the impact of farming operations to the Bosque River Watershed. This acquisition is significant to the clean energy markets because the performance of the facility will highlight the potential of agricultural methane as a viable clean energy resource, and positions Element Markets as one of the largest biomethane suppliers in North America.
About Element Markets
Element Markets is the leading developer and supplier of environmental credits in North America, with integrated trading expertise in the greenhouse gas, renewable energy and emissions credit markets. Since its inception in 2005, Element Markets has built one of the industry's largest diversified development portfolios of wind, solar, methane and greenhouse gas mitigation projects. The Company provides structured environmental compliance and optimization services to prominent corporate and institutional clients and was named Emissions House of Year for 2010 by Energy Risk Magazine. Element Markets is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Company website: www.elementmarkets.com.