METHO-DETOX is a specialised additive for ammonia control in anaerobic digesters. It is particularly useful for biogas plants experiencing high ammonia levels (ammonia inhibition), which can happen if the feedstock is rich in proteins or nitrogen – for example, plants digesting a lot of chicken manure, poultry litter, or other high-protein wastes.
High ammonia (especially in the form of free ammonia NH₃) can raise the pH and inhibit microbial activity, leading to a condition known as alkalosis in the digester. METHO-DETOX addresses this by reducing ammonia toxicity and promoting healthy bacterial metabolism, thus restoring and enhancing plant performance. It is based on a mixture of natural zeolites and plant extracts, giving it a dual action: physically binding ammonia and biochemically supporting the microbes to tolerate stress. This makes METHO-DETOX an ideal remedy and preventative measure for digesters that struggle with ammonia-related issues.
Reduces Ammonia Toxicity: METHO-DETOX effectively sequesters free ammonia (NH₃) in the digester, converting it to less harmful forms and thus lowering the toxic impact of ammonia-N on the microbial community. This helps prevent the typical inhibition of methanogens that occurs at high ammonia concentrations.
Improves Biogas Production under High Ammonia: By controlling ammonia, METHO-DETOX allows biogas production to improve even in high alkalinity or high-protein-feed scenarios. Plants that would otherwise see reduced gas output due to ammonia inhibition can maintain or increase their methane yields.
Enhances Microbial Resilience: The natural plant extracts in METHO-DETOX increase bacterial resistance to osmotic stress and salts. High ammonia often comes hand-in-hand with high salt (for instance, if recirculating digestate or using manure). This additive helps the microbes cope with those conditions, fostering a more robust microbial population.
Ideal for Problematic Feedstocks: If your feedstock mix includes things like poultry manure, slaughterhouse waste, or other nitrogen-rich materials, METHO-DETOX enables you to use those to generate biogas without the severe downside of ammonia inhibition. It broadens the range of substrates you can digest cost-effectively.
Promotes Overall System Performance: With ammonia under control, the fermentation process runs more smoothly – resulting in better overall system stability, fewer upsets, and a more efficient conversion of organics to biogas. In summary, it detoxifies the process, which can be the difference between a struggling plant and a thriving one.
METHO-DETOX employs a two-pronged mode of action:
Ion Exchange via Zeolites: The product contains specific zeolitic minerals. Zeolites are microporous aluminosilicates that can exchange their cations with ammonium (NH₄⁺) ions in the digestate. When METHO-DETOX is added, the zeolite preferentially captures ammonium ions from the liquid phase, holding them within its structure in exchange for, say, a sodium or calcium ion it releases. This process effectively removes ammonium from the free solution, which in turn pulls the equilibrium of ammonia/ammonium towards ammonium, thus reducing free ammonia levels. Lower free ammonia (NH₃) means less toxicity, since NH₃ (not NH₄⁺) is the form that can diffuse into microbial cells and inhibit them.
Plant Extracts for Stress Reduction: The additive also includes natural plant extracts and micronutrients. These components have been formulated to boost the bacteria’s tolerance to stressful conditions, such as high osmotic pressure and high pH. They work by fortifying cell membranes, acting as antioxidants, and providing cofactors that help the microbes maintain function under stress. The net effect is that the microbial consortia (especially methanogens) can keep working effectively even when conditions are not ideal.
By combining these actions, METHO-DETOX not only physically reduces ammonia levels but also biologically enhances the fermentation process. For example, with ammonia toxicity mitigated, methanogens can continue consuming VFAs (volatile fatty acids) and producing methane rather than stalling. Also, by reducing ammonia, the digester’s pH may drop back into a more optimal range (ammonia tends to cause pH to rise, shifting the carbonate buffer). This rebalancing encourages all microbial steps (hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis, methanogenesis) to proceed efficiently. Over time, regular use of METHO-DETOX helps maintain an environment where high ammonia feedstocks can be digested with stable performance, turning what was once a challenge into an opportunity for greater biogas output.
METHO-DETOX is usually added as a powder (or fine granular) directly into the digester or feed system. Since ammonia issues can be persistent, the application can be:
Curative Dosing: If a plant is suffering from high ammonia (e.g., measured NH₃-N levels are above inhibition thresholds, and performance is down), you might add METHO-DETOX in larger initial quantities to bring down ammonia to safe levels.
Preventative Regular Dosing: For plants that routinely feed high-nitrogen substrates, a continuous low-dose strategy can keep ammonia controlled before it ever reaches critical levels.
The exact dosage of METHO-DETOX depends on a digestate analysis. Typically, Realistic Agri would analyse your current ammonium concentration, total ammonia nitrogen (TAN), pH, and perhaps sodium/potassium levels (as those affect ammonium toxicity) and then recommend a dosing plan. As a general ballpark:
In a heavily ammonia-inhibited system, you might start with a dose of several kilograms per 100 m³ of digester volume, repeated daily, until ammonia levels drop or stabilise.
For maintenance, smaller daily doses (maybe 1–2 kg per 100 m³) might suffice.
Application method: You can add METHO-DETOX directly into the fermenter through any available solid feeding port or access hatch. If the product is applied in the biodegradable bag, you can toss the bag in whole, and it will dissolve. Alternatively, you might mix it with some water to create a slurry and then pump it in. Distributing it evenly is beneficial, but since it will circulate with the digestate, exact placement is not critical (the mixing in a digester is usually enough to spread it around).
It’s worth noting that while dosing, you should continue to monitor ammonia (TAN and free ammonia) and pH levels. The goal is to gradually see a decline in free ammonia concentration and an improvement in biogas production. Once at desired levels, the dosage should be adjusted to a maintenance level.
Remember that if ammonia is extremely high, sometimes dilution or reducing protein input is recommended in parallel – METHO-DETOX will help buffer the system, but also controlling the source of ammonia can be part of a holistic approach.
METHO-DETOX is available in 20 kg biodegradable paper bags. These are sturdy enough for transport but designed to break down in the moist environment of a digester.
Storage: Store METHO-DETOX bags in a dry place, as moisture can weaken the bag or cause the zeolite to start adsorbing water instead of being fresh for ammonia. Keep bags sealed until use. The product is not known to be hazardous, but it’s good practice to avoid creating dust.
Handling: When adding manually, use gloves (to keep your hands clean and avoid any mild irritation) and a dust mask, as fine zeolite dust could be irritating if inhaled in quantity. However, much of the content might be granular, not super dusty. Because the bags are biodegradable, you have the option of adding the whole bag – if doing so, just cut away any outer plastic or packaging, and throw the paper bag with contents into the digester. It will dissolve, and the paper typically breaks down over time.
If measuring out smaller doses from a bag, use a scoop and weigh out the product to ensure proper dosing. Avoid breathing directly over the bag when open. If spilled, zeolite can be swept up and it’s safe to dispose or add to the digester.
Compatibility: The mixture is safe with biological systems (that’s the point), so there are no special compatibility issues. It won’t foul pumps or pipes. If adding via a pump, make sure the slurry is well mixed as zeolite particles can settle – continuous mixing while pumping is advised to avoid clogs.
METHO-DETOX can be a game-changer for plants that are limited by ammonia:
Unlocking Higher Gas Yields: Many AD plants deliberately avoid high-protein materials or limit loading to prevent ammonia issues, which means they might not be fully utilising available waste streams or pushing their capacity. By using METHO-DETOX to control ammonia, you can digest richer substrates or load more feed, resulting in greater biogas production and revenue. The extra biogas generated from these otherwise problematic substrates can far outweigh the cost of the additive.
Preventing Failure and Downtime: Ammonia inhibition can lead to a collapse of the digester’s biology – a nightmare scenario requiring re-inoculation or long recovery times (which are expensive and lost revenue). METHO-DETOX helps prevent such crashes, safeguarding your investment in the feedstock and the continuous operation of the plant. Avoiding a single serious upset can save tens of thousands in emergency management, making the additive worth it.
Feeding Flexibility: Being able to handle higher-nitrogen waste (like poultry litter, food waste with protein, etc.) means you might access cheaper or gate-fee feedstocks that you couldn’t before. The financial benefit of getting paid to take waste, or using a cheaper feed, directly improves profit margins. METHO-DETOX essentially enables this flexibility, which improves the economic feedstock portfolio of your plant.
Operational Efficiency: With ammonia levels controlled, the microbial efficiency improves – more of the COD (chemical oxygen demand) or VS (volatile solids) in your feed is converted to methane rather than accumulating as dead biomass or intermediates. This improved conversion is like getting more bang for your buck out of the same feed. Over time, that means higher output for the same input cost, a clear ROI boost.
Longevity of Digesters: Chronic high ammonia can cause persistent high pH which might lead to scaling or other issues in the digester, and can stress certain equipment (like concrete integrity if extreme). By avoiding those conditions, you protect the long-term integrity of your digester, saving on costly repairs or reduced lifespan. That’s a long-term ROI consideration – think of it as maintaining the health of a major capital asset.
Combined with the intangible benefits of stability and risk reduction, the return on using METHO-DETOX is typically very high for those who need it – it turns a potentially limiting factor into a non-issue, allowing the plant to operate at full potential.
RAL-DETOX is a 100% natural zeolite-based additive used for the daily control of free ammonia in biogas plants. It is essentially a highly effective form of zeolite that continuously removes ammonia (NH₃/NH₄⁺) through ion exchange. If your plant requires ongoing ammonia management (as opposed to occasional interventions), RAL-DETOX is designed to be a routine additive that keeps ammonia levels in check on a day-to-day basis.
In function, it is similar to METHO-DETOX but optimised for constant use: think of RAL-DETOX as a “maintenance dose” approach to ammonia control. By incorporating RAL-DETOX into your daily feeding regimen, you ensure that ammonia produced from protein degradation is immediately captured, preventing accumulation and protecting your methanogenic archaea from inhibition. This results in a more stable process, even with high-N feedstocks.
Continuous Ammonia Removal: RAL-DETOX continuously removes ammonia nitrogen (NH₃/NH₄⁺) via ion exchange as the digester operates. This keeps the free ammonia concentration low, preventing inhibitory effects and maintaining optimal pH balance.
Highly Effective Zeolite Formula: The product is a high-purity, highly effective zeolite form, meaning it has an exceptional capacity for ammonium uptake. You get a lot of ammonia binding per unit of product, making it efficient in use.
Daily Use for Steady State: Designed for daily dosing, it integrates easily into the routine, ensuring there are no peaks in ammonia – the system remains at steady-state. This is particularly beneficial for digesters with consistently high protein input; RAL-DETOX acts like a constant filter for ammonia in the background.
Enhances Biogas Consistency: By avoiding ammonia-induced slowdowns, RAL-DETOX contributes to consistent biogas production rates. Operators will notice less fluctuation in gas output when feeding nitrogenous substrates.
Simple and Natural: Being a natural mineral , RAL-DETOX adds nothing harmful to the process – it’s chemically inert to the biology aside from its target action, and it leaves behind only captured ammonium which exits with the digestate. It’s an easy, non-toxic solution to a common problem.
RAL-DETOX works through the principle of ion exchange using zeolite. Zeolites have a crystalline structure full of tiny pores and channels, lined with negatively charged sites. These sites attract positively charged ions (cations) like ammonium (NH₄⁺), calcium (Ca²⁺), potassium (K⁺), etc. In RAL-DETOX’s case, the zeolite is loaded primarily with certain benign cations. When introduced into the digestate:
The zeolite captures ammonium ions from the liquid, trading them with one of its own cations. Essentially, ammonium sticks to the zeolite and a less inhibitory ion is released.
By removing NH₄⁺ from solution, the equilibrium between NH₄⁺ and NH₃ shifts, causing more NH₃ (which is the dissolved gas form of ammonia) to convert into NH₄⁺. Over time, this pulls gaseous ammonia out of the digester liquid and binds it onto the solid zeolite.
The ammonia that’s now on the zeolite is effectively taken out of play; it won’t harm microbes or contribute to pH rise.
Each tiny particle of RAL-DETOX can bind a significant amount of ammonia relative to its weight, due to the high internal surface area of zeolite. As the digester contents circulate, RAL-DETOX disperses and constantly mops up ammonia as it’s produced from protein breakdown.
Since RAL-DETOX is a daily additive, fresh zeolite is always being added, and the spent zeolite (loaded with ammonium) exits with the digestate effluent. This creates a continuous turnover: new zeolite in, old zeolite out, thereby continuously removing ammonia from the system at a rate roughly matching its production. The result is that ammonia levels remain low and stable, preventing the conditions that lead to inhibition.
RAL-DETOX is added daily, typically alongside your feed or into the recirculation, similar to how you would add a mineral supplement:
Solid Feed Addition: Sprinkle the measured daily dose of RAL-DETOX onto the feedstocks in your hopper or mixer. It will mix with the substrates and enter the digester.
Slurry/Fluid Addition: It can also be added into a liquid stream. For example, mixing it with some digestate and pumping it back in, or adding into a feeding slurry. As long as it gets into the digester, it will do its job.
Automated Dosing: If preferred, an auger or feeder could be used to dose RAL-DETOX from a silo or big bag on a timed schedule.
The specific dosage for RAL-DETOX is tailored to each plant’s ammonia generation rate. As an illustration, some operators dose around 1–2% of feed dry matter as zeolite. If you feed 20 tons per day of substrate at 25% dry matter (5 tons of DM), 1% of that DM is 50 kg of zeolite per day. This is just a hypothetical example.
RAL-DETOX is used in moderate daily quantities that your Realistic Agri advisor will advise on. They might suggest, for example, a certain number of kg per day based on plant size (like “for a 500 kW plant digesting mostly manure, add 5 kg per day”).
Because RAL-DETOX is pure zeolite, overdosing isn’t likely to harm the system (it’s basically like adding sand), except it’s an inert load. So, from an application standpoint, it’s forgiving – better a bit more than too little if unsure, until you find the sweet spot that keeps ammonia down.
Since RAL-DETOX comes in 25 kg bags, you might end up using one bag every few days or week depending on dose. Many operations might find it convenient to dose one bag spread over X number of days.
Monitor your TAN and free ammonia levels in the digestate periodically. If ammonia begins to climb, that’s a sign to increase the daily dose; if ammonia is consistently low, you might test slightly reducing the dose to save costs, as long as levels remain safe.
RAL-DETOX is supplied in 25 kg biodegradable bags. The product is a granular powder form of zeolite.
Storage: Store the bags in a dry environment to avoid the zeolite adsorbing moisture or caking. Pallets of RAL-DETOX should be kept under cover, and because it’s relatively dense (zeolite minerals), ensure your storage racking can handle the weight of multiple pallets.
Handling: Each 25 kg bag can be manually handled by one person, though it’s a bit heavy – use proper lifting technique or a partner if needed. When opening bags, do so near where you will dose it to avoid having to carry open bags (to prevent spillage). Pouring the material might release some dust; wearing a dust mask and gloves is recommended for comfort. The material is not chemically dangerous – it’s like a mineral earth – but dust can irritate respiratory pathways if inhaled in large amounts.
If you are using a mechanical feeder or hopper for dosing, you might empty multiple bags into that hopper. In that case, consider that zeolite can be abrasive – equipment in contact should be robust. Also, the biodegradable aspect of the bag suggests you could add the bag directly, but since 25 kg is a lot, it may be easier to add more gradually.
Once added to the digester, the zeolite will settle in the digestate over time and flow out with the effluent. It’s environmentally benign – in fact, spent digestate with zeolite might have improved qualities as fertiliser (zeolite can hold ammonium in soil release). But that’s a side note; mainly, no special handling of the digestate is needed because of RAL-DETOX.
Tools: Use a scoop or measuring container if you want precise daily amounts smaller than a full bag. Keep those tools dry and clean to avoid buildup. If partial bags are left, fold the top and seal it (maybe tape it shut) to keep humidity out until the next use.
For plants dealing with chronic ammonia levels, RAL-DETOX offers a compelling ROI:
Stabilising Throughput: You can feed more nitrogen-rich waste (which often comes with tipping fees or lower cost) without risking ammonia inhibition. This means more income from waste processing and/or more biogas from cheap feed, which directly improves profit margins.
Insurance for Consistent Power: By avoiding the dips in performance that ammonia can cause, RAL-DETOX ensures steady biogas generation and power output. Consistent output is valuable if you have power purchase agreements or bio-methane injection targets to meet; it avoids penalties or missed revenue due to underperformance.
Protects Biological Investments: If you’ve invested in good microbial inoculum or spent time cultivating a robust digestion process, a spike in ammonia can wipe that out (leading to re-inoculation costs or months of recovery). RAL-DETOX protects that biological integrity, which is hard to put a direct number on, but any experienced operator knows the cost of a “crash.” Avoiding a crash is often worth whatever it takes, and here it’s just some zeolite each day.
Economical Material: Zeolite is not very expensive per tonne, especially compared to chemicals. The fact that RAL-DETOX is just high-quality zeolite means it’s a cost-effective medium to apply regularly. The cost per kg of ammonia removed is quite low compared to, say, acids or other chemical treatments (some plants dose acid to control ammonia, which is hazardous and can disturb alkalinity – zeolite is safer and likely cheaper in use).
Digestate Quality Benefit: As a fringe benefit, the ammonium captured by RAL-DETOX isn’t lost; it stays in the digestate but in a less volatile form. When that digestate is land-applied, the zeolite slowly releases ammonium to crops, potentially increasing the fertiliser value of the digestate. While this may not directly impact the AD’s economics, it could make your digestate more desirable or valuable to end users (farmers), indirectly supporting your business model (e.g., farmers might be willing to take digestate for free or even pay if it’s proven to be a better slow-release fertiliser).
Turnkey Solution: RAL-DETOX requires no capital expense (no new reactors, no blowers, etc.), just the operational expense of the material. That means immediate implementation and payback. The first dose starts working right away, potentially improving your gas yields within days if ammonia was the limiting factor. The ROI can thus be realised in the very short term, especially for a plant that was underperforming due to ammonia – the jump in performance once inhibition is lifted can be dramatic.
Overall, RAL-DETOX offers peace of mind and smoother operation, which in the business of biogas, often translates to better profitability. It’s a relatively small investment for a potentially large return in stable production.