Zeotech touts 90% reduction of methane from landfill

Zeotech (ASX:ZEO) has concluded a 2+ year study alongside Cleanaway (ASX:CWY) and Griffith University claiming it’s created a “zeolite-based … [methane] biofilter” capable of decreasing landfill emissions by up to 90%.

(That’s “90% median methane elimination” to be more precise.)

While landfill methane emissions were simulated – meaning that the applicability of the study’s outcomes to the real world could easily be vastly impacted by the geospatial nature of landfill – the news is, to some extent, an ESG win for the company.

The company’s “strongest” biofilter was billed with the 90% reduction which outperformed another type of filter using only methanotroph inoculum, a type of bacteria, without zeolite being included.

For the uninitiated, methane – the key ingredient of natural gas – is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and is produced by landfill across the planet as part of decomposition.

The value prop here is that companies rushing to meet their internal net zero targets would be keeping a close eye on Zeotech where the latter may be able to assist in clocking key ESG targets.

“High oxidation rates, minimal maintenance, and robustness of the biofilters indicate that we have developed a promising, cost-effective solution to mitigate landfill methane emissions, a notoriously difficult greenhouse gas to eliminate,” Zeotech Head of Projects Dr. John Vogrin said.

Ultimately, three testing boxes around the scale of medium-sized backyard generators were filled with waste material by Cleanaway and then covered with the zeolite biofilter. Then, with the help of Griffith University, the methane emissions from those small-scale landfill simulations (or dioramas) were measured.

It doesn’t require a chemistry PhD to realise that the application of these findings to real world landfill piles – potentially thousands of times larger – would be a source of much complication, if not frustration for Zeotech.

But for now, and with methane emissions load remaining a pertinent issue (for those companies still enthusiastic for net zero targets,) the move is ultimately a step forward. At least for Zeotech.

ZEO last traded at 8.9cps.

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