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Biocore Environmental

Early biological warning enabling stable co-digestion under highly variable feedstock conditions

2-Day Early Warning

ActiSense detected developing biological stress approximately two days before visible foaming occurred, enabling early intervention and stabilisation.

£132k–£170k Risk Exposure Avoided

Early intervention helped avoid a potential 10-day digester outage, which could have resulted in £132,000–£170,000 in downtime and recovery costs.

Page Contents

The Problem

Biocore operates a large-scale co-digestion facility processing highly variable organic feedstocks. While this flexibility supports throughput and gate-fee revenue, it also introduces operational risk.

Variability in influent composition made it difficult to:
– Maintain consistent microbial activity
– Detect early-stage biological stress
– Prevent digester imbalance before visible symptoms occurred

Traditional monitoring relied on:
– Manual sampling
– Lagging laboratory analysis
– Operator experience rather than real-time biological signals

This created exposure to unexpected digester upsets, which can result in prolonged outages, costly recovery, and lost revenue.

Solution

To improve biological visibility and reduce operational risk, Biocore deployed ActiSense real-time bio-electrode sensors.

Deployment configuration:
Two ActiSense sensors installed:
– On the feed line to the fermenter
– On the feed line to the post-fermenter

ActiSense continuously monitors microbial respiration and consumable volatile fatty acid (VFA) availability, providing operators with real-time insight into biological health inside the digester.

This allowed the operations team to:
– Detect developing instability earlier
– Act before chemistry and gas production were visibly affected
– Reduce reliance on manual sampling alone

Results

Avoided Downtime and Recovery Costs. Recovering from a digester failure at a facility of this scale can be costly. A typical 10-day outage in Ireland may result in:

Lost operating revenue (electricity sales, gate fees):
~£19,000 – £66,000 GBP
Direct recovery costs (cleaning, disposal, restart activities):
~£113,000 – £142,000 GBP
Estimated total cost per incident:
~£132,000 – £170,000 GBP

By identifying biological stress early and enabling corrective action, ActiSense helped the Biocore operations team act before a full upset occurred, avoiding potentially significant downtime and recovery costs.

Before & After

Before

Limited real-time visibility into microbial health
High reliance on manual sampling and delayed lab results
Greater risk of sudden, costly digester upsets

After

Continuous biological visibility across fermenter stages
Improved confidence in managing variable feedstocks
Reduced risk to continuous biogas production and revenue

Data

Client Overview

Client: Biocore Environmental
Location: Roscommon, Ireland
Facility Type: Anaerobic digestion (AD) facility
Annual Throughput: >30,000 tonnes of organic waste
Digester Configuration: Fermenter and post-fermenter digesters in series
Feedstocks: Waste-activated sludge (WAS) from wastewater treatment plants, glycerin, and industrial organic by-products

Biocore operates a large-scale co-digestion facility processing highly variable organic feedstocks. While this flexibility supports throughput and gate-fee revenue, it also introduces operational risk.

Variability in influent composition made it difficult to maintain consistent microbial activity, detect early-stage biological stress, and prevent digester imbalance before visible symptoms occurred.

This created exposure to unexpected digester upsets, which can result in prolonged outages, costly recovery, and lost revenue

To improve biological visibility and reduce operational risk, Biocore deployed ActiSense real-time bio-electrode sensors.

Deployment configuration:

  • Two ActiSense sensors installed:
    • On the feed line to the fermenter
    • On the feed line to the post-fermenter

Early Detection of Biological Stress

In February 2025, the ActiSense dashboard indicated that the signal from Fermenter 1 had entered the low amber alarm range.

Upon inspection:

  • Foam was observed in the digester, an early indicator of process imbalance
  • The reduced ActiSense signal suggested lower microbial respiration, likely linked to reduced bioavailable VFAs or temporary inhibition

Without intervention, these conditions could have progressed to acidification and a full digester upset.

Thanks to ActiSense providing approximately two days of early warning, operators were able to investigate and stabilise the system before a full process failure occurred.

Operational Impact

Avoided Downtime and Recovery Costs

Recovering from a digester failure at a facility of this scale can be costly. A typical 10-day outage in Ireland may result in:

Lost operating revenue (electricity sales, gate fees):
 ~£19,000 – £66,000 GBP

Direct recovery costs (cleaning, disposal, restart activities):
 ~£113,000 – £142,000 GBP

Estimated total cost per incident:
 ~£132,000 – £170,000 GBP

By identifying biological stress early and enabling corrective action, ActiSense helped the Biocore operations team act before a full upset occurred, avoiding potentially significant downtime and recovery costs.

  • ActiSense provided a ~2-day early warning prior to visible foaming
  • The digester recovered within three days, avoiding a prolonged outage
  • Real-time biological signals enabled faster operator response than traditional monitoring alone

Key Takeaway

ActiSense provides real-time biological visibility that allows operators to detect instability early and intervene before minor imbalances escalate into costly digester failures.

At the Biocore facility, ActiSense supported stable co-digestion under highly variable feedstock conditions, helping protect biogas production, reduce operational risk, and safeguard continuous revenue streams.

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Get in touch with RAFT Energy to learn how ActiSense can help you detect imbalance, optimise organic loading, and maximise biogas yield.

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