Industrial
MICROBE-LIFT® BGE Range
Biogas enhancers for anaerobic digesters — improve process times, increase methane output and digestate quality.
- Pack size
- 5 / 55 / 275 gal · 10 kg
- Price
- From £50
GBP retail bands (guide)
BGE products are dosed to your specific AD intake and throughput. Contact us for a tailored programme.
| Band | Price |
|---|---|
| Starter programme | £50 |
| Ongoing supply | £40 / US gal |
Prices are a guide in GBP; VAT (where applicable) and shipping are confirmed on your quote or invoice.
Pricing depends on volume and shipping. We typically reply within one working day.
About this product
What it does, and why.
Anaerobic digestion runs in four biological stages, and a digester underperforms because one of them is limiting the rest. Fibrous feedstock stalls at hydrolysis. Acids build faster than the methanogens can convert them and FOS/TAC climbs. The BGE (Biogas Enhancer) range from Ecological Laboratories, Inc. is a set of four consortia, each targeted at one of those stages, so a programme can be built around the bottleneck your plant actually has rather than dosing a single general-purpose additive and hoping. Eco Balance Ltd is sole distributor for the UK and Ireland.
Recognition
World Biogas Research and Innovation Project of the Year 2026
BGE M — An Advanced Methanogenic Technology, developed by Ecological Laboratories, Inc. and distributed in the UK and Ireland by Eco Balance Ltd, took Research and Innovation Project of the Year at the World Biogas Research Technology Awards 2026.
How the process works — and where each product fits
Digestion is a relay. Each stage hands its product to the next, and the slowest stage sets the pace of the whole plant. Knowing which stage is holding you up is what decides the programme.
1. Hydrolysis
Microbes break large organic molecules — fats, proteins, carbohydrates — into smaller soluble compounds the rest of the chain can use. On fibrous and lignocellulosic feedstocks this is usually the rate-limiting step.
BGE₁, with BGEₕ added where the feedstock is fibrous
2. Acidogenesis
Bacteria convert those soluble compounds into volatile fatty acids. If VFAs accumulate faster than later stages can consume them, FOS/TAC climbs and the digester starts to sour.
BGE₂
3. Acetogenesis
Microbial strains transform fatty acids into acetic acid, hydrogen and carbon dioxide — the direct feedstock for the final stage.
BGE₂
4. Methanogenesis
Methanogenic archaea convert acetate, hydrogen and CO₂ into methane-rich biogas. They are slow-growing and sensitive to pH, ammonia and temperature, which is why this stage is so often the ceiling on output.
BGEₘ
Typical dosing framework (indicative)
Manufacturer application rates below, expressed against digester throughput. Your programme is scaled to your own intake, retention time and feedstock — and to which stage is limiting your plant, which is what the first conversation is about.
| Phase | Manufacturer illustration — scaled on survey |
|---|---|
| BGE₁ — hydrolysis | 10 ppm/day (1 gal per 100,000 gal/day), dosed 50:50 with BGE₂. Supplied in 5, 55 and 275 gal. |
| BGE₂ — stability | 10 ppm/day (1 gal per 100,000 gal/day), dosed 50:50 with BGE₁. Supplied in 5, 55 and 275 gal. |
| BGEₘ — methanogenesis | 1.4 ppm/day (1 gal per 100,000 gal/week). Supplied in 4.5 and 50 gal. |
| BGEₕ — fibre | 4.2 ppm/day (1 lb per 1,000,000 gal, around 35 lb/month). Use undiluted or mix with 1–2 gal water per lb. Supplied in 10 kg (22 lb). |
Ideal operating conditions
BGE optimises the biology inside your digester. It does not override the conditions that biology has to live in. Check your plant against the bands below before dosing — if you are sitting outside them, the conditions come first and we will tell you so. Laboratory guideline from Ecological Laboratories, Inc.
| Parameter | Optimal | Workable | Where performance suffers |
|---|---|---|---|
| pH | 6.8 – 7.6 | 6.5 – 6.8 and 7.6 – 8.0 | Below 6.5 or above 8.0 — methanogens inhibited |
| Alkalinity | 2,000 – 5,000 ppm | 1,500 – 2,000 and 5,000 – 8,000 ppm | Below 1,000 or above 10,000 ppm |
| Temperature | 35 – 40 °C (93 – 104 °F) | 20 – 35 and 40 – 50 °C | Below 10 °C or above 60 °C |
| FOS/TAC ratio | 0.3 – 0.4 | 0.2 – 0.3 and 0.4 – 0.5 | Above 0.5 — overload and instability |
What the field data shows
- Biogas output: typically a 10–15% uplift, and up to 25% in selected applications. The figure depends on feedstock, operating conditions and how the plant is performing to begin with
- Methane concentration: 3–7% increase under optimised operating conditions
- Reactor capacity: up to 10% recovered where solids and foaming are brought under control
- H₂S: up to 50% reduction in control input costs, achieved through more complete substrate conversion rather than direct sulphide treatment
- Timescale: results typically visible within 30–90 days, depending on hydraulic retention time, feedstock and digester conditions
Documented plant results
- High-load food processing digester with variable organic inputs, BGE₁ + BGE₂: COD down 87%, from 6,655 to 845 mg/L
- Same plant: TSS down 88%, from 1,600 to 200 mg/L, with more consistent methane production
- Mixed farm and food waste digester running unstable with high H₂S and low methane, BGE₁ + BGE₂: H₂S down 97%, from around 1,231 ppm to 31 ppm
- Same plant: methane up from 58% to 68.6%, and foam and solids build-up eliminated
- Published by Ecological Laboratories, Inc. from historical field data. Results vary with system conditions
Where it earns its money
- More gas from the same feedstock — the most direct route to improving AD profitability
- Fewer clean-out shutdowns once solids and foam stop accumulating
- Lower H₂S protects CHP engines, gas compressors and upgrading equipment from corrosion
- Steadier FOS/TAC means less firefighting and fewer interventions week to week
- Improved digestate for land application — the benefit continues after the gas is sold
What it will not do
- It will not fix a mechanical problem. Undersized mixing, poor heating or a failing gas train are engineering faults, and no biology will mask them
- It will not hold a digester that is being overloaded. If the organic loading rate is beyond what the vessel can carry, the loading has to come down first
- It will not work outside the operating window above. Below pH 6.5 or above 8.0, methanogens are inhibited whatever you dose
- It will not give you a number we can guarantee in advance. Ecological Laboratories put it plainly in their own application manual: anyone who claims they can predict the exact outcome of a biological programme is not telling the truth
Biogas Series technical literature — ELI Biosciences — technical bulletins and archived field summaries sit with Ecological Laboratories; we translate dosing into UK / Ireland units and your consent context.
Key features
- BGE₁ — hydrolysis: high-performance microbial blend that accelerates the breakdown of complex organics, reducing solids accumulation and improving feedstock conversion. Most valuable during start-up and high-loading conditions
- BGE₂ — stability: humic and bacterial formula. The humic fraction stimulates microbial activity and enhances biological flocculation and degradation of accumulated organic solids, helping prevent VFA accumulation, foaming and process imbalance
- BGEₘ — methanogenesis: targeted consortium of acetoclastic and hydrogenotrophic methanogenic archaea that accelerates the final, rate-limiting stage of digestion, raising methane concentration and steadying biogas output
- BGEₕ — fibre: enzyme-enhanced blend including cellulase and hemicellulase that improves breakdown of fibrous and lignocellulosic feedstocks, reducing sludge build-up and foaming in high-TS systems
Suitable for
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