- Reverion’s fuel cells convert biogas from waste into clean electricity while capturing all carbon—both from methane and CO₂, doubling removal and achieving record-high biogas-to-electricity conversion rates.
- This approach has the dual benefit of enabling decentralized clean electricity generation at biogas sites, while offering a near-term solution to do carbon removal at scale.
- Scaling biogas production worldwide could remove over 2 gigatons of CO₂ annually.
Frontier has facilitated offtake agreements with Reverion, a German company that captures and permanently stores CO₂ from biogas while generating clean electricity through solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). With this deal, Frontier buyers will pay Reverion $41 million to remove 96,000 tons of CO₂ between 2027 and 2030.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, trapping over 27 times more heat than CO₂ over 100 years (IPCC AR6). Conventional biogas utilization technologies, such as combined heat and power plants, use the raw gas less efficiently, resulting in CO₂ and sometimes methane emissions. Reverion’s technology addresses this by capturing carbon from both the methane and CO₂ present in biogas—doubling removal compared to conventional approaches—while generating clean electricity.
There are over 120,000 biogas sites globally, many run by farmers turning organic waste such as manure or crop residues into energy. Reverion’s fuel cells convert methane to electricity at roughly 74% efficiency, the highest electricity conversion rate reported for thermal power plants, while capturing the carbon. By generating power onsite, farmers reduce fuel use, cut costs, and generate additional revenue. The system can also switch modes to produce hydrogen when electricity prices are low, enabling farmers to also generate revenue from hydrogen production during times of peak solar and wind power production.
Reverion’s process starts with plants naturally capturing CO₂, which ends up as biomass like manure, crop waste, and food scraps. Farmers collect this biomass waste and feed it into anaerobic digesters to produce biogas—a mix of roughly 60% methane and 40% CO₂. Reverion’s fuel cells tap into these existing anaerobic digesters, converting the methane into electricity, and producing a pure CO₂ stream as a byproduct. The CO₂ stream is then liquefied and transported for permanent storage in geological formations.
Reverion’s method of removing CO₂ from the atmosphere
The case for Reverion's approach to carbon removal
Their approach could remove hundreds of millions of tons of CO₂ annually by 2040. There are over 120,000 biogas sites worldwide. Using IEA projections for biogas from manure, crop residues, and municipal solid waste, the theoretical carbon removal potential could reach more than 2 gigatons annually by 2040. Reverion could capture a portion of that, considering other biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS) approaches in use.
Reverion captures all carbon in biogas, not just the CO₂ portion. Current approaches to biogas carbon removal only capture carbon from the CO₂ portion of biogas, which is less than 50% by volume. Reverion’s process effectively doubles the carbon removal potential from the same amount of biogas.
It achieves 74% fuel-to-electricity conversion efficiency, among the highest in electricity generation globally. Reverion’s approach simultaneously avoids emissions from fossil fuels while achieving permanent carbon removal. Their high efficiency means more electricity is produced for a given amount of biomass waste, providing more economic value to farmers with biogas facilities.
The approach minimizes methane leakage. By converting methane to electricity on-site, Reverion avoids the leaks that can occur during renewable natural gas upgrading and transportation through gas networks—an important factor given methane's high global warming potential.
The technology is poised for rapid expansion with strong market demand. With 60 signed pre-orders and 120 letters of intent, Reverion's value proposition to biogas operators is economically superior to internal combustion engines or renewable natural gas upgrading because of their high electrical efficiency and ability to run in reverse to produce hydrogen.
Frontier has facilitated purchases on behalf of its Founding Members Stripe, Google, Shopify, and McKinsey Sustainability, as well as members Autodesk, H&M Group, and Workday. Additionally, Aledade, Canva, Match Group, Samsara, SKIMS, Skyscanner, Wise, and Zendesk have participated via Watershed's partnership with Frontier.
Stephan Herrmann, Co-Founder and CEO, Reverion: "This offtake with Frontier buyers allows us to demonstrate that our approach to carbon removal can be economically viable on top of driving climate impact. Our technology converts biogas to electricity at 74% efficiency while capturing carbon for permanent storage. We're focused on scaling this solution globally."
Hannah Bebbington Valori, Head of Deployment, Frontier: “Reverion’s approach is a smart upgrade to a well-known industrial process—turning biogas waste into clean power while capturing all the carbon, not just part of it. With over 120,000 biogas sites worldwide, this approach could unlock hundreds of millions of tons of carbon removal while also improving farmer operations.”