Anaerobic digestion is a well understood and mature technology which uses a naturally occurring biological process carried out by microbes. There are over 700 operational anaerobic digestion sites in the UK.

At Acorn, agricultural material including crops from rotations and manure will be fed into the anaerobic digesters. The agricultural material, used as a food source by microbes, is broken down into biogas. Biogas is made up of both biomethane and biogenic CO2. Biomethane is a green fuel which can be used directly to heat homes and biogenic CO2 can replace fossil-derived sources in the food and beverage industry. Digestate, a coproduct of the process will be returned to farmers to grow crops and replace unsustainable artificial fertilisers.

Overall, the process uses a natural cycle by using CO2 from the atmosphere and sunlight to make a sustainable fuel.