What is bio-LNG
and how is it made?

Q: What is bio-LNG and how is it made?

Bio-LNG is made by upgrading and liquefying biogas, which is produced through anaerobic digestion of organic waste. The methane in the biogas is separated from CO2 and liquefied, increasing volumetric energy density 600 times.

Q: Why is bio-LNG considered carbon neutral?

Bio-LNG is considered carbon neutral because it returns carbon to the atmosphere that was recently absorbed by plants, unlike fossil fuels which release carbon locked underground for millions of years. Well-to-wheel, bio-LNG can even achieve negative carbon emissions.

Q: Where is bio-LNG used today?

Bio-LNG is used today as a renewable fuel for heavy-duty road transport and maritime shipping, fitting directly into existing LNG engines and infrastructure without modification.

Q: What is fossil-free bio-LNG?

Fossil-free bio-LNG is produced onsite directly next to the digester, containing only biogenic molecules with no reliance on imported fossil methane. Every molecule is physically traceable from organic waste to fuel.

Author Remco Krul Technology Marketing

Article details

Published 19 December 2023

Updated 2 June 2026

Key take-aways

A renewable, traceable biofuel that's ready for heavy transport

Organic waste produces biogas through anaerobic digestion, the first step toward bio-LNG.
Biogas is liquefied into bio-LNG, increasing the volumetric energy density 600 times.
Bio-LNG can achieve negative carbon emissions depending on feedstock and CO₂ reuse.
Bio-LNG works today for heavy-duty road transport and maritime shipping, using existing LNG engines and refueling infrastructure.
Not all bio-LNG on the market is equal: fossil-free bio-LNG contains only biogenic molecules, physically traceable from waste to fuel.

Summary

Bio-LNG is a biofuel made by processing organic waste flows, such as organic household and industrial waste, manure, and sewage sludge. Bio-LNG is used today for heavy-duty road transport and maritime shipping that take advantage of using existing LNG engines and refueling infrastructure.

01 How is bio‑LNG made?

When anaerobic digestion of organic waste occurs, biogas is emitted in the process. The main components in this biogas are methane (CH₄) and carbon dioxide (CO₂). To make bio-LNG, the methane is separated from the carbon dioxide and other critical components, and then liquefied. This liquefaction process increases the energy density 600 times and makes the biofuel ideal for heavy-duty and maritime transport.

See practical use cases

02 Advantages of bio‑LNG for transport

Bio-LNG is a practically carbon neutral biofuel. In addition to being a renewable replacement for LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas), bio-LNG also offers the advantages that LNG has over diesel., including:

Reduced carbon dioxide emission
Lower engine sound
Lower nitrogen oxide emission
Significantly less pm (particulate matter) emission

Well-to-wheel, the GHG emissions balance of bio-LNG can be even negative, depending on the choice of feedstock, whether or not the carbon dioxide is reused, and the energy consumption of the entire process from waste to fuel. In plants with Nordsol technology, the captured carbon dioxide is liquefied for reuse, so it is not released into the atmosphere.

03 Bio‑LNG, LBM or LBG

Bio-LNG is sometimes called liquefied biomethane (LBM) or liquefied biogas (LBG). These are three different names for the same product. So where do these names come from?

LNG stands for liquefied natural gas. Natural gas is composed of about 95% methane, whereas LBM and bio-LNG are composed of about 99,8% methane. Therefore, technically the name liquefied biomethane is a good description of the product. However, as this liquefied biomethane is a biofuel for LNG engines and used to replace fossil LNG, the name bio-LNG is the most commonly used name.

04 What makes bio‑LNG carbon neutral

Bio-LNG is composed of methane. When methane is burned, carbon in the form of CO₂ is emitted and released into the atmosphere. So what’s the difference with a fossil fuel?

Using fossil fuels releases carbon that has been locked up in the ground for millions of years, while using bio-LNG emits carbon that is part of the biogenic carbon cycle. In other words, fossil fuel use increases the total amount of carbon in the atmosphere, while the use of bio-LNG simply returns the carbon that was absorbed from the atmosphere as the plants grew. So, when assessing the carbon intensity of a fuel over its complete life cycle, the source of the fuel is a critical factor.

From biogas to bio‑LNG
The scalable pathway to decarbonising transport

Explore the technical and economic roadmap for converting biogas into bio-LNG, including plant integration, scalability, cost structures, and revenue optimization strategies.

Get the 2026 whitepaper Contact

05 CO2 capture and liquefaction

The energy required to produce the fuel contributes to its carbon intensity, especially if the energy does not come from renewable sources. In the production of bio-LNG from biogas, these emissions can be compensated by capturing and reusing CO₂ from the biogas during the same process.

As mentioned before, biogas is composed of methane and CO₂. To produce bio-LNG, methane is separated from the CO₂. By capturing and liquefying the CO₂, and reusing this biogenic CO₂ in the industry to replace CO₂ from fossil sources, bio-LNG becomes carbon neutral. In fact, over its complete lifecycle (well-to-wheel ) bio-LNG can even result in negative carbon emissions.

06 Fossil‑free bio‑LNG

Not all bio-LNG is the same. In addition to the production process described above, which produces fossil-free bio-LNG directly next to the digester, there are other production routes. These routes use gaseous or liquid fossil methane that is “greened” with biomethane certificates, to produce mass-balanced or greened LNG. While these routes accelerate the scaling up of the bio-LNG market, the use of this method is not sustainable in the long term due to its reliance on fossil methane.