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A consortium of Japanese firms, including Kimura Chemical Plants Co., Kobe University, Novels Co., and FT Bio Power, has developed a low-energy process for recovering ammonia from biogas wastewater. This process combines forward osmosis membranes and heat-pump distillation, demonstrating improved energy efficiency over conventional methods.

Funded by Japan's NEDO from 2022 to 2025, pilot demonstrations began in May 2024 in Kobe and June 2025 in Nagaoka. The process could recover an estimated 106 tonnes of nitrogen annually and reduce carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to 133 kilolitres of crude oil. The consortium plans to centralize ammonia recovery from digestate sourced from multiple facilities.