(Credit: Pixabay)Today marks the commencement of commercial operations at the first landfill renewable natural gas (RNG) production facility in Minnesota. The Pine Bend RNG Project is located at a landfill owned by Republic Services, Inc. and interconnected with a pipeline owned by Xcel Energy. OPAL Fuels Inc. and NextEra Energy Marketing are also involved.
The new RNG facility captures naturally occurring biogas—made up in part by methane—from Pine Bend Landfill and transforms it into RNG. Methane is a natural byproduct of a variety of sources and is a powerful greenhouse gas (GHG). RNG has the potential to be a solution to the problem of climate change and is an attractive source of renewable energy.
This project replaces a landfill gas-to-electricity project, which has now been decommissioned. At full capacity, the facility is expected to process an estimated 3,350 SCFM of landfill gas, resulting in the production of 6.3 million gasoline gallon equivalent (GGE) per year of RNG. The low-carbon gas is then injected into Xcel Energy’s gas pipeline. This RNG, when used as transportation fuel rather than diesel, will avoid GHG emissions equivalent to achieving zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions
RNG made headline recently when BP announced it will receive renewable natural gas as part of a $175 million, 10-year offtake agreement with Divert as the oil and gas industry seeks more ways to lower carbon emissions, even as some of those methods face scrutiny.
The renewable natural gas (RNG) BP is purchasing is being produced through food waste digestion that will be generated at three Divert facilities that are in development in California, Pennsylvania, and Washington. Divert says the agreement is one of the largest known renewable natural gas offtake deals from food waste digestion in the United States and will offset nearly 40,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.
