Clean Energy Fuels completes RNG production facility in Minnesota

California-based Clean Energy Fuels has completed its latest renewable natural gas (RNG) production facility at Ash Grove Dairy in Lake Benton, Minnesota, the company announced on August 5.

The plant is producing pipeline-quality RNG and injecting it into the interstate natural gas pipeline grid. Once operating at full capacity, it is projected to supply up to 480,000 gasoline gallon equivalents/year of negative carbon-intensity RNG.

The one-digester facility will process up to 60,000 gallons/year of manure, capturing harmful methane and preventing it from entering the atmosphere. This biogas will be converted into an estimated 165mn Btu/day of RNG.

The project, financed through one of Clean Energy’s production joint ventures and developed by Dynamic Renewables, totaled $22mn. It has now passed necessary gas testing and is officially producing ready-to-use RNG. Clean Energy is in the process of filing applications to generate federal and state environmental credits.

“With the growing demand for RNG, and interest really starting to take off as fleets realize how effective and immediate they can fuel cleanly, the RNG produced at Ash Grove will directly help with reducing carbon emissions across the country,” said Clay Corbus, senior vice president at Clean Energy.

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, agriculture accounts for nearly 10% of U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and the transportation sector accounts for another 28%. Capturing methane from farm waste lowers these emissions. RNG, produced from captured methane and used as a transportation fuel, significantly lowers GHG emissions on a lifecycle basis compared to diesel, the company said.