Biofuels firm Gevo is bringing its dairy manure-based renewable natural gas project online in northwest Iowa. The Gevo NW Iowa RNG project, which is expected to start late in 2022 or early in 2023, is expected to produce approximately 355,000 MMBtu of RNG annually.
The RNG produced from the project will be sold in California under the agreement that BP has with Clean Energy Fuels Corp. The facility is expected to lead to $9 million to $16 million of distributions annually.
Dairy manure in lagoons and used as fertilizer can release large amounts of methane into the atmosphere. This methane can be captured and refined into RNG without any impact on the available nutrients. It creates more options to sustainably manage fertilizers for sustainable farming practices.
Gevo, Inc President and COO Dr. Chris Ryan expects the facility to become an example of how renewable energy can work for years.
He added, “By creating a renewable energy source that reduces the greenhouse gas footprint of agriculture while providing meaningful renewable energy where its badly needed—that kind of foresight will make a difference in the long term far beyond Northwest Iowa.”
RNG-fuelled vehicles can result in up to 95% lower emissions than vehicles fuelled by gasoline or diesel, says a U.S. Department of Energy study.
