US-headed renewable fuels developer and producer Aemetis, Inc. has announced the commencement of commissioning of the US$12 million biogas upgrading facility at its Keyes ethanol plant site in California (CA). The facility will convert dairy biogas into renewable natural gas (RNG) for injection into the Pacific Gas & Electric Co (PG&E) gas pipeline interconnection unit located at the Keyes ethanol plant site.
The full system commissioning process, including PG&E’s interconnection unit, is expected to be completed in April 2022, enabling the production of utility-grade RNG for sale to customers via pipeline delivery.
The commissioning of the Aemetis biogas upgrading facility and gas utility interconnection unit allows us to launch dairy RNG sales for use in trucks and buses to displace petroleum diesel. The engineering, permitting, procurement, and construction of these two facilities required about three years to complete. We look forward to beginning commercial deliveries of low cost, carbon negative fuel to our RNG customers in the heavy vehicle industry, including trucking companies, waste haulers, and bus operators, said Andy Foster, President of Aemetis Biogas, a subsidiary of Aemetis.
In the Five Year Plan released on February 28, 2022, Aemetis plans to invest more than US$300 million to build 66 dairy digesters and more than 36 miles of biogas pipeline to produce more than 1.5 million MMBtu of dairy RNG annually.
The biogas-RNG upgrading facility and the PG&E interconnection unit are designed to convert the dairy biogas into utility-grade, pressurized RNG for use as a transportation fuel.
