US-headed renewable natural gas (RNG) and renewable fuels company Aemetis, Inc (Aemetis) has announced that its subsidiary Aemetis Biogas LLC has completed an additional stretch of pipeline to transport raw biogas from five new dairy digesters to a centralized biogas upgrading plant. Furthermore, the project is on track to complete the entire biogas pipeline network in 2022.
Aemetis Biogas has completed an additional seven miles (≈ 11.26 km) of underground pipeline to transport raw biogas from five new dairy digesters to its centralized renewable natural gas (RNG) upgrading facility located at the Aemetis Keyes biofuels plant.
Including the four miles (≈ 6.44 km) of biogas pipeline commissioned in late 2020, Aemetis has now installed more than 11 miles (≈ 17.7 km) of pipeline and is on track to complete the 36-mile (≈ 58 km) biogas pipeline network in 2022.
With five dairy biogas digesters under construction and scheduled to begin biogas production by mid-year, the completion of this phase of the pipeline on time and under budget is another significant milestone for the Aemetis Biogas dairy RNG project, said Andy Foster, President of Aemetis Biogas.
Completion by year-end
Construction crews are now working on an additional 25 miles of pipeline (≈ 40.2 km) spanning Stanislaus and Merced Counties to transport biogas for Phases 2 and 3 of the project.
The Aemetis biogas pipeline project, 52 diary digesters, central biogas upgrading, and Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) gas pipeline interconnect facilities will bring an estimated US$300 million of new capital investment to California’s Central Valley, while generating additional revenues and new jobs for a wide variety of businesses in agricultural communities.
By year’s end, we expect to have built 15 new dairy digesters and completed the 36-mile biogas pipeline network, providing immediate benefits to the region’s air quality and the state’s low carbon transportation fuel supply, said Andy Foster.
Connect 52 dairy digesters
The project supports California’s numerous climate change initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and provide negative carbon intensity (CI) transportation fuels.
Aemetis plans to increase its RNG production to more than 1.4 million MMBtu’s per year of negative carbon intensity transportation fuel, sourced from 52 dairy digesters located in the state’s San Joaquin Valley, a region cited by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as having some of the nation’s worst air quality.
The Aemetis Biogas dairy RNG project is designed to reduce GHG emissions by an estimated 5.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) each year.
The Aemetis Biogas dairy RNG project, energy efficiency upgrades to the Aemetis Keyes biofuels plant, and the Aemetis Renewable Jet/Diesel project include US$57 million of grant funding and other support from the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the US Forest Service, the California Energy Commission (CEC), the California Department of Food and Agriculture, CAEATFA, and Pacific Gas and Electric’s energy efficiency program.
