AMERESCO Plant Specialist Gage Bolt poses in front of Brickyard RNG facility in Danville; where methane gas generated by the Republic Services landfill is generated into renewable natural gas used for a low-carbon transportation fuel.
The partnership at the Republic Services Brickyard Landfill in south Danville began at the start of this year; and the idea is to help Republic Services reach a sustainability goal of beneficially reusing 50% more of their biogas by 2030. The Ameresco plant built on site takes in the methane gas from the landfill; and puts it through a major refining process to create compressed natural gas for a low-carbon transportation fuel that’s usable for vehicles that commonly use diesel fuel.
Prior to a tour of the plant that was offered Thursday (June 20th) morning, Republic Services Director of Renewable Energy Development Meredith Gipson stated that 20% of Republic’s vehicles are using this renewable fuel. Ameresco Director of Project Development Jim Bier says that goes for other companies as well; where they want more clean renewable natural gas fuel, and less dirty diesel fossil fuel. Bier says the compressed natural gas produced at plants like Danville’s is 90% cleaner than diesel.
AUDIO: People have been using renewable natural gas and compressed natural gas for decades. Most of it is in heavy duty fleets. So Waste Management, Republic; most of the larger waste firms have been using this for decades. And then some of the other big companies like UPS, Amazon, Federal Express; are also big users of compressed natural gas. And they are always looking for cleaner fuels.
Republic and Ameresco have been collaborating on various renewable energy projects since since 2009. Republic’s Meredith Gipson says sometimes people see a new plant, like the one Ameresco built at Republic’s Brickyard Landfill in Danville, and they immediately have negative thoughts. But she says the thoughts should be positive; because what they are doing there is taking already existing landfill methane gas and putting it to work, rather than just disposing of it, and therefore wasting it.
AUDIO: Landfill gas is typically flared. Which is a compliant way to deal with the gas that occurs from decomposing waste. But, otherwise, here we can turn it into renewable fuel.
Flaring is the process of changing the methane gas into carbon dioxide before it’s discharged into the atmosphere. Bier says; yes, that’s good, since methane is a 21 times more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. But actually using the methane gas to produce a cleaner transportation fuel is certainly even better.
Bier says three other plants like the one in Danville are currently being built in Illinois; in Roxana, Dixon, and East Moline.
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