BRD developed the project and implemented the technology to process and clean up biogases at the facility that will then be injected into the Black Hills Energy natural gas distribution system. GAIN Clean Fuel will direct and manage all downstream activities.
Mike Koel, president of GAIN Clean Fuel/U.S. Gain, a division of U.S. Venture, said, “This project not only improves the air quality in the city, but it enables the city to use their own resources for profit and strengthen their focus on sustainability.”
The city’s wastewater treatment plant will produce enough RNG to fuel about 35 class 8 trucks daily. That results in displacing more than 640,000 gallons of diesel with a cleaner fuel, reducing transportation-related emissions.
“We are proud to invest in this type of venture to help the City of Dubuque advance their sustainability initiatives and we’re thrilled to work with U.S. Gain on our second project together,” says Greg MacLean, president of BRD.
RNG is chemically identical to pipeline quality gas, but is a product created by the decomposition of organic materials in renewable waste streams. RNG relies on the same infrastructure as fossil fuel natural gas, such as pipelines, gas compressors, refueling stations and vehicle engine technology. The key difference of RNG is its renewable characteristics verses geologic sources of compressed natural gas (CNG).
“RNG production is rapidly growing across the nation, due to investments from companies like GAIN Clean Fuel,” says Koel. “We have three more sites expected to come online soon and many more in development. Our vision is to rapidly expand availability of RNG – improving air quality through localized methane capture and reduced tailpipe emissions.”
