Integrated energy company Chevron and Brightmark LLC, a waste solutions company, are working to decarbonize the farming industry with a partnership to produce and sell dairy biomethane, a renewable natural gas. With the second expansion of this partnership, the joint venture will fund construction of infrastructure and commercial operation of 10 new dairy biomethane projects, including new sites in Iowa and Wisconsin and additional sites in Michigan and South Dakota, the companies say. They will market the product for use in vehicles that run on compressed natural gas.
Chevron has made a commitment to increase renewable natural gas volumes tenfold by 2025 over 2020 volumes.
By working together, the two organizations are “reimagining waste and delivering significant environmental benefits while improving economics for our dairy farm partners,” says Bob Powell, founder and CEO of Brightmark.
Renewable natural gas is natural gas produced from organic waste materials like food waste and animal and plant-based materials. The major sources of this gas are landfills, animal manure, and solid waste extracted during wastewater treatment. The gas is considered to be “renewable” because it is created by waste that is continuously produced, and is naturally occurring as part of the decomposition process. Anaerobic digestion technology captures raw biogas, cleans, upgrades, and compresses it into renewable natural gas, Brightmark explains.
Chevron is working in other areas to develop other alternative energy sources, as well. Through its Chevron Products Company division, the company announced earlier this summer that it is working with global power and hydrogen technologies company Cummins to explore commercially viable business opportunities in hydrogen and other alternative energy sources.
