Located in Rockford, Illinois, the new production unit will produce biomethane from biogas from a solid waste treatment plant, owned and operated by Waste Connections Inc. It will have a production capacity of 380 GWh per year, which represents the largest production capacity per plant for Air Liquide. It will be operational by the end of 2023. Another biomethane production unit from another landfill is also being built in Delavan, Wisconsin, and will be operational at the beginning of Q2 of 2022.
For these two projects, Air Liquide will use, in addition to its own technology, a complementary technology developed by Waga Energy, a company specialized in the valorization of biogas from landfill sites, founded in 2015 and supported by ALIAD, the Group’s capital venture fund.
Biomethane, like hydrogen and CO2 capture technologies, has a prominent place in the fight global warming. Biomethane production has become increasingly popular over the past several years. For example, it was announced just last month that a program in California to turn cow manure into renewable natural gas will help dairy farmers reduce methane emissions.
The project will produce renewable natural gas (RNG) by capturing methane from 15 dairy farms in Merced County and then conducting anaerobic digestion. The project is being funded primarily through the California Public Utilities Commission’s Dairy Biomethane Pilot Program, which was established as part of the state’s strategy to reduces emissions, including from methane gases.
And in September, sustainable packaging company DS Smith announced it will be investing more than $8.8 million to expand its anaerobic treatment facility to create biogas at its Rouen paper mill in northern France, which will allow the site to generate green energy from 100% of its wastewater.