Gevo’s renewable natural gas (“RNG”) project in Northwest Iowa produces biogas and injects it into pipelines.
The project generates RNG captured from dairy cow manure (the “Feedstock”). The Feedstock for the RNG Project is supplied by three dairy farms located in Northwest Iowa totaling over 20,000 milking cows.
With an upgrade to the facility expected to be completed in Q4 2023, the RNG Project is expected to generate approximately 400,000 MMBtu of RNG per year, which will be transported to California. The RNG Project signed agreements in August 2021 with BP Canada Energy Marketing Corp. and BP Products North America Inc. (collectively, “bp”) for the sale of NW Iowa RNG’s production (the “bp Agreements”).
The RNG Project is a key factor to Gevo’s success because it provides renewable energy that is fungible in the established infrastructure. This project was first conceived as a source for low-carbon-intensity thermal energy to power the fermentation process for alcohol-to-jet and other advanced-renewable-fuel pathways at fuels production facilities currently under development, as well as other planned facilities. The reduced carbon score introduced to our process by RNG derived from dairy-farm-based feedstocks is expected to help us achieve our sustainability goals and pass the benefit on to our customers.
Gevo’s business system features the Argonne GREET® model established by Argonne National Laboratory with the support of the U.S. Department of Energy. Argonne GREET provides an accurate lifecycle inventory of carbon to leverage the decarbonizing impact of sustainable agriculture and fuel-production practices. Gevo’s business system is expected to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions to net-zero over the entire lifecycle of each gallon of advanced renewable fuel, including its SAF, and that includes the emissions resulting from burning the fuel in engines to power transportation. Producing natural gas that can be used now and displace fossil natural gas from the pipeline by using agricultural byproducts fits our plan to employ a circular economy to increase efficiency and reduce waste in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.