Fortistar, Rumpke Waste & Recycling partner on landfill RNG project

Privately-owned investment firm Fortistar and Rumpke Waste & Recycling have partnered on the Noble Road Landfill Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) Project, a $33 million (€28 million) transportation decarbonisation project in Ohio, US.

The project will extract and capture waste methane from the Noble Road landfill in Shiloh, Ohio, and transform it into RNG. The RNG will be distributed through a key partner, Chesapeake Utilities Corporation affiliate Aspire Energy’s pipelines. The fuel will be dispensed in fuelling stations for natural gas vehicles via Trustar Energy, a Fortistar portfolio company.

The Noble Road Project will capture 20,323 tons of methane emissions, the equivalent of 49,940 tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂), annually, and produce RNG. Instead of simply flaring or burning methane, the gas will generate sustainable energy and jobs in the community.

The project will produce 6.9 million gallons of gasoline gallon equivalents per year – enough to fuel 725 biofuel trucks – displacing diesel fuel for those vehicles and creating around 35-40 construction jobs and three permanent green operations jobs to ensure the ongoing production of this sustainable energy source.

“We believe that this should be the future for all landfills,” said Mark Comora, president at Fortistar. “At Fortistar, we repurpose the captured methane in a way that benefits local communities, environments, and economies.

“That’s why we are working with major innovators like Chesapeake Utilities Corporation, Air Liquide and partnering with Rumpke, which was recognised this year by Deloitte as one of the best-managed companies in the US.”

Jeff Householder, president and CEO of Chesapeake Utilities Corporation, said: “As a collaborator across the renewable natural gas development, distribution and transmission value chain, our company is committed to investing in innovative energy solutions for our customers while lowering the carbon footprint of our system.

“This unique project enables us to utilise our existing natural gas gathering assets to inject RNG into our system and deliver to our customers.

“Because of the magnitude of this project’s benefit, once flowing, the RNG volume will represent nearly 10% of Aspire Energy’s entire system.”

The project includes the construction of a new state-of-the-art facility that will utilise advanced, patented technology to treat landfill gas by removing CO₂ and other components to purify the gas and produce pipeline-quality RNG.

The process includes proprietary membranes provided by Air Liquide, a multinational firm in gases, technologies, and services for industry and health and the second-largest supplier of industrial gases in over 80 countries.