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Clover Hill Dairy in Wisconsin the site of new RNG project

A new renewable natural gas (RNG) project at Clover Hill Dairy in Campbellsport, WI, is now operational. The project is the first of four to be completed in a partnership between Nacelle Industries, U.S. Gain and DMT Clear Gas Solutions, a technology supplier in biogas upgrading and gas desulfurization.

Nacelle, a developer of gas clean-up equipment designed for the RNG sector, has been contracted to develop and maintain the gas upgrading projects for U.S. Gain, an RNG developer and provider for transportation and thermal energy markets.

U.S. Gain has partnered with multiple farming operations in the Midwest U.S. to meet the growing demand for RNG. “Many of the large farms already have digesters and we work with them to offtake and distribute the RNG produced,” said Bryan Nudelbacher, director of RNG Business Development for U.S. Gain.

“But the Clover Hill project goes one step beyond that. Now, we’re also actively leading the development of gas processing facilities and coordinating transportation of pipeline-grade gas to injection sites, drawing on skill-sets from industry experts as appropriate.”

The Bonlender family of Clover Hill Dairy have had a methane digester since 2007 and for the past 13 years, it has produced higher-quality manure, electricity and a renewable bedding source for their animals. The upgraded anaerobic digester brings with it several improvements for the farm.

“By replacing our generators with the RNG system, our farm will see many added environmental benefits, such as less noise pollution [from the generators], cleaner air and less odor,” said Joe Bonlender, the fourth-generation owner of Clover Hill Dairy. “Our business will also see an added income stream. Our family feels this partnership is a great opportunity for our farm and our greater community.”

Between all four farms, the projects will upgrade a total accumulation of 1,000 standard cubic feet per minute of biogas to produce more than 98 per cent pure RNG for direct injection into the natural gas pipeline. Together, these farms will produce enough RNG to fuel greenhouse gas emission savings equivalent to removing more than 3,100 vehicles from U.S. roadways for one year or CO2 emissions from 1.6 million gallons of gasoline.

The remaining three projects are scheduled to complete commissioning within the next few months. Furthermore, the gas injection for all four farms will go through one centralized injection point using a virtual pipeline, a flexible and diverse approach that allows gas transportation without a physical pipeline network in place. Each truck will store the RNG in compressed natural gas form and can hold about 3,800 gasoline gallon equivalents.