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Gevo Inc. partners with U.S. dairies for manure-to-biogas project

Gevo Inc., a renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company based in Colorado, recently entered into a contract with three dairies to convert the manure they provide into pipeline quality renewable natural gas (RNG).

 The three dairies are expected to jointly generate approximately 350,000 million British Thermal Units (MMBTU) of biogas per year for sale to off-takers or use by the company’s affiliate, Agri-Energy, LLC, at its biofuel production facility in Luverne, MN.

Gevo Inc. aims to reduce, and eventually eliminate, the fossil footprint created through the operation of the Luverne facility. These biogas contracts, in conjunction with wind power, should enable any biofuel produced at the Luverne facility to have a lower carbon intensity score, as well as an increased value.

 The company states it has a letter of commitment from a lender for $20 million to finance the RNG project at one of the three dairies, with a verbal commitment from the same lender to finance the projects at the other two dairies. The financing includes capital for the anaerobic digesters, the biogas collection and upgrading system and the utility interconnection system.

 “These three dairy farms represent what I envisioned as phase one of the biogas cluster, consisting of eight to 10 total farms once the system is fully built out,” said Gevo Inc. CEO Patrick Gruber in a press release.

 “We aim to change mindsets by demonstrating you can change waste from being a pollution problem to a renewable energy solution in the liquid fuels market.”