The first US industrial scale renewable natural gas (RNG) facility using agricultural residues as its feedstock began production operations in Nevada, Iowa. Following 2 1/2 years of construction and transformation of Verbio’s Nevada plant, Greg Faith, President and General Manager announced, “Our biorefinery facility is now injecting pipeline quality natural gas into Alliant Energy’s gas distribution system for sale, nationally, to CNG and LNG transportation customers. This is a great day for our company, for our employees and for our partners in agriculture. We greatly appreciate the support we have received from the City of Nevada, the Iowa Economic Development Authority, the Des Moines Area Community College, Alliant Energy and many others – their support has been critical to our project’s success.”
With the commissioning of Verbio Nevada’s RNG production, Verbio has completed one of the key milestones of its’ initial strategic vision tied to its’ expansion into the US market. The Nevada plant will produce 7 million ethanol gallons equivalent (EGE) of RNG with the completion of Phase I; upon completion of Phase II in the 4th quarter of 2022, the site will begin operating as a biorefinery, producing 19 million (EGE) of RNG and 60 million gallons of corn-based ethanol. The integration of RNG and ethanol production, unique to Verbio, incorporates advanced operational technology as currently practiced at the company’s facilities in Germany.
Since the passage of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) legislation in 2005 and as amended in 2007, Iowa has become a leader in the production of ethanol and biodiesel. The emergence of Verbio Nevada adds RNG to the state’s renewable energy portfolio and builds on the partnership between agriculture and renewable energy. “Verbio is a first-class company, and I’m pleased they chose to invest in Iowa for this new biorefinery facility,” said Debi Durham, Executive Director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority and Iowa Finance Authority. “This important renewable energy project exemplifies our economic development strategy in Iowa, which is about innovation and attracting highly skilled jobs that will raise the standard of living and create wealth for our state.”
Following the formal commissioning announcement, Claus Sauter, Founder and CEO of Verbio AG, went on to note that, “While the RFS has been a great success, the portion from the Advanced Biofuels category related to Cellulosic Biofuels has greatly underperformed. By 2022, the RFS envisioned 16.0 billion gallons of biofuels being produced from this category. However, production to date has not exceeded 0.6 billion gallons, with over 80 percent of this being from landfill and wastewater treatment facilities and only a relatively small amount from renewable agricultural residues and cellulosic sources (i.e., field residues and animal waste). With the right policies, there is a tremendous untapped source of agricultural residue feedstock available for renewable fuels.”