A game changer

Nopetro Energy is betting on compressed natural gas (CNG) made from landfill gas playing a transformative role in the trucking industry with the integration of a heavy-duty natural gas engine from Columbus, Indiana-based heavy engine manufacturer Cummins Inc.

The X15N is the first 15-liter natural gas engine to be designed with the flexibility to perform across a range of heavy-duty applications, including line haul and vocational, Cummins says. The engine was in development for 48 months and commercialized in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Cummins expects to penetrate up to 10 percent of the current diesel market share, says Jorge Herrera, CEO of Nopetro Energy. Nopetro, based in Miami, was founded in 2008 with a vision to develop a network of CNG fueling facilities focusing solely on heavy-duty transportation, including solid waste trucks, transit buses and over-the-road trucks.

“[CNG is] 50 percent cheaper, 33 percent cleaner and domestic,” Herrera says. “It’s the same energy, same performance, same torque, same range and same horsepower as diesel engines.”

When Nopetro opened its first facility in 2012, Cummins had just brought an 8.9-liter heavy-duty natural gas engine to market, Herrera says. That 320-horsepower engine powers up to 1,000 pounds of torque and primarily was targeted toward applications such as solid waste trucks and transit buses. Today, he says, nearly 50 percent of the country’s waste collection trucks run on CNG and nearly a third of the country’s transit buses run on natural gas.

Nopetro now operates two divisions, a renewable natural gas (RNG) fueling station division that encompasses 16 truck stop facilities across the state of Florida fueling about 1,000 trucks and buses and an RNG production division with RNG production plants in development. One plant is expected to be fully operational in the second quarter of 2025, while the other two should come online in the second half of 2026, Herrera says. The production plants will produce 100 percent pipeline-quality natural gas that Nopetro will inject into the pipeline and send to its fueling facilities.

One of the facilities under development is in Vero Beach, Florida, where Nopetro has developed a 20-year partnership with the Indian River County Solid Waste Authority to build what Herrera describes as a “renewable natural gas refinery.” That facility will take landfill gas created by decomposing organic waste and, rather than burning it off by flare, will transform it into RNG.

“We’re not only solving a societal problem given our growing waste production as a nation, but we also are able to convert that into a usable fuel and then use our waste to fuel our nation’s trucks and buses,” Herrera says.

Cummins, meanwhile, has introduced the entire gamut of medium- and heavy-duty natural gas engines, ranging from a 6.7-liter to a 12-liter to a 15-liter heavy-duty engine.

“[This engine] now finally provides the over-the-road transportation sector with a heavy-duty engine that performs just like diesel,” Herrera says. “We see this as a huge game-changer for the industry because the largest consumer of fuel, which is the over-the-road transportation sector, has an opportunity to transition to a proven engine that not only saves them money, but then you stamp it clean given its lower environmental footprint.”

Fueling that heavy-duty engine with RNG made by converting landfill gas into clean natural gas means the nation’s waste could be used to fuel the country’s heavy-duty transportation industry, Herrera says.

Waste Today spoke with Herrera about what’s on the horizon for CNG.

Waste Today (WT): What are the new innovations and technologies related to CNG and RNG development that you’re most excited about?

Jorge Herrera (JH): I would say the most important evolution … is the fact that now the heavy-duty transportation industry has a true heavy-duty engine—15 liters, 500 horsepower, 1,850 pounds of torque. That means the over-the-road sector— every year there’s about 250,000 new trucks purchased, these are the ones that are moving all of our goods, the largest polluters and the largest consumers of fuel—they finally have a heavy-duty engine that they can use that provides them with the same performance as diesel while also improving the environment.

So, that’s a huge, transformative game change because, historically, it’s only been the solid waste sector and the transit industry that have been able to utilize these natural gas heavy engines.

From 2009 through 2024, we saw a large transformation of the solid waste sector and the transit industry, [with many operators moving] away from diesel and to natural gas engines. What we believe is going to happen now is that the same event is going to happen with the 15-liter engines so that all our goods, as they [are] delivered across the country, will utilize the Cummins 15-liter natural gas engine.

And it’s important to mention that every major original equipment truck manufacturer—Kenworth, Freightliner [and] Peterbilt—they are all now manufacturing this 15-liter, 500-horsepower heavy-duty engine on the assembly line.

It’s also an easier engine to maintain because the EPA [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] regulates the emissions that are created by heavy-duty engines [for most sectors].

Engine manufacturers like Cummins or Volvo, they’ve got to comply with the EPA regulations as they relate to the air quality emissions [thresholds] that their engines [must comply with]. Natural gas is an inherently cleaner fuel when the engine burns it … so you’ve got a much easier engine to maintain.

WT: What happened with the momentum around electric vehicles (EVs)?

JH: From a technological perspective, what we believe happened was between, I would say, 2019 through 2022, the market and the heavy-transportation industry were under the impression that an electric heavy-duty truck was around the corner and was going to be usable by the heavy-duty transportation industry in a way where it would make economic or operational sense.

And what we believe the market has now realized is that the only truly proven and available technology for heavy-duty transportation that works operationally and technologically … is natural gas and heavy-duty engines. The reason why is because it has been around so long.

When it comes to alternatives, the reality is that we are very far away from ever being able to truly integrate electric heavy-duty trucks into our nation’s fleets in a way where their TCO, [or] their total cost of ownership, would make any sense.

They can’t carry the payload.

So, if you want to start replacing solid waste trucks with electric trucks—assuming they were around and they were truly commercially available, which they’re not—you need a fleet that would be four or five times the size to be able to maintain the same duty cycles.

And that disregards the fact that each one of those trucks is significantly more expensive. A natural gas, proven engine functions just like diesel.

You save money, you get a meaningfully lower TCO and you’re able to utilize a renewable, cleaner fuel.

So, you’re helping the country, you’re helping our world, but you’re also making the right business decision.

WT: EVs have been deprioritized under President Trump’s administration. What does the regulatory outlook look like for renewable natural gas?

JH: As you saw from the executive order issued when President Trump entered the White House, he prioritizes biofuels. If you take a look at the executive order on Jan. 20, the President’s executive order “Unleashing American Energy,” you’ll see Section 3 specifically references the development of our domestic energy resources in biofuels. It’s already listed as a national priority to continue the proliferation, or the development, of biofuels, which is RNG.

One of the value propositions that was always dear to us was that this is a bipartisan solution. It doesn’t matter whether you are Republican or whether you’re Democrat, ultimately you embrace a domestic form of energy, and with natural gas being produced right here in our country, we are the world’s largest producer of natural gas .

It’s a bipartisan solution, meaning it benefits businesses because it offers them a lower-cost alternative, and it also benefits society because we are continuing to expand our own domestic production of natural gas—both domestic conventional and renewable biofuels. But it’s ultimately a proven form of energy and technology that is … embraced by both spectrums.

So that’s why we’ve always been very adamant and bullish in our industry because it’s a solution that exists today. It doesn’t rely on significant subsidies. [Subsidies are] not needed because the engines perform and generate savings for the customer.

Nopetro Energy is a Miami-based developer of renewable and liquefied natural gas facilities. To learn more, visit www.nopetroenergy.com.