Aemitis AD system goes online

The Aemetis Biogas subsidiary of Cupertino, California-based Aemetis Inc. has started producing renewable natural gas (RNG) from its 10th anaerobic digestion (AD) plant built to process waste and byproducts from a dairy in Stanislaus County, California.

Additionally, the newly constructed digesters for five additional dairies are in final stages of commissioning and construction.

The collection of AD plant installations means Aemetis Biogas operations soon will include 12 digesters processing waste from 16 dairies. Combined, those digesters are designed to produce an estimated 550,000 MMBtu (1 million British thermal units) per year of RNG in 2025, an 80 percent increase from the current production capacity of 300,000 MMBtu per year.

In December, Aemetis also expects to generate an estimated $11.5 million from the sale of investment tax credits from the construction of dairy digesters and other projects earlier this year.

“Aemetis Biogas is on track to increase RNG production by about 80 percent, including the dairy digester that began operation today and those projects nearing completion,” Aemetis CEO Eric McAfee says. “We are pleased with the rapid acceleration of revenue growth from new digesters, which generate revenues from LCFS credits and Renewable Fuel Standard D3 RINs.”

Aemetis digesters are connected to an existing 36-mile Aemetis biogas pipeline, feeding what Aemitis' central RNG production facility located at its ethanol plant near Modesto, California.

To date, 49 dairies have signed agreements with Aemetis Biogas to supply their waste (consisting largely of cow manure) to existing and planned dairy digesters in the Aemetis Biogas Central Dairy Project.

The buildout of the dairy digesters and other facilities in the Aemetis Biogas project have been funded by $50 million of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guaranteed loans with 20-year repayment terms under the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP).

When fully operational, the dairies in the Aemetis Biogas Central Dairy Project are expected to produce more than 1.6 million MMBtu per year of RNG and generate annual revenue of $250 million.

In addition to its presence in the AD sector, Aemetis owns and operates a 65 million-gallons-per-year ethanol production facility in California that also supplies about 80 dairies with animal feed and an 80 million gallons per year production facility in India producing distilled biodiesel and refined glycerin for customers in India and Europe. As well, Aemetis says it is developing a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel fuel biorefinery in California.