GFL Environmental, Opal Fuels open second RNG facility

Paragon RNG has started commercial operations of its renewable natural gas (RNG) facility at the Sampson County Landfill in Roseboro, North Carolina, owned and operated by a subsidiary of Canada-based GFL Environmental Inc. The plant is producing and injecting pipeline-quality RNG, and U.S. Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) registrations have been filed for the project, which is a joint venture between GFL and Opal Fuels Inc., White Plains, New York.

The project is part of the previously announced joint venture between the two companies to develop RNG facilities at landfills owned by GFL. Opal Fuels will operate the facility and dispense the RNG as fuel for GFL's truck fleet and other transportation customers.

In the summer of 2023, GFL and Opal opened their first RNG production facility, Emerald RNG, at GFL’s Arbor Hills landfill in Michigan. Emerald RNG captures naturally occurring biogas from the decomposition of organic material at the landfill and refines it into RNG. The facility has nameplate capacity of 10,000 standard cubic feet per minute (SCFM) and can produce more than 2.5 million British thermal units (MMBtu, or almost 20 million gasoline gallon equivalents, or GGE, of RNG annually.

The new Sampson RNG facility has a nameplate capacity of approximately 1.6 MMBtu (12.4 million GGE) per year. The RNG, when used as a transportation fuel to displace diesel, will reduce fleet operating costs and avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to achieving zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions from more than 900 heavy-duty trucks, the companies say.

"We are excited to see another RNG facility come online through our partnership with Opal Fuels," says Patrick Dovigi, founder and CEO of GFL. "This facility at our Sampson landfill will play an important part in achieving our commitment to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions from landfills while providing an alternative fuel source that can power our trucks and help our customers achieve their own sustainability goals."

"Completing construction of the Sampson RNG facility, now Opal Fuel's 10^th operational plant, marks another milestone in the growth of OPAL Fuels," adds Adam Comora, co-CEO of Opal Fuels, adding that the company’s operating portfolio of facilities now has approximately 7.8 million Btu of annual nameplate design capacity, more than triple what the company had 30 months ago.

RELATED: Opal Fuels partners with South Jersey Industries on RNG projects

"This project also demonstrates our continued focus on expanding RNG production by working with best-in-class partners like GFL to bring more renewable fuel supply online,” Comora continues. “These RNG projects combined with our integrated downstream fuel station segment providing that fuel back to GFL fleet and other downstream customers creates a win-win-win for our partners and the communities they serve.”