Anaergia commissions of new RNG facility in Northern Italy

Anaergia Inc. announced it has commissioned a new biomethane facility in northern Italy, expanding its extensive waste-to-biomethane platform in Europe.

The plant, Ambiente & Risorse, is owned by Anaergia and has the capacity to anaerobically digest 40,000 metric tons of landfill-diverted food scraps, converting it to 3,900,000 cubic meters of renewable natural gas (biomethane) for injection into the region’s natural gas pipelines. In addition, the plant captures carbon dioxide created in the anaerobic digestion process. The biogenic carbon dioxide is liquified and combined with the digestate that remains after the anaerobic digestion process to create up to 9,000 tons per year of calcium carbonate fertilizer. The plant also has a separate soil remediation unit that can bioremediate up to 30,000 metric tons of contaminated soil annually.

The Ambiente & Risorse facility receives the food waste it processes from waste collection companies operating in the County of Pavia, an agricultural area near Milan. The plant uses Anaergia’s food waste pre-treatment, anaerobic digestion, biogas upgrading, and digestate treatment systems, together with other technologies manufactured by the company.

“Our Ambiente & Risorse plant will prevent the methane emissions that would occur if food waste were landfilled and instead use the waste to create a valuable carbon-negative renewable fuel that displaces fossil fuels as well as fertilizer that will improve the soil in the region. This is the key to Anaergia’s mission and how we will help make net-zero a reality,” said Andrew Benedek, chairman and CEO of Anaergia.

“This new facility – one of six new plants Anaergia will have commissioned over two years in Italy – further represents Anaergia’s ability to successfully finance, build, own and operate large-scale projects that convert waste to renewable energy, help meet the RepowerEU 2030 biomethane targets, and bring Europe closer to its net-zero emissions goals,” said Alessandro Massone, Anaergia’s commercial managing director for Europe. “We look forward to repeating these successes throughout Europe.”