Anaergia to supply RNG to Irving Oil’s Saint John refinery

Irving Oil and Anaergia Inc. have announced a partnership that will supply Canada’s largest refinery with carbon-negative RNG, as well as Irving Oil’s other operations such as delivered natural gas.

The RNG, which is made from organic matter instead of fossil fuels, will be produced at Anaergia’s Rhode Island Bioenergy Facility, where food waste and other organic wastes that would otherwise have been landfilled, are transformed into renewable fuel. About 350 million cubic feet of RNG will be supplied annually from Anaergia Inc. into the regional pipeline where it will reduce the need for conventional natural gas supply to Irving Oil’s operations, including the Saint John refinery in New Brunswick.

This RNG is recognized as carbon-negative due to its ability to capture more methane emissions than the organic waste would have otherwise created when landfilled. In this way, Anaergia’s Rhode Island Bioenergy Facility prevents the release of more than 40,000 metric tonnes per year of carbon dioxide-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions.

“We are proud to continue advancing on our energy transition journey through this new partnership where waste will be diverted from the landfill and converted to renewable natural gas for use in our operations, including at our Saint John refinery,” says Ian Whitcomb, president of Irving Oil. “We are making strides in achieving our 2030 goal of a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions as we shift to lower carbon energies. We know that together we can create real change towards a more sustainable energy future for all.”

The Rhode Island Bioenergy Facility, located near Rhode Island’s central landfill in Johnston, is designed to divert over 100,000 tons per year of waste from landfills and it is the largest anaerobic digester processing organic waste in New England. This facility converts food scraps plus some other organic wastes, into fertilizer, recycled water and RNG. The nutrient-rich solid residual of the digestion process is utilized to enrich New England soils and to reduce the use of fossil fuel-derived fertilizers.

“We are proud to be a part of this partnership where producing RNG from landfill-diverted organic waste is reducing greenhouse emissions from landfills and supporting Canada’s clean energy transition with a carbon-negative fuel,” says Andrew Benedek, chairman and CEO of Anaergia. “Methane emissions from landfills are a big contributor to global warming. The state of Rhode Island is doing something to solve this problem, while also addressing New England’s waste disposal needs. Likewise, Irving Oil is recognizing the value of using what people throw away every day to create a renewable fuel.”

The opportunity to use diverted landfill waste that is converted into RNG for Irving Oil’s operations, including at the Saint John refinery, is an important step forward as the company works to achieve its sustainability goals.