2. Today’s Agenda and Goals
Agenda
Extremely sensitive to your valuable time. Will be muted with typed
questions. Only 19 slides with Q & A at end.
Introduce High BTU Renewable Natural Gas: Generated from
Landfills, Anaerobic Digestion, or Wastewater
Background- Why now?
Provide technology-neutral descriptions of available options
RNG revenue sources
Common site layout for membrane and PSA
Question & Answer- Due to the number of attendees, please
type your questions so that we may remain on mute
3. WHO WE ARE?
Kyle Snyder, Vice President, Business Development
&
Bill Slatosky, Chief Technical Officer
4. Background
Venture Engineering & Construction
Founded in 2007 Our goals:
Multi-Discipline engineering leading with Process, Electrical, I&C,
Automation, and Piping Design
Project & Construction Management
Market leader in siloxane treatments in biogas
Have been involved in 40+ biogas to energy projects, multiple
high or medium BTU projects and currently working on ~10 high
BTU projects
Focus on process industries and energy (natural gas and power)
5. Treatment and Timing
Gas Treatment and Why
Upgrading of biogas mainly involves the removal of CO2, H2S and
H2O from the raw biogas. CO2 is removed to increase the energy
content of the gas
Biogas into the gas grid, BTU content and gas spec required
will be similar to that of the gas already present in pipeline
CO2 concentration is also important to ensure flame
stability and energy value for the end users
H2S removal prolongs the lifetime of the equipment, piping
and burners since it is a very corrosive gas
Siloxane reduction to avoid silicon dioxide deposits in
consumer pilot burners(potential flame instability)
6. Why Now?
Gas Treatment and Why
Significant uptick in the amount of projects, because:
1. Financial Incentives
2. Better efficiencies and technologies for treating ‘smaller flow’
projects(less than 1500 scfm)
3. Renewable power projects are currently a cold market due to
Power Purchase Agreements. Not profitable
4. More CNG vehicles means more necessary CNG. This tied
together with other reasons is just demand and timing
5. Generally, less permitting requirements due to negligible
emissions
7. Biogas Plant
High BTU gas- Essentially removing Carbon Dioxide, Sulfur
Dioxide, Nitrogen and some other compounds from methane.
8. Technologies
There are several biogas upgrading technologies, ranging from the most
commonly used water scrubbing to highly sophisticated cryogenic
techniques. Each process has its advantages and disadvantages, depending
on the biogas origin, composition and plant location.
PSA-TSA
Membranes including new higher efficiency
Water or Chemical Scrubbers
Cryogenic Liquefaction
All listed Pros and Cons may be relative to individual project—One size does not
fit all in the selection of these technologies.
9. TSA-PSA
Manufacturers- Guild, Xebec, Air Science, ARI
Pro
Experience
Flexible turn-down range
CO2 and Nitrogen remediation in single step
Con
Cost of potential media fouling- High replacement cost
Valve maintenance
10. Membrane
Manufacturers- Air Liquide, DMT
Pro
Easier construction, often modular
Highly efficient process
Ease of operation & maintenance
Con
Parasitic electric cost
Does not remove Nitrogen
12. Selexol- Chemical Scrub
Manufacturers- Morrow
Pro
No Heat
Low Maintenance
H2S Tolerant
Con
High O & M, Relatively Complex Process
Large Footprint
No Nitrogen Removal
13. Cryogenic
Manufacturers- Linde, Air Products
Pro
No Water or Solvent Required
High Methane Recovery
Nitrogen and Oxygen Removal
Con
Complex Operation
High Electrical Cost
High CAPEX
13
14. Tech Comp
14
Water
Wash
Selexol
Chemical
Scrub
PSA
TSA
Selective
Membrane
Cryo
Liquefaction
Produced gas quality 98 99 97 99 99.5 %
Methane slip 1 0.1/0.81
3 0.3-0.5 0.5 %
Energy efficiency7
96/992
93-96 93 98 93 %
Electrical use 0.23 0.15/0.353
0.25 0.21 0.35 kWh/m(3)
biogas
0.65 0.42-0.993
0.71 0.59 0.99 kWh/ 100
SCFM
Reliability / up time 96 94 94 98 94 %
Gas fluctuation
allowed
50-100 50-100 85-100 0-100 75-100 %
CAPEX 2730 2940 3080 2460 3140 $/m3 (4)
OPEX 8.3 8.9 9.15 7.5 9.7 $ ct/m3 (4)
Bio Methane loss 150,000 130,0001
265,000 75,000 125,000 $/year (4)
Foot print / height Large Large Medium Small Medium
Maintenance needed Medium Medium+ Medium+ Low High
Operation ease Medium Medium+ Complex Easy Complex
Waste streams Water Chemicals Carbon None None
15. Revenue Sources
Sources of Revenue for RNG
Commodity Price for RNG injected into Gas Pipeline
Value: $2.50 - $3.00 / MMBTU
EPA Renewable Fuel Standard 2
D-3 RINs Market Credit Value: $2.50/credit
11.73 RIN Credits per MMBTU of RNG
RIN Value= $29.32/ MMBTU ($ $28.46 / mcf RNG)
Low Carbon Fuel Standard in California (LCFS)
Develop Carbon Intensity, CI (gCO2e/MJ) from well to
storage tank (WTT)
Credit Market Credit Value : $78-85/ MT
( MT=metric tonne of CO2 offset)
Evaluate Carbon footprint for entire gathering,
processing and transportation to determine CI
Voluntary Carbon Offset Credits
Voluntary Market: $2 - $4/ tonne of CO2 offset
Compliance Markets : $4 - $10/ tonne of CO2 offset
Offset credits must be 3rd party validated/ audited ;
Formal paper trail
Existing Mandatory Compliance Markets:
Washington
California
Oregon ( potential legislation under proposal)
Local State and County Regional Grants & Special Funding &
Tax Credits for Renewable Fuel Projects
Some uncertainty in the RINs/ LCFS credit market beyond 2022.
Will credit markets continue, be expanded or contracted?
16. Potential Pitfalls
1. Bad Gas- Very high levels of Nitrogen, Carbon Dioxide,
Sulfur Dioxide, relative to gas flow.
2. Inability to find home for gas. No pipeline, No CNG or
LNG.
3. Improper decision making early in process. Open decision-
making process must be implemented.
18. Q & A
Thanks for submitting questions.
Thank you very much for attending. We look forward to
future webinars including:
“A Deeper Dive Into The Financial Aspects of Renewable
Natural Gas”, coming in May.