Renewable Natural Gas: What Can We Do to Move Ahead?

Deck: 

Pipeline-Quality Gas

Fortnightly Magazine - December 2019
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Renewable Natural Gas or RNG is rightfully a hot topic among regulators, industry, and other interested stakeholders right now. This makes perfect sense because if RNG is left alone as it has been for decades, it poses a far greater threat than what is presently understood. 

So, what is RNG? All definitions condense it to pipeline-quality gas, that is fully interchangeable with conventional natural gas. Also referred to as biomethane, it is the purified version of gas that was produced by the decomposition of organic matter under oxygen-free conditions. 

Simply, RNG is a product that has resulted from human activity. This human activity is not limited to a specific socioeconomic or geographical group of individuals; rather it encompasses all individuals. Farms, landfills, solid waste and wastewater treatment facilities, all have the potential to either release biomethane into the environment, or harvest, purify, and commercialize it. 

However, despite industry and state efforts, there has yet to be developed a profitable way of harvesting this methane and preventing it from being released into the atmosphere. As of today, there are several pilot projects that support both research and collection of RNG. However, what is lacking is a financially viable process to collect, purify as necessary and use this methane for the same processes as conventional natural gas.

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