DTE Biomass purchases two renewable natural gas facilities in Texas, US

DTE Biomass Energy has acquired two landfill gas-to-energy projects, the Fort Bend Power Producers facility outside of Rosenberg and the Seabreeze landfill gas development project in Angleton, both located in Texas, US. 

The acquisitions will increase the number of landfill gas-to-energy projects operated by DTE in the region to three, while taking the company-wide facilities that convert landfill gas to pipeline-quality renewable natural gas (RNG) to five.  

Derived from landfill gas, the RNG produced at the Fort Bend project will be ultimately processed to pipeline-quality standards. 

The company claimed that this low-carbon fuel is fully compatible with the US natural gas infrastructure.

DTE Biomass president Mark Cousino said: "These landfill gas-to-energy projects support our continued commitment to renewable energy and growing interest in supplying the renewable vehicle fuels market.

"We see an increasing demand for natural gas powered vehicles, and RNG production provides a clean, sustainable fuel source with the benefit of reduced emissions over standard fuel."

The Fort Bend facility was constructed in 2013 and produces RNG equivalent to fuel needed for 560 diesel transit buses each year. 

DTE will scale up, later this year, the output of the project by expanding the plant's capacity to generate RNG, which can supply fuel to more than 1,000 diesel transit buses.

With construction of the Seabreeze plant slated for next month and commercial operations scheduled in the fourth quarter of this year, the facility is expected to produce a similar volume.

The projects are jointly set to reduce greenhouse gas by collecting and destroying landfill gas, which is 25 times more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

DTE Biomass Energy has 21 projects, including three producing natural gas meant for industrial applications.