Clean Energy Fuels to distribute biomethane vehicle fuel to fleets and public stations
03 October 2013
Clean Energy Fuels Corp., North America’s largest provider of natural gas for transportation, is commercially offering a biomethane vehicle fuel—Redeem—made from waste streams such as landfills, large dairies and sewage plants directly to fleets around the country and at 35 public Clean Energy stations throughout California. Redeem will be available in either compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG) form.
Andrew J. Littlefair, president and CEO of Clean Energy, said that the company’s goal is to produce and to distribute 15 million gallons of Redeem in the first year. Clean Energy’s natural gas fueling infrastructure includes 400 fueling stations throughout the nation; the company is developing multiple biomethane production facilities that are expected to produce Redeem.
According to California Air Resource Board (ARB) estimates, Redeem sourced from landfill gas can enable up to a 90% reduction in carbon emissions when displacing diesel or gasoline. The look-up tables for ARB’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard have a range of carbon intensity values (gCO2e/MJ) for bio-methane pathways ranging from 11.26 for landfill gas cleaned up to pipeline quality natural gas and compressed in California to 28.53 for diary digester biogas liquefied to LNG in California at 80% efficiency. The baseline CI values are 95.86 g CO2e/MJ for gasoline and 94.71 g CO2e/MJ for diesel.
A fleet that consumes 1,000,000 gallons of gasoline per year can reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 9,700 metric tons by switching to Redeem, which is the equivalent of taking 1,940 passenger cars off the road per year.
Redeem is the lowest carbon footprint fuel commercially available and the only affordable renewable fuel for heavy duty trucks. We believe this creates an environmental and economic incentive for companies inside and outside California who are looking to make a major reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions from their fleet operations while still saving on their fuel bill. Redeem makes that possible
—Harrison Clay, president of Clean Energy subsidiary Clean Energy Renewable Fuels
Redeem is derived from biogenic methane or biogas—methane that is naturally generated by the decomposition of organic waste. Clean Energy captures and extracts methane gas from its landfills and other waste streams. The methane gas is then processed, purified and sent into the interstate natural gas pipeline and made available exclusively to Clean Energy customers.
Clean Energy currently is producing Redeem at biomethane production facilities in Dallas, Texas and Canton, Mich., and is constructing a third facility in Millington, Tenn., with plans to develop other production facilities across the country. Clean Energy also sources biomethane from third parties to market and distribute as Redeem vehicle fuel.
Redeem can be offered and sold at a discount of $1.00 or more per gallon compared to current diesel and gasoline prices. Clean Energy is currently selling Redeem at its California stations on an “as available” basis at the same price as conventional natural gas.
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