Anaergia to supply RNG to Toyota’s California logistics centre

Anaergia Inc’s subsidiary, SoCal Biomethane, has won a contract to supply renewable natural gas to FuelCell Energy’s Tri-gen system to produce carbon-negative hydrogen and electricity for Toyota Motor North America, Inc.’s (TMNA) Logistics Services Center at the Port of Long Beach in California.

The facility is Toyota’s largest port operation handling import/exports for North America and processes about 200,000 vehicles per year.

FuelCell Energy’s Tri-gen system will produce approximately 1.3 tons of renewable hydrogen per day which will fuel Toyota Mirai vehicles. The fuel cells will also produce a net 2.3 megawatts (MW) of electricity – enough to power Toyota Logistics Services Center – and will add renewable electricity to the grid, as well as produce roughly 1,400 gallons of water a day that will be used for car-washing operations.

Anaergia’s supply of renewable natural gas (RNG) will be produced from food waste and municipal wastewater at the Company’s SoCal Biomethane plant in Victorville, California and will be sold and delivered to FuelCell Energy through Anew, the exclusive RNG marketer for the Victorville facility.

Because the methane sourced from Anaergia is made from renewable sources that otherwise emit fugitive methane emissions from decomposition, it is considered carbon negative. Thus, when this carbon-negative RNG is then converted to hydrogen and electricity in FuelCell Energy’s Tri-gen system, both outputs are considered zero-emissions and carbon negative.

Converting this renewable natural gas to renewable electricity is expected to prevent more than 9,000 tons of grid electricity greenhouse gas emissions per year. The renewable hydrogen is expected to prevent more than 4,000 tons of annual greenhouse gas emissions compared to the emissions produced if the hydrogen had been made by conventional steam reforming of fossil natural gas.

FuelCell Energy’s Tri-gen system will also reduce the air pollution that disproportionately impacts nearby communities, as the fuel cell’s chemical reaction is virtually free of NOx, SOx, and particulate matter emissions.

Anaergia’s SoCal Biomethane facility was developed through a public-private partnership (P3) with the Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority and financing partner North Sky Capital.

“We are proud to support Toyota’s decarbonization goals at one of the largest ports in the world with the supply of carbon-negative renewable natural gas that enables emissions-free hydrogen fuel,” said Yaniv Scherson, Chief Operating Officer of Anaergia.

“Carbon-negative fuels like renewable natural gas are essential to creating a net-zero emissions world. Because it’s a drop-in fuel, renewable natural gas enables rapid decarbonization. It’s an immediately dispatchable platform for electricity and hydrogen production.”

“Renewable natural gas is a great way to produce renewable hydrogen and electricity at the scale required to support our Logistics facility’s carbon neutral goal,” said Mark Yamauchi, Sustainability Manager for Toyota Motor North America. “And because it is made from waste, renewable natural gas creates the type of circular economy that Toyota is working to expand.”