Vision RNG and Meridian Waste celebrated the grand opening and ribbon cutting of the State of Missouri’s first Landfill Gas (LFG) to Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) plant at Meridian’s Eagle Ridge Landfill, about 90 miles northwest of St. Louis, in Bowling Green, Missouri.
This marks the efforts of the VRNG/Meridian Waste partnership over the past 18 months to reach this significant milestone. The plant takes LFG from the landfill, which would be otherwise flared, and converts it to a renewable energy resource. The RNG is delivered to a nearby Panhandle Eastern pipeline and sold to energy company US Energy for distribution to its customers.
Conversion of LFG to RNG is one of just a few processes that offers significant energy AND environmental benefits at the same time. LFG is composed 50% methane (natural gas) and about 45% carbon dioxide. The methane component offers significant renewable energy benefits, while controlling and using the methane and carbon dioxide offer significant environmental benefits as both are significant greenhouse contributors.
Vision RNG celebrates grand opening of landfill gas to renewable natural gas plant at the Meridian Waste Eagle Ridge Landfill
Eagle Ridge Landfill: Vision RNG and Meridian Waste celebrate grand opening at the State of Missouri's first LFG to RFG plant. (Photo: Randy Rowe, Vision RNG, Project Manager)
The plant processes about 1,500 standard cubic feet per minute of raw LFG and produces about 350,000 MMbtu per year of RNG. This is equivalent to producing 3,070,175 gallons of gasoline. The RNG can be used in a variety of energy and environmentally beneficial ways including:
- Use as a transportation fuel in CNG powered vehicles and other sustainable fuel uses.
- Use by industrial and other commercial companies as a substitute for natural gas.
- Use by customers to generate renewable electricity.
- Use by customers to reduce their carbon footprint to meet sustainability goals.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the VRNG team that worked tirelessly over the last several months to make this plant a reality,” said Bill Johnson, CEO of VRNG. “We especially want to recognize our partners at Meridian Waste and our off-take partner US Energy. This is the first of more than a dozen such plants VRNG will be constructing and bringing on-line over the next 18-24 months, including two more with our partners at Meridian Waste.”
“Few consider garbage a resource,” opened Mary O’Brien, Meridian Waste’s Chief Marketing Officer at the ribbon cutting event today at Eagle Ridge Landfill. “However, here at Meridian Waste, we believe in taking a less wasteful approach to garbage. We are honored to be Vision RNG’s first operating clean energy project through this state-of-the-art landfill gas to renewable natural gas plant behind me and to have US Energy deliver the environmentally beneficial fuel to multiple users to power their infrastructure needs.”
“Not only does this partnership mark our first RNG offtake agreement in Missouri, but the first landfill gas to RNG project in the state," shared Bryan Nudelbacher, vice president of business development—RNG at U.S. Energy. “We're seeing increased demand for RNG from the transportation and voluntary markets. The industry needs more projects like this to come online in new regions to help meet market demand. We commend Vision RNG and Meridian Waste on their investment in this LFG to RNG plant and are honored to have been selected as the gas offtake partner.”
