Global gas technology company Air Liquide has announced plans to construct a biomethane production unit in the US State of Illinois, bringing the company’s total worldwide biomethane production capacity to 1.8TWh.
The plant, to be located in Rockford, Illinois, will be owned and operated by US-based integrated waste services company Waste Connections Inc.
It will produce biomethane from biogas from a solid waste treatment plant and have a production capacity of 380 GWh per year.
Émilie Mouren-Renouard, Member of the Air Liquide Executive Committee, in charge of Innovation, Digital and IT, Intellectual Property and Global Markets & Technologies World Business Unit, said: “Biomethane, like hydrogen and CO2 capture technologies, has a prominent place in the portfolio of solutions developed by Air Liquide to fight global warming and preserve the environment.
“The announcement of the construction of our largest biomethane production unit in the world illustrates Air Liquide’s determination to accompany its customers in the industrial and transportation sectors throughout the energy transition, but also to actively contribute to the emergence of a low-carbon society.”
The biomethane plant will be operational by the end of 2023.
Another biomethane production unit from another landfill is also being built in Delavan, Wisconsin, and will be operational at the beginning of Q2 2022.
For both projects, Air Liquide will use its own membrane technology as well as a complementary technology developed by Waga Energy, a company specialized in the valorization of biogas from landfill sites, founded in 2015 and supported by ALIAD, the Group’s capital venture fund.
Globally, Air Liquide now has 21 biomethane operational production units.
