The mountains of trash outside Roseboro are producing more than just waste.<\/p>\n
At a new facility in Sampson County, methane released from decomposing garbage is being captured, cleaned and converted into renewable natural gas used to power heavy-duty trucks.<\/p>\n
Congressman Greg Murphy toured the facility Wednesday, calling the project part of an \u201call-of-the-above\u201d energy strategy as North Carolina faces growing energy demand.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that we’re able to actually use energy from sources that are renewable is a win-win for everybody,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cThe fact that you’re already creating a substance [landfill methane] and it can be transferred and used for big engines is critical, and the fact that we’re doing it here in eastern North Carolina is paramount.\u201d<\/p>\n
As organic waste breaks down in landfills, it produces methane \u2014 a greenhouse gas scientists say is significantly more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term.<\/p>\n
OPAL Fuels Co-CEO Adam Comora said the facility uses a
\nnetwork of underground pipes to collect that gas before it escapes into the
\natmosphere.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we do is we drop in pipes \u2026 apply a little bit of
\nsuction vacuum, so that we\u2019re pulling all the biogas into our plant here,
\nrather than it venting off into the atmosphere,\u201d Comora said.<\/p>\n
Inside the plant, the gas is chilled and pushed through
\nmembranes that separate methane from other impurities. The methane is then
\npurified to pipeline quality natural gas.<\/p>\n
The facility began operating in November 2024 and can
\nproduce enough renewable natural gas annually to replace about 6.5 million
\ngallons of diesel fuel, according to OPAL Fuels.<\/p>\n
The company says that amount could fuel roughly 650 garbage
\ntrucks or up to 350 long-haul tractor trailers.<\/p>\n
Comora said renewable natural gas is increasingly being
\nused in heavy-duty trucking because it is typically cheaper and cleaner than
\ndiesel fuel.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only are you taking methane that would have vented or
\nescaped off into the atmosphere, you\u2019re also deploying a much cleaner
\ntechnology on the back end,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Murphy said renewable natural gas could play a growing role
\nin North Carolina\u2019s energy future as the state grapples with rising electricity
\ndemand tied to population growth, manufacturing and data centers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to need everything that we can to supply our
\nenergy needs,\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n
While renewable natural gas projects are generally viewed
\nas preferable to allowing methane to escape directly into the atmosphere, some
\nenvironmental advocates and researchers have raised concerns about methane
\nleakage throughout gas infrastructure systems and whether RNG should be viewed
\nas a long-term climate solution.<\/p>\n
Comora said the company uses gas monitoring systems and
\nrequires workers to wear methane detection monitors throughout the facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to capture every molecule that we can,\u201d he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The company also uses flare systems designed to burn off
\nexcess or off-spec gas during maintenance or operational disruptions.<\/p>\n
According to OPAL Fuels, the company has invested more than
\n$65 million into the Sampson County project.<\/p>\n
The company is also developing another roughly $100 million
\nrenewable natural gas project connected to Charlotte Motor Speedway expected to
\nbegin operating next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The mountains of trash outside Roseboro are producing more than just waste. At a new facility in Sampson…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":630114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,26862,272533,79],"class_list":["post-630113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-natural-gas","tag-sampson-county","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/630114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}