Towering over the skyline outside Nevada, Iowa, the sprawling Verbio biorefinery is an impressive anomaly, not by its appearance but its capability. In early May, a grand opening was held for the first-of-its-kind renewable natural gas plant, the only industrial-scale RNG operation in the U.S. using corn stover as a feedstock. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis marks the formal launch of our company as an emerging leader in the renewable energy field, [and specifically] in the production of renewable natural gas,\u201d Greg Northrup, president of Verbio North America Holding Co., told the government officials, community members and corporate representatives on site for the startup celebration and plant tour. \u201cThis is the third leg of the stool in renewable fuels for Iowa. You\u2019ve been doing ethanol for years; you\u2019ve been doing biodiesel. Now, we add to this piece of the equation, renewable natural gas.\u201d
Earlier this year, the plant started producing stover-derived RNG at what it calls the \u201cethanol-gallons-equivalence\u201d rate of 7 MMgy. When the second phase of its plan is complete early next year, the biorefinery will be producing RNG at the equivalence of 19 MMgy while, notably, also producing 60 MMgy of ethanol\u2014actual ethanol\u2014from corn itself. The ethanol and RNG processes will be integrated; thin stillage from the ethanol process will be used as a supplementary feedstock for RNG alongside corn stover. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIntegration of the ethanol production process with the renewable natural gas process will result in higher efficiencies and improved sustainability,\u201d Verbio\u2019s founder and CEO, Klaus Sauter, said at the grand opening. \u201cNo one has a higher output of renewable sustainable energy per metric ton of biomass than Verbio.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company currently has 10 locations across Asia, Europe and now, North America. Sauter explained that the integration of these processes allows Verbio to achieve lower emissions, giving them opportunities in low-carbon markets. The company also plans to produce corn oil, nitrogen fertilizer and, eventually, synthetic natural gas from CO2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSometimes I\u2019m asked, when did we start injecting renewable natural gas?\u201d said Greg Faith, general manager of Verbio Nevada. \u201cIt was Saturday, November 6, at 9:43 in the morning. I was standing out there with the Alliant guys as they were valving us in, and I texted \u2026 and I said, \u2018We did it.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the biorefinery produces RNG from corn stover while making progress on the ethanol plant and preparing its systems to incorporate thin stillage, it continues to enhance its feedstock supply network.
Eric Phipps, agronomy and operations manager at Verbio, explained that Verbio acquires its stover within a 45-mile radius of the plant. Phipps\u2019 department contracts the acres, chops and bales the stover, and transports it to the biorefinery. He explained that they also deal with humus management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBasically, the farmer gets paid for the bale, we\u2019re responsible for all the other expenses,\u201d Phipps said. \u201cWe do all the trucking, we do all the baling, we do all that kind of stuff. So, once the contracts are in, it\u2019s kind of a one-stop shop, the grower is off the hook on any of that.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Verbio plans to bale at least 40,000 acres of corn stover this year, while using some bales left over in storage from the facility\u2019s previous purpose.
Production manager Aaron Chadwick said that once the bales are put in storage, the material handler will come and check the moisture percentage of the bale. \u201cOnce he checks the moisture, it will determine which line it\u2019s on,\u201d Chadwick explained. \u201cWe have two lines, we have a south line, which is our line one, and a north line, which is our line two. Our south line will run our lower moisture bales, 25% and under, while our north line will run 25% up to 45%.\u201d
The corn stover is then loaded onto the conveyer belt and sent through the hammer mill to break up the large pieces, which is then filtered through a screen. The hammer mill was a source of plugging early on, but these issues have been worked through. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt this point, we add water to it, mix it up and send it out to our digesters for food,\u201d Chadwick said. \u201cRight now, we\u2019re running about five tons an hour, we want to get to 10 tons an hour in the future.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The particles then spend 25 days in the fermentation tanks, switching between tanks every half hour.
Corn ethanol wet cake, when used for RNG, will be treated as its own process stream, going to separate fermentation tanks than the crop residue RNG. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUltimately, we\u2019ll take that thin stillage, and we\u2019ll concentrate it up into a syrup product and that\u2019ll get mixed into our wet cake [and fed] into our digesters,\u201d Verbio chemical engineer Blake Logan explained. The fermentation tanks have 10,000 cubic meters capacity with space for 3,000 cubic meters of gas at the top. \u201cThe pressure from fermentation as it\u2019s producing will actually push it to the header and then ultimately to gas refining,\u201d Logan said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Any unfermentable material in the tanks will float to the top and be removed and sent to solids separation. He explained that this material becomes digestate which has a variety of uses including biofertilizers and bioplastics. Sauter explained that the digestate\u2014also known as humus\u2014will be \u201cprincipally returned\u201d to farmers and used as a fertilizer.
When the biogas comes off the fermentation tanks, it is made up of 50 to 60 percent biomethane, 40 to 50 percent CO2 and some moisture and other impurities, according to a Verbio engineer onsite. The plant then cleans the CO2 until it is 99 percent methane, the same purity as natural gas derived from fossil fuels. After the majority of the CO2 is removed, the biomethane is run through an activated carbon filter and zeolite mole seize beds. Verbio then uses an online gas analyzer to measure the product\u2019s purity and make sure the gas meets specs before it is compressed to grid pressure using a screw compressor. The gas is analyzed again before it is injected into Alliant Energy\u2019s grid. The RNG is then used both regionally and throughout the country. Some RNG will also be used onsite as Verbio plans to utilize the low-carbon fuel to power clean-burning CNG vehicles at the complex, according to Sauter.
\u201cI\u2019m proud of the teamwork between Verbio and the many employees at Alliant Energy to develop standards and regulations for renewable natural gas, as well as construct interconnection options for this site,\u201d said Terry Kouba, senior vice president of Alliant Energy. \u201cWe\u2019re finding new ways to provide reliable, renewable natural gas service for our natural gas customers.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Government officials at the local, state and federal level were present to offer their support and congratulations for Verbio\u2019s accomplishment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t be more grateful to Verbio for choosing to invest in our state. And I can promise, without hesitation, that you will not be disappointed that you did,\u201d Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said at the event. She outlined the importance of biofuels to Iowa\u2019s economy, explaining that renewable fuel makes up $4 billion of the state\u2019s annual GDP. She also referenced the technology used to make RNG at Verbio. \u201cIt\u2019s a remarkable testament to the countless uses of corn and how many more are just waiting to be discovered and unleashed,\u201d Reynolds said.
Senator Chuck Grassley planned to visit the grand opening but had to stay in Washington D.C. due to scheduling conflicts. He sent a video with his comments and congratulations. \u201cAs many of you know, this is the first of its kind plant in the United States and will surely benefit Iowa farmers. It will provide good paying jobs in central Iowa,\u201d Grassley said.
Other government officials in attendance included U.S. Reps. Randy Feenstra and Marionette Miller-Meeks, as well as Brett Barker, mayor of Nevada. Miller-Meeks highlighted Iowa\u2019s reliance on renewable energy, noting that the state produces 50 percent of its energy from renewable sources. Feenstra praised the cooperation between the government, private industry and local stakeholders, and said that Verbio\u2019s refinery should serve as a \u201cblueprint\u201d for plants across the state. A member of the German Parliament, Oliver Grundmann, was also in attendance to support the Germany-based Verbio. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the future, Verbio hopes to build more plants throughout the U.S. as well as expand its coproducts at the Nevada biorefinery. One of the things the company hopes to make in the future is synthetic renewable natural gas. \u201cWith renewable hydrogen, produced from electricity coming from wind and solar farms in Iowa, Verbio will produce synthetic natural gas and hopefully in near future, synthetic chemicals with another big German chemical company,\u201d Sauter said. \u201cIt\u2019s the next challenge on our trip for a decarbonized and a sustainable global economy.\u201d
In closing, Sauter expressed his excitement about being a part of the U.S. biofuels market and commitment to growth. \u201cI am very excited about the future here and knowing that what we are doing is a win-win-win-win, for farmers, rural communities, the environment, sustainable renewable energy, our partners and, finally, the shareholders.\u201d
Verbio represents a unique example of how the versatile corn plant can be as a feedstock for multiple renewable fuels. Sauter mentioned that Verbio is \u201cexamining potential cooperation arrangements with other ethanol manufacturers in order to increase the production capacity of renewable natural gas in the United States.\u201d If successful, Verbio\u2019s forthcoming integration of ethanol production with stover-based RNG may be one of the fullest extractions of value from corn, kernel to stalk, achieved to date. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Towering over the skyline outside Nevada, Iowa, the sprawling Verbio biorefinery is an impressive anomaly, not by its appearance but its capability. In early May, a grand opening was held for the first-of-its-kind renewable natural gas plant, the only industrial-scale RNG operation in the U.S. using corn stover as a feedstock. \u201cThis marks the formal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"First US-biorefinery in Iowa after completion of its second phase of construction next year, will produce both RNG and ethanol. The biogas is cellulosic, the alcohol will be corn derived","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[5831,19261,10416,12384,12518,14934],"supplier":[20383,458],"class_list":["post-113186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biorefinery","tag-cellulosicethanol","tag-circulareconomy","tag-ethanol","tag-feedstocks","tag-gas","supplier-alliant-energy","supplier-verbio-vereinigte-bioenergie-ag"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113186\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113186"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=113186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}