Fortistar, Rumpke begin construction on Ohio RNG project

Fortistar, a privately-owned investment firm that addresses global challenges, and Rumpke Waste & Recycling, one of the nation’s largest privately-owned residential and commercial waste and recycling firms, announced commencement of construction of the Noble Road Landfill Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) Project, a $33 million transportation decarbonization project in Shiloh, Ohio.

The project will extract and capture waste methane from the Noble Road landfill in Ohio and transform it into renewable natural gas (RNG). The RNG will be distributed through a key partner, Chesapeake Utilities Corp. affiliate Aspire Energy’s pipelines. The fuel will be dispensed in fueling stations for natural gas vehicles via Trustar Energy, a Fortistar portfolio company. Like carbon dioxide, methane is a greenhouse gas (GHG) that contributes to climate change, but is 30 times more potent as a heat-trapping gas. The Noble Road Project will capture 20,323 tons of methane emissions, the equivalent of 49,940 tons of carbon dioxide, per year and produce RNG. Instead of simply flaring or burning the methane, the naturally occurring gas will generate sustainable energy and jobs in the community. It will produce 6.9 million gallons of gasoline gallon equivalents (GGE) per year, which is enough to fuel 725 biofuel trucks—displacing diesel fuel for those vehicles—and creating approximately 35 to 40 construction jobs and three permanent green operations jobs to ensure the ongoing production of this sustainable energy source.

“We believe that this should be the future for all landfills. At Fortistar, we repurpose the captured methane in a way that benefits local communities, environments and economies,” said Mark Comora, president at Fortistar. “That’s why we’re working with major innovators like Chesapeake Utilities Corporation, Air Liquide and partnering with Rumpke, which was recognized this year by Deloitte as one of the best managed companies in the U.S.”

“Our commitment is to the communities where we operate facilities and service customers,” said Area President Andrew Rumpke. “Partnering with Fortistar on a Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) Project at the Noble Road Landfill aligns with our mission to deliver complete service solutions that provide long-term, positive and sustainable environmental and economic impacts. This project does just that.”

“As a collaborator across the renewable natural gas development, distribution and transmission value chain, our Company is committed to investing in innovative energy solutions for our customers while lowering the carbon footprint of our system,” said Jeff Householder, president and CEO of Chesapeake Utilities Corp. “This unique project enables us to utilize our existing natural gas gathering assets to inject RNG into our system and deliver to our customers. Because of the magnitude of this project’s benefit, once flowing, the RNG volume will represent nearly 10 percent of Aspire Energy’s entire system.”

The project includes the construction of a new state-of-the-art facility that will utilize advanced, patented technology to treat landfill gas by removing carbon dioxide and other components to purify the gas and produce pipeline quality RNG. The process includes proprietary membranes provided by Air Liquide, a multinational leading company in gases, technologies and services for industry and health and the second largest supplier of industrial gases in over 80 countries.

This Noble Road Landfill RNG Project advances an aggressive renewable fuels growth strategy at Fortistar aimed at helping businesses and public agencies dramatically reduce GHG emissions with a cost-effective and proven solution today. The project is the fourth of 12 new Fortistar RNG projects with an investment of nearly $500 million, which is expected to enter construction over the next year. When completed over the next three years, these new projects will help produce 120 million GGE of RNG and reduce U.S. transportation emissions by 2 million metric tons of CO₂ annually, which is the equivalent of taking approximately 424,628 passenger cars off the road.

Rumpke Waste & Recycling was named one of the 2020 U.S. Best Managed Companies. The award, sponsored by Deloitte Private and The Wall Street Journal, recognizes the best managed private companies in the country. Additionally, Chesapeake Utilities Corporation was recently recognized as a Top Workplace in Delaware for the ninth consecutive year. Chesapeake Utilities is one of only two companies to receive this honor nine consecutive years.