Air Liquide, Total to build biomethane plants

The industrial gas company Air Liquide plans to build what it says will be the world’s biggest biomethane plant. The facility will collect and clean methane coming out of a landfill in Rockford, Illinois, that serves the Chicago area. Anaerobic bacteria and archaea that live within buried layers of waste digest organic materials and emit methane, which most landfills vent or burn. Air Liquide expects the Rockford plant to produce 380 GW h of pipeline-grade methane per year when it comes on line in late 2023. Air Liquide is building a similar plant nearby, in southern Wisconsin, that will be up and running later this year. In Europe, the French oil and gas company TotalEnergies plans to place biomethane plants at 15 waste and wastewater treatment plants operated by the private utility company Veolia. In total, the partners expect the project to add 1.5 TW h of methane to the region’s energy grid by 2025.