TerraStar Energy announces an American joint venture with UK-based 1st Estate Service Ltd. (Gloucestershire) and a London-based investment firm to develop and build a fleet of anaerobic digesters to convert locally available biomass into renewable natural gas (RNG). The new venture named 1stTerraStar Resources has plans to construct a minimum of six digester facilities per year starting in the midwestern US states. The digesters will convert solid waste material into renewable natural gas, replacing fossil fuels and reducing greenhouse gas.
“1st Estate is accomplished in developing digester projects in the UK and is entering the US market with TerraStar to quickly establish a presence in a market predicted to grow exponentially over the next 20 years”, according to Shelley Preston-Oversby, Director of Operations for 1st Estate. TerraStar Energy has been developing waste-to-energy projects in the US and more than 30 other countries since 2012.
Anaerobic digestion is a process where specialized bacteria consume biomass including crop waste, animal waste, and food waste producing biogas which consists of up to 60% methane (natural gas). The biogas is refined into pure methane and injected into the grid or liquified for use in transportation and other industries. CO2 produced during the process can also be captured and sequestered. “A single plant consuming 250 tons of waste per day can reduce global CO2 emissions by nearly a million tons per year, these facilities consume material that would otherwise be wasted and if left in the fields or sent to landfill to degrade would itself add to CO2 emissions”, says Rob Redfearn, CEO of TerraStar Energy.
The first project is slated for Crawfordsville, IN with a $25 million budget and will use a combination of corn stover (stalks and leaves) and cow manure to produce 10 million cubic meters of methane per year. That volume of gas can produce electricity enough for 3500 average homes. The plan is to build six or more identical facilities in 2024 and continue to build more into the foreseeable future. Since many organic materials can be used as feedstock the company will adjust its recipe in the digester based on what is readily available locally.
Each plant will create up to 20 fulltime jobs and numerous indirect jobs. Area farmers will enjoy additional income streams from the sale of material otherwise of little or no value. 1st TerraStar Resources will also market the co-product digestate as a rich soil amendment, helping to boost crop yields where it is used. Redfearn says, “Eliminating solid waste by converting it into energy, reduces our dependence on fossil fuels and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. It also reduces the volume of waste going to landfills and being deposited onto fields where nitrogen and other contaminants can wash into streams and rivers.
Europe is at least 15 years ahead of the American market. Germany has a population of 83 million and has over 10,000 digesters. The US population is 5 times that and has fewer than 500 solid waste digesters. We consider the available combined waste in the USA able to support at least 20,000 units of various sizes. It is a huge potential market.”