City of Toronto to create renewable natural gas from Green Bin organic waste

Electricenergyonline.com
August 9, 2018

The City, in partnership with Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc., will begin installing new equipment at the Dufferin Solid Waste Management Facility later this year. The new equipment will allow the City and Enbridge to transform the raw biogas produced from processing Toronto's Green Bin organics into renewable natural gas (RNG) and inject that gas into the natural gas grid. Once in the grid, the City will be able to use the RNG to fuel its collection trucks. The first cubic metre of RNG is expected to be produced by the third quarter of 2019.

"This project represents a path to low-carbon fuel for the City and will play an important role in helping us reach our goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050," said Mayor Tory. "I'm committed to working with City Council and City staff to ensure we are meeting our climate change action goals and to creating a more sustainable Toronto."

This project is one of the first of its kind in Canada and North America and will allow the City to reduce fuel costs for its fleet of collection trucks and significantly reduce its carbon footprint.

"The Dufferin Organics Processing Facility is one of two state-of-the-art City facilities that use innovative pre-processing and anaerobic digestion technology to break down organic material," said Councillor Jaye Robinson (Ward 25 Don Valley West), Chair of the City's Public Works and Infrastructure Committee. "Introducing RNG production at the site further emphasizes its status as a leading sustainable solid waste management facility."

The RNG project supports the City's Long Term Waste Management Strategy and move toward a circular economy by using a closed-loop approach in which organics collection trucks are ultimately powered by the waste product they collect.

"This project is an important investment in green infrastructure in Ward 8," said Councillor Anthony Perruzza (Ward 8 York West).

The City is partnering with Enbridge on the design and construction of the new equipment as well as its operation and maintenance for the first 15 years.

"There is little debate that we need to look for cleaner or lower carbon energy options to heat our homes and move our vehicles. While traditional natural gas is the cleanest-burning conventional fuel, RNG is the first step in greening' the natural gas system," said Cynthia Hansen, Executive Vice President, Utilities and Power Operations, Enbridge Inc. "The City of Toronto has recognized this, and I commend Mayor Tory for seeing this vision through, and we look forward to additional opportunities as a result of this partnership."

Current estimates suggest that the Dufferin RNG facility will produce approximately 5.3 million cubic metres of RNG per year - enough to power 132 heavy duty garbage trucks or about 90 per cent of the City's solid waste collection fleet. This is the first of four waste-to-RNG production opportunities identified by the City.