San Antonio is stepping up its game in the fight against food waste with a groundbreaking facility that aims to turn the city's organic refuse into something useful - renewable natural gas. Synthica Energy, a company that specializes in anaerobic digestion technology, has recently gained approval from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to start construction on this innovative plant. Set to process up to 250,000 tons of industrial organic waste each year, the facility is expected to have a sizable impact on both the local economy and the environment.
According to a San Antonio Report interview, Grant Gibson, the co-founder and chief development officer at Synthica Energy, shared that they are currently working to secure contracts with area manufacturers. This effort will enable them to handle a wide array of pre-consumer products like food and beverage manufacturing byproducts, damaged produce, spent yeast, and expired beer. "San Antonio has a lot of food and beverage manufacturing here," Gibson explained, signaling a high demand for such a facility in the region.
Currently, there are no anaerobic digestion plants within a 50-mile radius of downtown San Antonio, which places Synthica Energy's upcoming facility in a prime position to serve local manufacturers. These businesses stand to save significantly by not having to haul their waste as far, while the process itself produces clean, low-carbon energy. "We have to upgrade it to the exact specs of natural gas," Gibson told the San Antonio Report, highlighting the almost negligible carbon footprint of the resulting fuel.
The environmental benefits of this endeavor are further underpinned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's perspective on renewable natural gas. The EPA has recognized that using renewable natural gas in place of traditional diesel or gasoline can drastically cut emissions, thereby improving local air quality. Notably, renewable natural gas is composed mainly of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that, when released unchecked into the atmosphere, contributes to global warming far more than carbon dioxide. By capturing and utilizing methane, projects like Synthica Energy's facility in San Antonio are poised to help in "mitigating global climate change," as described by the EPA.
While there are fewer than 1,500 anaerobic digestion facilities in the United States, Synthica Energy is strategically aiming to expand into markets with a significant demand for sustainable waste solutions, as stated on their website. The company, which also has plans in motion for Houston and Dallas, is clearly committed to growth. The new San Antonio plant, located strategically at 4318 North IH-35 where Loop 410 and IH-35 connect, will be designed with expansion possibilities, allowing them to potentially digest an additional 125,000 tons of waste in the future.
Synthica Energy, launched in 2017 by Gibson and Sam Schutte, is setting a precedent with its flagship facility in Cincinnati, which is expected to begin operations soon. The firm's move into San Antonio marks an important step forward for the region's sustainability efforts and for the broader push for renewable energy sources nationwide.
