Aemetis Riverbank Biofuels Facility Air and Greenhouse Gas Permitting Support
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Project Objective

As part of the Riverbank Army Ammunition Plant Base Reuse Plan, the City of Riverbank wished to create a unique industrial park and awarded Aemetis the role of master developer for site redevelopment. In this role, Aemetis proposed to develop the “Carbon Zero 1” biofuels facility to produce renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel for the growing renewable fuels market, providing alternatives to fossil fuels throughout the central San Joaquin Valley region of California. The project would use processing technologies such as gasification to create a syngas, and through further refinements, renewable hydrogen for use in producing the desired low-carbon-intensity fuels.

Geosyntec’s Scope of Services

Geosyntec was retained as a premier consultant to work with Aemetis and a team of design/construction engineers and environmental-review specialists to provide specialized air quality and greenhouse gas (GHG) permitting support. In this role, we supported them with guidance, review and execution of permitting strategies and methods, quantification of air pollutant and GHG emissions, characterization of best available control technologies (BACT), and research into emission reduction credits (ERCs), also known as “offsets.” We performed an environmental impact analysis and significance assessment and drafted an air permit application for submittal to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District and City of Riverbank in support of the project.

Geosyntec provided expert-level support to the client and its contractors, working together with them to deliver information to government agencies and stakeholders, meet with agency staff, provide direction and advice on the overall air permitting process, and adjust strategy based on agency response. In addition, Geosyntec characterized the facility’s GHG emissions potential, including differentiating emissions from biogenic and non-biogenic fuel combustion sources, which are evaluated and accounted for separately under California and federal GHG regulatory frameworks.

Notable Accomplishments

Geosyntec played a critical role in resolving a major challenge encountered as a result of regulatory program changes during this project. This involved working with Aemetis and their design team to devise solutions to meet the stringent air pollutant emissions standards of San Joaquin Valley (one of the most impacted air quality basins in the world, particularly for smog-producing ozone and fine particulate matter). To do this, we refined methods and adopted additional pollution-control measures to keep the facility below major-source permitting thresholds.

Aemetis and Geosyntec successfully worked with the engineering and design teams to incorporate process equipment changes that would achieve the low levels of volatile organic compound (VOC) and nitrogen oxide (NOX) emissions, precursors to ozone formation. Reducing emissions of NOX and VOCs below major-source thresholds prevented the need for Aemetis to accept additional permit conditions or participate in a lengthier permitting review process. Most importantly, the reduction eliminated the need to purchase ERCs, which had become scarce in the San Joaquin Valley and would have otherwise needed to be purchased at a substantial cost on the open market.