In Longview, a new 66,000-square-foot Integrated Diversion & Energy Facility is turning unsold and non-donatable food into renewable natural gas and nutrient-rich fertilizer instead of landfill waste. At full capacity, Divert Inc. says the plant will be able to process roughly 100,000 tons of material a year and produce enough energy to serve more than 3,200 homes, all while creating new feedstocks for farmers and keeping more of the value from uneaten food in the regional economy.
How the plant turns food into fuel
Inside the facility, Divert’s system strips packaging from food and converts the contents into a bio-slurry. That slurry is fed into anaerobic digesters, where microbes go to work producing biogas that is then upgraded into pipeline-grade renewable natural gas, according to Food Manufacturing.
State permitting documents show the Longview site is designed to recover roughly 237 billion Btu of renewable natural gas each year and produce about 11,000 tons of soil amendment, while processing roughly 100,000 to 101,000 tons of food annually, according to a draft NPDES fact sheet.
Money, partners and the pipeline
Company leaders marked the official opening on April 29, and executives told reporters the plant began injecting upgraded gas into the local distribution network earlier this month, according to Waste Dive. The launch also drew regional coverage from KOIN.
Divert has lined up a cluster of heavyweight partners to back and buy from the project. A Series C funding round led by Mitsubishi Partners gave that investor first rights at future sites, while BP has secured offtake for Divert’s plants, and Enbridge has provided a major investment to accelerate buildout, according to the company and an earlier Business Wire release.
Why it matters to retailers and regulators
For grocery stores, distributors and food manufacturers, the Longview plant offers a closer option for complying with Washington’s organics rules and Portland’s commercial food-scraps requirements, which phase in stricter diversion thresholds for businesses over time…