CNG Transportation Solution An Important Step In Increasing US Supply Chain Sustainability

Left to right: Mike Nosewicz, VP Dairy 
Group-East, The Kroger Company, 
Dr Mike McCloskey, President and Owner, 
Fair Oaks Farms, Erin Sharp, VP Operations 
Manufacturing, The Kroger Company.

Fair Oaks Farms is a well known mid-west regional tourist attraction and popular field trip destination that promotes the importance of sustainable farming. Facility tours give visitors an opportunity to see cows being milked, calves being born, and artesian cheeses being produced. The latest chapter in Fair Oaks Farms' sustainable farming story is their new compressed natural gas (CNG) fueled milk hauling fleet. 

At an historic event on March 4, AMP Americas, Fair Oaks Farms, Greater Indiana Clean Cities and the Indiana Office of Energy Development celebrated the grand opening of AMP Americas’ renewable CNG, I65/I75 Corridor at Fair Oaks Farms.

Fueled by the dairy’s waste from 11,000 head of cattle, the system pulls biogas from the digester that is then cleaned and odorized to be compressed and dispensed at the station, ready to provide CNG fuel on demand to their 42, Class 8 milk transports. 

"This will change American history,"
Dr Mike McCloskey, President
and Owner, Fair Oaks Farms
commenting on the CNG waste
to transportation solution.

While this large-scale CNG transportation solution is an important step in the US effort to create an increasingly sustainable supply chain, and reduce the independence on imported oil, the way the tractors will be used is just as noteworthy. According to an article published in a trade magazine, it is planned to run the 42 tractors virtually around the clock in a milk-hauling relay operation designed to squeeze maximum productivity from the equipment.

“AMP Americas produces biogas from dairy cattle waste and after cleaning and odorizing this gas, pipes the resulting renewable natural gas directly to the Fair Oaks Station for onsite use as CNG vehicle fuel,” according to Mark Stoermann, AMP Americas Project Director. “The anaerobic digester is so big, the energy it produces also powers a 1 megawatt generator for the cleaning process and dairies’ electrical needs.”

“The dairy’s CNG truck fleet will allow them to transport more than 90 million gallons of milk per year on a reduced greenhouse gas footprint,” according to Kellie Walsh, Executive Director of the Greater Indiana Clean Cities Coalition, a designated U.S. DOE Clean Cities Program partner that works with local public and private sector fleets to deploy alternative fuels and related technologies. Walsh continued, “By using dedicated compressed natural gas engines this deployment will reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil by 1.5 million diesel gallon equivalents (DGE) a year, while moving the dairy industry closer to it’s greenhouse gas (GHG) U.S. EPA mandated levels.”

In addition to dual saddle tanks, two CNG fuel tanks are mounted behind the cab giving the Fair Oaks Farms tractors a range of almost 600 miles. Photo credit: Fair Oaks Farms.

The Indiana Office of Energy Development in partnership with the Greater Indiana Clean Cities contributed $750,000 toward the RCNG Station at Fair Oaks Dairy. These funds were from the U.S. Department of Energy Clean Cities Program American Recovery and Reinvestment Act competitive award of $10,125,000.

This post is based in part on information in a PRWeb press release.