A biotechnology company purchased 10-foot virtual pipeline trailers to be used as part of a dairy biogas project thats designed to bring more renewable natural gas (RNG) to market, and also plans to develop a biofuels production facility that will purify and compress the biomethane into vehicle fuel.

Quantitative BioSciences Inc. (QBI) purchased the trailers from Quantum Fuel Systems LLC as part of a new partnership with the company, which will be incorporated into a project QBI has with the Fiscalini Cheese Company in Modesto, Calif., according QBI. The biofuels production facility will purify and compress the biomethane from anaerobic digesters into fuel.

"There is an abundance of dairy waste producing biomethane on farms all over the country. As more farms realize the benefits of capturing and selling this gas as fuel, our trailers will help bring more renewable natural gas (RNG) to market,” said Mark Arold, President, Quantum Fuel Systems LLC.

The goal of the project is to make 450 diesel gallon equivalent of compressed natural gas per day and to demonstrate that algae can help a farm extract the maximum value from its waste by converting it to both fuel and feed.

“We are going to be producing enough fuel for 10-20 trucks per day, and we were looking for a way to get this fuel to a local CNG fleet via a virtual pipeline. Quantum’s trailers provided the perfect solution,” said Natalie Cookson, CEO of QBI.

Quantum’s 10-foot modular container has a gaseous capacity of approximately 83,635 standard cubic feet and weighs less than 9,000 pounds empty, and less than 12,500 pounds fully loaded. It is equipped with 8 (or 6) Type 4 CNG tanks and can be towed by a three-fourths ton pickup truck. The VPLite6/8 is available now in the United States and will be certified for use in Canada soon with worldwide availability to follow.