Gas Verde has secured a $48.6m, 12-year loan from the US Export-Import Bank to finance the construction of the Novo Gramacho biogas project in Brazil.
The plant is located at the 140ha Jardim Gramacho landfill near Rio de Janeiro, and will convert the site's methane gas into clean biomethane gas.
FirmGreen, a small renewable-energy company based in Newport Beach, California, and other US green-technology suppliers are benefiting the loan by supporting exports of equipment and services for the development of the biogas project Brazil.
Ex-Im Bank chairman and president, Fred Hochberg, said: "It [the project] enables the Brazilian project owner, Gas Verde, to convert an environmental hazard into a green-energy source that will reduce local emissions of greenhouse gases as well," said Hochberg.
FirmGreen CEO, Steve Wilburn, said: "The loan from Ex-Import Bank is instrumental to positioning our green technology competitively worldwide."
The plant is expected to capture and treat 20,000m3/hr of raw landfill gas, subsequently producing 9,000m3/hr of fuel-grade biomethane gas.
The biomethane sold will be transmitted by a pipeline to a nearby refinery owned and operated by Petroleo Brasileiro.
The project will contribute to 1.4m/t of greenhouse-gas reductions per year.
