Rivan Industries (London, U.K.; www.rivan.com) has deployed its first full-scale modular synthetic natural gas (SNG) system, marking a milestone in autonomous fuels production at scale. Powered by a 1-MW solar array, the SNG system’s only inputs are rainwater and CO2, and it operates entirely off-grid, running autonomously without operators — the first SNG plant in the world to do so, according to Rivan founder and CEO Harvey Hodd. The Rivan SNG production unit comprises a water-splitting electrolyzer and a Sabatier reactor module to produce SNG from CO2 and green hydrogen. For this first system, Rivan is using biogenic CO2 from a nearby anaerobic digestion plant. As the company scales, it will incorporate its own direct-air-capture (DAC) system, which is currently under development.
Source: Rivan
“Traditional SNG systems are plagued by high costs because of how they are designed and manufactured. To produce SNG that is cheaper than fossil fuels, we knew we had to bring these costs down dramatically. We did this by first defining an entirely different set of design requirements for our system,” notes Hodd. This included mandating that the system could be powered by off-grid, variable power, rather than grid connected, steady-state power. Modularity and vertical integration also contribute to lower costs, making the systems easier to mass produce and install in large-volume arrays akin to utility-scale batteries. Hodd estimates that the Rivan system is expected to bring down SNG production costs by about 80% compared to historical costs, and Rivan expects to be cost-competitive with pre-2026 fossil prices in 2–3 years. Last year, the company validated a 100-kW unit, successfully producing SNG that met specifications for gas-grid injection using biogenic CO2 feedstock from a neighboring industrial facility.
“Once our 1-MW system is through commissioning, we are targeting injection into the U.K. gas grid later this year. As we validate autonomous operation, we’re also preparing our first large-scale production run. Once our new manufacturing facility in London is fully up and running, it will be ready to produce up to 50 systems per year,” says Hodd. Rivan Industries has partnered with Wales & West Utilities to connect its site to the U.K. grid, making it the first commercial site of its kind in the U.K. Next year, Rivan will deploy a second 15-MW site in Wiltshire, which will be the world’s largest SNG plant.