Aemetis Inc., a renewable natural gas and renewable fuels company focused on negative carbon intensity products, announced that the company has received 19 permits granting the Authority To Construct (ATC) from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District related to the Aemetis ‘Carbon Zero’ renewable fuels project in Riverbank, California.  Each permit states a specific set of equipment and the conditions for operation of each unit.

“The Authority To Construct air permits are a significant permitting milestone for the construction of the Aemetis renewable fuels biorefinery at the 142-acre Riverbank Industrial Complex,” stated Eric McAfee, chairman and CEO of Aemetis.  “The engineering, application and review process required several years of work by our technical team with the support of several environmental consultants.  The collaborative, supportive approach taken by the regional air district enabled this process to move forward at a steady pace,” added McAfee.

“We are thankful to the staff at the San Joaquin Valley APCD for their diligent and professional work,” McAfee said.  “We can now begin the fabrication of equipment by vendors and expand our project team to ramp up the construction process, creating more than $200 million of planned investment and employment in the Central Valley as we build and operate the biorefinery.”

The Carbon Zero biorefinery is scheduled to be completed and begin operations in year 2023, then double production capacity by year 2025.

The project is supported by $17 million of grant funding from the California Energy Commission and the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority.