Altamont landfill takes trash to gas

January 6, 2010 by Dan Gibson · Comments Off
Filed under: Natural Gas

Great article on NPR about the Altamont Landfill in California. The Altamont landfill has been used by San Francisco and Oakland residents and businesses since 1980. Since November, a facility constructed on the 240-acre landfill has been turning the methane gas produced by the landfill into liquefied natural gas (LNG) used to fuel almost 500 Waste Management Inc. garbage and recycling trucks

“We’ve built the largest landfill-to-LNG plant in the world; this plant produces 13,000 gallons a day of LNG,” said Jessica Jones, a landfill manager for Houston-based Waste Management. “It will take 30,000 tons a year of CO2 from the environment.”

The Altamont landfill has more than 100 wells with black tubes throughout the facility that vacuum up methane from the heap and that is then turned into LNG. The LNG is pumped into the garbage and recycling trucks at a company fueling station in Oakland.

The Altamont Landfill has been doing their best to make use of the landfill as a resource for some time. Since 1989 they’ve had a methane-fueled electric power plant that can power 8,000 homes a day.

I’ve noticed quite a few stories about landfill energy plants during my time at AGA. According to the article, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency counted 517 active landfill energy projects in the nation’s approximately 1,800 operational municipal landfills in 2009. That was up almost 50 percent from 2000, and 28 percent from 2004.

One of the challenges with these types of projects is the initial expense but there’s some good news here. Four state environmental agencies contributed grants to help build the $15.5 million Altamont plant. Mike Beckman of Linde Group North America, the company that built and runs the natural gas plant, said the Altamont plant should continue producing fuel for 20 years or more meaning the plant should be profitable since the gas is sold to Waste Management and other customers.

The article has a lot more great information and pictures so I’d encourage a read. If you know of any similar projects in your area, let us know in the comments.

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Tags: biogas

Thoughts from the briefing for Congressional staff on renewable natural gas

March 26, 2009 by Paula Gant · 1 Comment
Filed under: energy

The briefing on renewable natural gas to Congressional staff we did earlier in the week went very well. I am very pleased we got an opportunity to continue educating others about the options we have using renewable natural gas and our existing distribution network.

Here is a powerpoint from Chris Voell of the Environmental Protection Agency titled, “Renewable Biogas: Environmental Protection and Energy Independence.” You can download the full pdf here. It’s a large file so it may take a moment.

I’ve pulled out some interesting graphics and stats for a quick view.

Here’s a slide showing the projects across the country.

Some stats on the projects include:

450 electricity generation
135 direct use (medium Btu)
25 high Btu pipeline quality gas
- AR, CA(2), GA(2), KS, LA, MI(2), NY, OH(3), PA(8), TN, TX(3), WI
- Less than 5% of total projects
GHG reductions from currently operating methane capture and use projects:
- Direct Methane – 3.5 million metric tons CH4/year
- Avoided CO2 – 9 million metric tons CO2e/year
- Total Reductions – 80+ million metric tons CO2e/year
Environmental equivalent to reducing CO2 emissions from:
- More than 200,000,000 barrels of oil consumed, or
- Nearly 16,000,000 passenger vehicles, or
- Burning more than 450,000 railcars’ worth of coal.
Energy equivalent to:
- Powering more than 915,000 homes and heating more than 700,000 home

The presentation also includes some bullets on different case studies like the one from Fresh Kills Landfill, NY pictured above.

Fresh Kills Landfill, NY

Began operation in the late 1970s
LFG-to-high Btu pipeline quality
- Selexol (chemical technology)
Largest plant of its kind until 2007

Valley and Monroeville Landfills, PA

Began operation in 2006
LFG-to-high Btu pipeline quality (2 plants)
- Membrane technology
Delivery of gas to:
- low-pressure local distribution pipeline
- high-pressure gas transmission line

Scenic View Dairy, MI

Began operation in 2007
Dairy farm digester (3,500 head)
Manure biogas-to-high Btu pipeline quality
- Pressure swing absorption technology
Small scale – 150 cfm of biogas

Hilarides Dairy, CA

Began operation in 2009
Dairy farm digester (9,000 head)
Manure biogas-to-vehicle fuel
- Pressure swing absorption technology
Biomethane is compressed for use as vehicle fuel-displacing diesel fuel.

Renee Rippchen left a great comment on my last post. As I told her, I like hearing about how people are creating energy around this issue, so let me know what you’re doing.

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Tags: biogas, renewable

Conestoga Landfill Gas Utilization Project

March 24, 2009 by Dan Gibson · Comments Off
Filed under: energy

Here’s a nice article to build upon Paula’s congressional staff briefing post. The EPA recognized the Conestoga Landfill Gas Utilization Project through their Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP). The program acknowledges excellence in innovation and creativity, success in promoting project development, and achieving environmental and economic benefits.

Granger Energy of Morgantown, LLC (Granger) spearheaded a project that created one of the largest multi-user projects in the nation. The many partners involved in making the project a reality, including UGI Utilities, is a great example in collaboration. The project includes a 9-mile pipeline that links two independently owned and operated landfills, a utility, and seven end users.

Some of the project’s highlights include:

Designed for 7,200 scfm, the LFG processing facility is one of the largest in the country
9-mile pipeline bores under four highways and two year-round streams
27 acres were purchased to house the off-site LFG processing facility
13,000 sq.ft. LFG processing facility was constructed in only 5 months
Project serves 23 boilers, four oil heaters, two process water heaters, four ovens, two remote thermal oxidizers, one space heater, and two rooftop building heaters

Here’s a pdf that gives details and statistics on the project. It’s fairly large so it may take a moment to download.