Landfills Turn Trash into Power

[Nathanael]

Methane capture projects, that capture the potent gas and turn it into fuel, are becoming more and more prevalent across the world, especially the United States. The U.S. houses the largest landfill gas to liquefied natural gas facilities in the world. This is an important technology for reducing emissions.



The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized eight landfill methane capture projects for their innovation in generating renewable energy and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The winners include one of the largest landfill gas (LFG) to liquefied natural gas facilities in the world, located in Livermore, California.

“We are proud to recognize Landfill Methane Outreach Program partners who are turning trash into a clean and profitable source of energy,” said Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. “These projects, and others like them, are helping us transition into a clean energy economy and make important greenhouse gas reductions.”


Source: http://www.energyboom.com/emerging/landfills-turn-trash-power

[FreakinDJ]

1. Old Technology - Doesn't make it any less Green

they,ve been doing that for 30 years I know of

[Nathanael]

2. Absolutely Correct

However, funding and popular culture have brought this technology out of the shadows and into the mainstream, which makes its impact even stronger.

[M155Y_A1CH]

3. Gas capture is great but...

It's not cheap energy because of the costs to build systems. It is not clean power in the end because the need to burn it to receive the benefits. Capture is not sequestration. Solar and wind are the really green choices. This and biofuels will help us supply energy needs but do nothing to reduce pollution. Same with electric cars that plug into the power grid to charge. Someone is burning fuels that pollute for the energy to be supplied.

[M155Y_A1CH]

4. So I poked around and found this

You got me wondering about the overall benefits of this technology so I went agoogling for some info. I found that generally Methane is a more damaging greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. 33x more damaging than CO2, so capture seems like a fine idea. Then I looked into the effects of the burning of the captured gas to compare against the effects of methane escape. I found this nightmare:

"Landfill gas" is not the same thing as "natural gas" or "methane." They are three separate terms which mean different things. They should not be used interchangeably. The term "landfill methane" is deceiving as it's usually used to imply that landfill gas is simply methane.

-snip-

Natural gas is approximately 80-99% methane, with the remainder being mostly other hydrocarbons (ethane, propane, butane, etc.) as well as some nitrogen, oxygen, water, CO2, sulfur and various contaminants.1

Landfill gas is about 40-60% methane, with the remainder being mostly carbon dioxide (CO2). Landfill gas also contains varying amounts of nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor, sulfur and a hundreds of other contaminants -- most of which are known as "non-methane organic compounds" or NMOCs. Inorganic contaminants like mercury are also known to be present in landfill gas. Sometimes, even radioactive contaminants such as tritium (radioactive hydrogen) have been found in landfill gas.

NMOCs usually make up less than 1% of landfill gas. EPA identifies 94 NMOCs in their 1991 report, "Air Emissions from Municipal Solid Waste Landfills - Background Information for Proposed Standards and Guidelines." Many of these are toxic chemicals like benzene, toluene, chloroform, vinyl chloride, carbon tetrachloride, and 1,1,1 trichloroethane. At least 41 of these are halogenated compounds. Many others are non-halogenated toxic chemicals. 2, 3 More exhaustive test for contaminants in landfill gas have found hundreds of different NMOC contaminants.<**NJ**>

When halogenated chemicals (chemicals containing halogens - typically chlorine, fluorine, or bromine) are combusted in the presence of hydrocarbons, they can recombine into highly toxic compounds such as dioxins and furans, the most toxic chemicals ever studied. Burning at high temperatures doesn't solve the problem as dioxins are formed at low temperatures and can be formed as the gases are cooling down after the combustion process.

-continued at link:

http://www.energyjustice.net/lfg/

[kristopher]

5. You are off target somewhat...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP) is a voluntary assistance program that helps to reduce methane emissions from landfills by encouraging the recovery and beneficial use of landfill gas (LFG) as an energy resource. LFG contains methane, a potent greenhouse gas that can be captured and used to fuel power plants, manufacturing facilities, vehicles, homes, and more. By joining LMOP, companies, state agencies, organizations, landfills, and communities gain access to a vast network of industry experts and practitioners, as well as to various technical and marketing resources that can help with LFG energy project development.

http://www.epa.gov/lmop/


Yes, methane is a potent GHG.

Yes there are problems associated with retrieving it from landfills.

However, there is a larger view.

Part of creating a sustainable way of life requires us to recycle our wastes instead of discarding them and using fresh raw materials in creating new products and yet more wastes.

The *long term* idea (in this specific instance) is to utilize environmental carbon instead of mining and releasing more carbon in the form of fossil fuels. Currently, the energy inputs that create these landfill wastes are primarily fossil fuels - carbon that is is truly sequestered. Landfills, on the other hand, do a very poor job of sequestering either methane or CO2. Some methods of processing landfill materials are reasonably successful, but the reality is that worldwide, landfill emissions are a significant contributor to GHG emissions.

There are several aspects to dealing with this matter, but the short version is that we need to be much more effective at separating and recycling our waste streams and treat them as a resource.

In this particular, if we use methane from a landfill we are going to be displacing carbon from fossil fuels. As you note, because of contaminants landfill methane is not as desirable as other waste streams such as methane from sewage and agricultural wastes might be but it is not an idea to be discarded out of hand.

And it certainly isn't an idea that should be discarded because of climate change.

List of entries for search of "landfill methane climate" at EPA:
http://nlquery.epa.gov/epasearch/epasearch?areaname=&areacontacts=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.epa.gov%2Fepahome%2Fcomments.htm&areasearchurl=&result_template=epafiles_default.xsl&action=filtersearch&filter=&typeofsearch=epa&querytext=landfill+methane+climate&GO=SEARCH

[NNadir]

6. Wow. If we just make more and more and more landfills, we can make the world safe for

Amory Lovins.

Why didn't I think of that?

I think I'll make like an airhead and express it all with a smiley:

:eyes:

[kristopher]

7. You endorse the system that produces large quantities of waste

And you reject sustainable policies.

There is nothing new about you "making like an airhead"; you do that with each and every post.