How much Municipal Solid Waste is considered the size of
SMALL Landfills / Garbage Dumps?
It used to be I million – 3 million tons of Municipal Solid Waste-in-place.
https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-06/documents/overview_lmop_lfg_us.pdf
slide 5 of the presentation
Now-a-days there appears to be no limit to the size of a “Landfill project to produce energy” as long as the people who own it can find
1. an end user for the gas or electricity
2. Funding for the project.
The Landfills discussed in this post range from 360,000 tons to 2.8 million tons of waste-in-place.
IN THIS POST
- SMALL Landfills?
- New Zealand
- I found this USA EPA Document written specifically for SMALL Landfills.
- New filtration technology makes it easier for Small Landfills to use their LFG.
- And with the filtered RNG make Electricity!
- Steps for Developing a LFG Use Project
- Maybe you have a very old Landfill? Maybe Closed?
- Landfill CELLs are very important – to capture the Gas.
- Outlook for biogas and biomethane: Prospects for growth
- Many Islands have SMALL Landfills. Use their waste to make RNG or Electricity.
- More posts on Waste to Energy
SMALL Landfills?
https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-06/documents/overview_lmop_lfg_us.pdf
slide 5 of the presentation
2 million tons of MSW generates LFG that could be used to produce:
~1.56 megawatts (MW) of electricity
~864,000 cubic feet per day of LFG
or 867,400 (GGEs) per year of CNG
You can use LMOP’s Interactive Conversion Tool (a Microsoft Excel file) to derive some of these values, available at https://www.epa.gov/lmop/list-tools-related-landfill-gas-and-waste-management .
Per 2023 USA EPA calculations, the environmental benefits of a 1 million ton MSW in-place Landfill that can produce 0.78-megawatt of electricity are approximately equal to:
>>> Carbon sequestered by ~ 51,500 acres of forest in one year,
>>> CO2 emissions from more than 230 railcars’ of coal burned
>>> CO2 emissions from ~ 4.9 million gallons of gasoline consumed
USA EPA LMOP’s Landfill Gas Energy Benefits Calculator (an Excel tool), estimates the environmental equivalencies. https://www.epa.gov/lmop/landfill-gas-energy-benefits-calculator. For a Landfill that produces 0.78 megawatts of electricity: enter 0.78 in cell D8 or enter 0.432 in cell I7 to obtain estimates. For example, the total 2023 benefits for a
The EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP) would like to help you find out if you can develop a LFG project. The EPA apparently wants to help communities work with any size landfill even a “Landfill with a lower LFG flow rate”.
Contact the Global Methane Initiative, if you are somewhere else in the world.
New Zealand
Sep 4, 2017 – The Omen, a new landfill, accepts waste material from the Napier City and Hastings District that amounts to around seventy-two thousand tons of waste per year. 600 cubic meters of Landfill Gas per hour feeding a 1 MegaWatt electric Generator supplying power to 1,000 homes. The gas to energy project at the landfill turns methane, a by-product of burying rubbish in a landfill, into electricity. The resulting electricity is sold back into the grid. The gas to electricity initiative has been operating since 2015. It now produces about 1000 kilowatts of electricity a year, enough to power about 1000 homes for a year. The project is a partnership between Hastings District Council and LMS Energy.
https://www.lms.com.au/biogas-power-stations
SMALL Landfills
I found this USA EPA Document from 2001 written specifically for SMALL Landfills.
Small Landfills=Untapped Energy Potential
https://p2infohouse.org/ref/05/04595.pdf
Date: Fri, Sep 8, 2023 at 4:19 PM
U.S. EPA LMOP:
Yes, the basic premise of the document you referenced, Small Landfills=UNTAPPED Energy Potential, is still valid. LMOP encourages and supports the beneficial use of LFG from small landfills and believes that LFG energy projects can be implemented at many of these smaller sites if an appropriate end user can be determined, funding procured, etc. However, there is some information in the document that is out of date, given its age. The Benefits sidebar of the document is certainly still applicable. There are 4 case studies in the document.
Further from U.S. EPA LMOP:
More resources regarding LFG use at Small Landfills / Landfills with a low LFG flow rate:
- LMOP’s Project Profiles, at https://www.epa.gov/lmop/landfill-gas-energy-project-data#project , include some examples of low-flow LFG energy projects:data#seward
- LFG Energy Project Development Handbook, Chapter 3 discusses some of the options for low flow rates, such as small engines, infrared heaters, greenhouses, artisan applications, leachate evaporation, and onsite vehicle fuel production: https://www.epa.gov/lmop/landfill-gas-energy-project-development-handbook
New Landfill Gas filtration technology makes it easier for Small Landfills to use their LFG.
- Webinar: Leveraging Untapped Landfill Gas Potential: https://www.epa.gov/lmop/webinar-leveraging-untapped-landfill-gas-potential You will find a video of the Webinar on this link, which includes 2 presentations. The second one is “Leveraging the RNG Potential of Small to Medium Size Landfils” from Waga Energy. Here is the Waga Energy part of the Webinar:
Nov 29, 2017 – Wagabox upgrades landfill gas into renewable natural gas (RNG) compliant with distribution grid requirements. Today, Nicolas Paget, Waga Energy CTO measures biogas/landfill gas composition at three different steps in the upgrading process.
The first step after pulling LFG from the Landfill is filtering the gas to as close to 100% Methane and nothing else as possible.
The Waga Box knows how to do this!
Another new approach to Landfill Gas filtration called
AMD – Archaea Modular Design
Archaea Energy, a bp subsidiary since 2022, independently and through its joint ventures, operates 50 RNG sites with a presence in 32 USA states that capture methane from waste to produce RNG.
Archaea can place modular units on skids (mobile foundations) with interchangeable components for faster installation to operation. An AMD facility can process 3,200 Standard Cubic Feet/Minute (scfm) of landfill gas (LFG) per minute into RNG. AMD plants are designed to come in three sizes – 3,200 scfm; 6,400 scfm; and 9,600 scfm. Archaea’s RNG facilities support neighboring industries, including construction, engineering, equipment vendors and utilities.
Landfills are the largest source of LFG and produce methane reliably many years both before and after closer, making them an attractive feedstock for RNG. That’s why Archaea is focusing largely on landfills in planning for rapid expansion.
And with the filtered RNG make Electricity!
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At Vespene Energy, we’re turning landfill methane into a valuable resource – Electricity – through our biogas-to-energy microgrid systems.
Vespene provides cost-free methane reduction solutions for small – medium sized landfills by using methane emissions to power self-sustaining microgrids.
Vespene Energy’s Self-Sustaining Microgrids allow Small Landfills to profitably contribute to the renewable energy transition.
WITHOUT CONNECTION TO THE MAIN GRID
Vespene Self-Sustaining Microgrids mean operation within months with interruptible datacenters that enable energy for leachate management, EV charging, facility power, and other site loads. 100% of the electricity is put to beneficial use of power assets and runs continuously.
You and your Community Council can look around and find a use for the Landfill Gas (LFG) to be produced in your Landfill Cells….some examples:
- Place your Landfill Cell right next to an existing power plant, so that you can pipe the LFG right into their natural gas supply line.
- Place your Landfill next to an existing waste water facility, to power their operations
- Does your community have a recycling center? Put your Landfill Cell next to it, to power the conveyor belt operations in that facility and empty out the residual garbage for the Landfill.
- Other municipal buildings that need electricity.
- Place your Landfill Cell next to any other anaerobic digester operation nearby
- Think carefully what other existing facilities in your community can use fuel and put your Landfill Cell next to it.
Steps for Developing a LFG Use Project
>> Estimate LFG Recovery Potential and Perform Initial Feasibility Study
>> Evaluate Project Economics
>> Establish Project Structure
>> Draft Development Contract
>> Assess Financing Options
>> Negotiate Energy Sales Contract
>> Secure Permits and Approvals
>> Contracts for Engineering, Procurement & Construct, Operation & Maintenance Services
>> Install Project and Start-Up Operation
Maybe you have a very old Landfill? Maybe Closed?
There is now at least one electricity generator that can capture and use RAW Landfill Gas in closed landfills…………………
FREE PISTON STIRLING ENGINE
from Qnergy
Direct operation on raw, unrefined Landfill Gas (LFG) from landfills
- A landfill has two periods of
low methane emissions
1. The Start of a Landfill
2. The Closed Landfill - These periods represent significant periods of unregulated emissions in most Landfills
- Free Piston Stirling is a best fit for these two periods
Toolkit for Expiring Landfill Gas Electricity Power Purchase Agreements from EPA’s LMOP
A closed/contained Landfill Cell can still be useful
The Future of Landfills is Bright
- Once your Landfill Cell has been closed, it will have a finite life of 25 or more years, depending on its size, during which LFG will be produced inside it.
- Plan to cover it with a solar or Vertical wind farm when the area is settled.
- And know that down the line, technology is already available that can turn Municipal Solid Waste DIRECTLY into syngas, the MSW will disappear – no Landfill, and you can place this new technology on top of your closed Landfill.
Landfill CELLs are very important – to protect the surrounding environment and capture the Gas.
Oct 22, 2021 – There is more to a Landfill than meets the eye. The Denton Landfill is a highly engineered and planned development to not only handle our City’s waste, but to keep our residents and environment safe. The new Landfill Cell will serve the city and surrounding area for years to come
Outlook for biogas and biomethane: Prospects for growth
The IEA, still does not see the potential of ALL the Garbage Dumps around the world. I could very well be wrong, but I believe there is more energy to be captured than others believe. BUT the IEA does point out that………………..
“This report estimates that around 30 Mtoe (~40 billion cubic metres [bcm]) of biomethane – mostly landfill gas – could be produced today at a price that undercuts the domestic price of [fossil] natural gas; this is already ten times more than total biomethane consumption today.
The cost gap is projected to narrow over time as biomethane production technologies improve and as carbon pricing in some regions makes natural gas more expensive. Recognition of the value of avoided CO2 and methane emissions goes a long way towards improving the cost-competitiveness of biomethane.“
Outlook for global “biomethane consumption” by region in the Sustainable Development Scenario, 2018-2040 — https://www.iea.org/
Rest of world
North America
Europe
India
China
Last updated 19 Mar 2020 –
–time to update this again!–
Many Islands have SMALL Landfills. Use their waste to make RNG or Electricity. Take a look:
ALL Islands: Just Go Zero – NOW! – Like Tilos
Vision RNG LLC brought together a team of seasoned professionals with decades of experience across the natural gas and waste management industries. Combining proven LFG technologies with processes widely used in the conventional natural gas sector, we provide a unique solution to capture, process, and commercialize LFG at mid-sized sites previously considered too small for viable projects.
More work is being done to include Small Landfills in landfill regulations……
Jan 31, 2024 – Today, Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) participated in a Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee hearing titled, “Avoiding, Detecting, and Capturing Methane Emissions from Landfills.” Many of the new technologies make it much more cost effective for even Small Landfills to capture their methane, before the regulations have been changed!
What is the final objective?
To capture the Methane from man-made Waste and USE IT.
…one way is RNG as fuel. From RNG you can make electricity, too.
Jan 10, 2023 – Energy industry is going through a Renaissance and it’s changing. right. To me there are many pieces of the Net Zero puzzle and RNG is one of them. Renewable Natural Gas is created by taking raw biogas, whether it’s from garbage or Wastewater or farming activities. Cleaning it and processing it into a renewable form of energy that can then be injected into our existing pipeline infrastructure. For every molecule methane emitted to the environment its impact to global warming is three times that of CO2. So by capturing this biogas and leaving fossil fuel in the ground, we’re improving the air for all of us. And we’re repurposing it into a usable form of energy. It’s a win-win. Historically RNG has been used primarily in the transportation sector, but now because of the impact of climate change we’re seeing the interest really pick up by consumers to use it anywhere they currently use natural gas. Ameresca looks at waste as opportunity. Every drop that we capture we leave that drop of fossil fuel in the ground. As a matter of fact, the World Bank projects Solid Waste to increase nearly 70 percent by 2050. Society created this problem and now we need to fix it. I remember my dad always saying that he wanted to see the Next Generation do better than the last. I take that to heart because I want to do that from an environmental standpoint.
Ameresco, Inc. (NYSE:AMRC) is a leading energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions provider serving North America and the United Kingdom. Please visit us at www.ameresco.com
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ALL Islands: Just Go Zero – NOW! – Like Tilos
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Urban Mining ! – More Important Than Ever
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