Landfills Methane Gas

Methane, a primary component of landfill gas, is a greenhouse gas more than 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. Nationwide in 2007 about 435 projects provided more than 10.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity and delivered 79 billion cubic feet per year of landfill gas to corporate and government users, and produced energy equivalent to powering roughly 810,000 homes and heating nearly 547,000 homes each year.

Landfill gas is the natural by-product of the decomposition of solid waste in landfills and is comprised primarily of carbon dioxide and methane. By preventing emissions of methane (a powerful greenhouse gas) through the development of landfill gas energy projects, landfill facilities can now produce electricity naturally from decomposing waste and turn it into money-saving electricity to offset the costs associated with operating the landfills. . Until now, the landfill gas, which is about 50 percent methane, was extracted through wells and pipes buried in the landfill and combusted in a flare. Now the gas is now diverted from the flare to the landfill gas plant, which is equipped with two specialized engines designed to burn landfill gas. The landfill gas is processed to natural gas quality and used in clean-burning power generation equipment to generate renewable power. The project of transforming the waste into usable electricity includes installation of a gas collection system in the landfill, a generator that runs on landfill gas, a power line connection to the grid, and an electronic monitoring system.

Here is a nice layout of "How Landfills Work".

Sami
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