--> Abstract: Alternative Energy from Alternative Energy: Using Landfill Gas to Help Produce Ethanol; #90063 (2007)

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Alternative Energy from Alternative Energy: Using Landfill Gas to Help Produce Ethanol

 

DeBoer, Dan1 (1) Abengoa Bioenergy Corp, Colwich, KS

 

Critics of ethanol and other alternative fuels often cite that fossil fuels such as petroleum and natural gas are used to create these fuels. Landfill gas provides an alternative source for helping produce fuels such as ethanol. At the Abengoa Bioenergy Corporation Colwich, Kansas, facility landfill gas from the Brooks Landfill in northern Sedgwick County is utilized to operate the plant's boiler.

 

Landfill gas, a byproduct of the anaerobic degradation of organic material placed in a landfill, is composed of about 50% methane and 50% carbon dioxide, with traces of other gases. This gas presents odor and health problems, so the mitigation of these emissions is important. Combustion through the use of boilers and flares are common techniques for thermally destroying the compounds in landfill gas. The burner for the boiler at the Colwich facility is a specially designed dual-gas burner for both natural and landfill gas.

Economic benefits since utilization of the gas began in 1998 have been significant, especially with the recent spikes in natural gas prices. The facility consumes about 3.7 million cubic feet of landfill gas per day, about a 4-to-1 ratio to natural gas burned. At this rate as much as 14,000 tons of methane emissions per year can be destroyed.

 

AAPG Search and Discover Article #90063©2007 AAPG Annual Convention, Long Beach, California