Landfill Gas Management
Landfill Gas Management is an important necessity at most landfills receiving degradable wastes such as MSW and many non-hazardous industrial wastes. It is necessary to extract landfill gas in order to prevent it from migrating away from the landfill.
Landfill gas (LFG), a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide, has the potential to cause harm to human health, via explosion or asphyxiation, and to cause environmental damage such as crop failure. It also has a significant climate changing effect in the world’s atmosphere.
Examples of all three have occurred both within and outside landfills and are discussed here.
Landfill Gas Management is applying good practice techniques for extracting and controlling LFG. All are are now reasonably well established and in common use, and are discussed in this category.
Landfill Gas Use and Origins
Landfill gas use is the collection and treatment of methane or other gaseous substances from the decomposition of waste in a landfill to create power, heat, and energy. In addition to fossil fuels and farming, municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill gas was third in the world as the contributor to methane emissions as a greenhouse […]
Landfill Methane Capture: The Global Warming Reduction “Quick Win” You’ve Never Heard Of
Concerned about the menacing effects of landfill gas on our environment? You’re not alone, but it’s not as bad as it might be where a landfill has a well-engineered Landfill Methane Capture system installed. In fact, we go so far as to say that landfill methane capture and utilisation is the global warming reduction “Quick […]
Fundamentals of Landfill Gas
Understanding the fundamentals of landfill gas is crucial for environmental researchers, waste management professionals, and many others engaged in addressing climate change. A natural byproduct of organic material decomposition in landfills, this flammable gas plays a substantial role in global warming due to its composition. While not odorous if well managed it is closely associated […]
Landfill Gas Flares – Selection Installation And Maintenance
Landfill gas flares are now destined to be installed in a lot more landfills globally after COP26. This article is intended to help the anticipated influx of industry newcomers with their Landfill Gas Flare selection, installation, and maintenance. One of the international pledges made during the UN International Climate Change Conference 2021 otherwise known as […]
Siloxane and Landfill Gas
Siloxane and Landfill Gas: The elimination of VOCs and siloxanes is an important aspect of the LFG conditioning process for any vehicle fuel or pipeline injection project. Engines, turbines, and compressors can be damaged by even trace concentrations of siloxanes, thus they must be eliminated. VOCs are a contaminant that would be sufficiently eliminated in […]
UK Landfill Gas Emissions – Stringent EA Controls Implemented
The waste management industry is required to control UK landfill gas emissions to a high standard. The Environment Agency (EA) ensures that all licensed (closed) or permitted landfill sites which contain landfill gas are regulated to ensure that emissions are kept to a minimum. This is enforced either under the pollution prevention and control (PPC) […]
Gases from Landfills
All landfills should use the gases from landfills. This is done by installing gas collection systems to avoid as far as is reasonable the emission of methane. Methane is a strong “greenhouse gas”. It produces more than 20 times the global warming effect of carbon dioxide. “Landfill gas is a complex mix of different gases […]
Landfill Gas Migration Defined and Explained
Landfill gas migration is defined as the process which occurs when the landfill gas generated within a landfill moves from the site of original waste deposition out of the landfilled waste, into the surrounding environment. This may take place as a result of the gas flow induced by the positive gas pressure produced by the […]
Fugitive Emissions of Methane and Landfill Gas Explained
It is well known that fugitive emissions of methane and landfill gas occur when methane escapes from production facilities, wells, pipes, compressors and other equipment associated with coal mining or natural gas extraction, landfills, and biogas plants. It is obviously very important to reduce fugitive emissions to an absolute minimum. Why are Fugitive Escapes of […]
Landfill Gas Power Plants
Landfill Gas Power Plants should be installed at all landfills, where the landfill gas (LFG) extraction rate is large enough to sustain a steady flow for long periods (multiple years). A typical Landfill Gas Power Plant for most landfill sites is an internal combustion engine, or possibly a gas turbine. The typical landfill gas power plant is used […]