Waste Management opens largest LNG plant

Waste Management, one of the largest landfill operators in the US, opens the world’s biggest Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) converter facility. The US$ 15.5 million landfill facility, located near Livermore, California, can liquefy up to four million gallons per year of low carbon-emitting alternative fuel.

The LNG plant is a 50-50 joint venture between Waste Management and New Jersey-based engineering company, Linde North America. About 10 per cent of the funding came from several state agencies, including the California Air Resources Board, California Energy Commission, California Integrated Waste and South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Generated from naturally decomposed organic waste, landfill gas consists of about 50 per cent methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Refining landfill gas to generate electricity or as transportation fuel reuses once wasted resources and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

The recent report from the Environmental Protection Agency states that landfills are accounted for about 22 per cent of all methane emitted in the US in 2007. A cap-and-trade system is therefore planned to be passed in the US Congress to allow landfill owners to sell methane offsets.

Steve Eckhardt, Business Development Head of Linde, explained that LNG’s system is unique from others. The multi-staged liquefaction process of the facility uses compression, freezing to minus 260˚C, absorption and membranes to turn landfill gas into LNG.

Waste Management, owner of 277 landfills in the country, also announced a plan to develop 60 gas-to-energy projects by 2012. The company said it aims to supply 700MW of electricity from an estimated 170 projects in four years.