Energy Justice Network

…helping communities protect themselves from polluting energy and waste technologies

November 2007

Landfill Gas

www.energyjustice.net/lfg/

Landfill Gas: What it is…

• Not simply “methane” • About half methane, half CO 2 • Hundreds of toxic contaminants – Halogenated compounds (trichloroethane, vinyl chloride, carbon tetrachloride and many more) – Mercury (methylmercury – the really bad kind) – Tritium – Other toxic organic compounds (benzene , toluene…)

Landfill Gas: Capturing it

• Gas capture requirements based on toxics (“non-methane organic compounds” or NMOCs), not greenhouse gas emissions • Landfills that estimate releasing over 55 tons/year of NMOCs must collect gas and reuse or “destroy” 98% of them

Landfill Gas: Options

• Flare • Internal Combustion Engine (electricity) • Turbine (electricity) • Boiler (heat/steam) • Piping into natural gas lines • Hydrogen production • Reuse of chemicals (methane and CO 2 ) for industrial feedstocks

Landfill Gas: Only 10-15% Captured

• About ½ of landfills not required to capture • About ½ of gas produced when no capture mechanism is in place • About ½ of the gas collected when collecting gas

Landfill Gas: Air Emissions

• For some chemicals, burning for electricity is

more

polluting than flaring • Burning halogenated compounds creates significant amounts of dioxins/furans

Landfill Gas: Mercury

• Mercury Emissions Comparable to Coal Power Plant Exhaust • Landfills are one of two known sources of

methyl

mercury (the fat-soluble kind) – Other source is sewage sludge • Burning reduces it back to elemental mercury, but since most isn’t burned, most escapes in its methylated form

Landfill Gas: Mercury

Landfill Gas: Filtering

• Landfills usually filter only sulfur & water vapor • Need to filter out the hundreds of other toxics before using gas for any other purpose • Must filter into a solid medium, like carbon filters – Acrion’s technology filters into a gaseous stream which gets flared; this was used to clean up gas for fuel cell demonstration projects in order to not “poison” the fuel cells • Must containerize the filters, not “recycle” or “regenerate” (incinerate) them

Landfill Gas: Prevention

• Only sound management practice for landfill gas is to prevent its production • It’s not “already there” • Get organics out of landfills – Europe and many other places in the world are ahead of the U.S. on this – World Bank and International Panel on Climate Change agree • Organics breaking down create the methane; methane helps the toxic chemicals escape

Incinerators: Names Used

• Waste-to-energy • Energy from waste • Trash-to-steam • Conversion technologies • Biomass • Incinerator • Advanced Thermal Tech • Waste to fuel

Feedstocks

• MSW • RDF • Wood waste • Biomass • Tires • Sewage Sludge • Medical waste • Hazardous waste • Agricultural waste • Chemical weapons • Pesticides • Radioactive wastes • Coal and waste coal • Petroleum coke • Construction / Demolition waste

Technologies

• Mass Burn • Gasification • Pyrolysis • Plasma Arc • Catalytic cracking • Thermal Depolymerization • Cement kilns • Industrial Boilers (paper mills, utility boilers) • Fischer-Tropsch / Gas-to-Liquids (gasification/liquefaction) • Cellulosic Ethanol (waste-to-ethanol) • Fluidized Bed

Problems with Incinerators: Toxics

• Makes landfills more toxic (from ash or slag dumped) …

or worse,

they try to reuse them • Liquid wastes (more common to fuels conversion technologies) • Air Pollution – Lack of real-time monitoring – Organic pollutants (Dioxins/furans, Volatile Organic Compounds / PAHs) – Toxic metals (mercury, arsenic, lead, cadmium, etc.) – Acid Gases (Hydrogen Fluoride, Hydrochloric Acid, Sulfuric Acid) – Particulate matter – Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), Sulfur Oxides (SOx)

Problems with Incinerators: Economics

• Capital Intensive (Expensive) • Requires "Put-or-Pay" contracts • Competes with zero waste AND energy alternatives • Economic incentives encourage burning more dangerous wastes (getting paid to take waste vs. paying for fuels)

Problems with Incinerators: Liquids

• Water Use – 48% of water use in U.S. is for thermoelectric power plants • Chemical Storage (primarily for the newer “waste-to-fuels” technologies)

Bigger Problems with Incinerators

• Destroys materials – “waste-OF-energy” – net energy issues • Global warming contribution worse than zero waste solutions • Makes the problem "invisible" rather than making it very visible so that unsustainably produced products can be properly dealt with

Biomass / Incineration

Includes…

• Municipal Solid Waste (Trash) • Tires • Sewage Sludge • Construction / Demolition (C&D) Wood Waste • Animal Factory Wastes • Paper & Lumber Mill Wood Wastes • Agricultural Crop Residue • Energy Crops • Forest Cutting • "Urban" Wood Waste (tree trimmings) • Landfill Gas • Digester Gas

Biomass / Incineration

• Existing facilities mostly on east coast and mid-west • Proposals all over the U.S.

• Many contaminants involved • Harms waste issues (competes with source reduction, composting and recycling) • Destroys resources • Biotechnology • One of the most polluting energy technologies per unit of energy produced (little energy is produced) • “Green” biomass (energy crops) are foot in the door for more toxic waste streams

Policies that Promote Incinerators and Landfill Gas

Private standards: • Center for Resource Solutions' Green-e standard • Environmental Resources Trust's EcoPower® Renewable Energy Certificate Standard

Emissions Attributes Markets: • Carbon trading schemes (ex: Chicago Climate Exchange) • Other emissions trading markets (NOx, SOx, VOCs, PM…)

State Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) Laws:

State Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) Laws: • Most states that have an RPS which also have trash incinerators, include those incinerator in their RPS laws – Exceptions: NY, NH, WA, OR and 2 of 3 MSW incins in CA • RPS credit trading – regional (not limited to impacting the states where the laws are) – mostly just supporting existing incinerators, not "new" ones – dispute over whether incinerator owners are initial owners of credits or whether the power purchasers are • power purchaser: CT, CO, ME, MN, ND, NJ, NM, NV, TX, WI and maybe CA • incinerator owner (but only if it's a new contract): CO, NV, OR, RI, TX, UT and maybe AZ; PA now allows it for old contracts, too

Federal Policies: • Energy Policy Act of 2005 – Tax credit for plants/units starting up by 1/1/2008 (expanded from wind to poultry waste to landfill gas to MSW incinerators) – Renewable Fuel Standard (includes trash-to ethanol and other waste-based fuels) – Trash-to-ethanol (loan program) – “biomass” but not MSW: • Federal government electricity purchase requirement • Bioenergy program (research $$)

Upcoming Federal Legislation: • Energy and Farm Bills • Renewable Portfolio Standard – may include trash incinerators; already includes biomass and landfill gas • Production Tax Credit includes trash incineration, poultry waste incineration and landfill gas • Biomass, biofuels (ethanol and cellulosic ethanol) R&D • Renewable Fuels Standard would massively increase production mandates for ethanol and create a new one for cellulosic ethanol (waste-to-fuels) • Climate legislation (cap and trade models most likely to pass; technologies not likely to be specifically mentioned)

Energy Justice Network

Mike Ewall Founder & Director 215-743-4884