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Join SCS Engineers at the 25th Annual Energy, Utility & Environment Conference (EUEC), October 5-7, 2022, in Tucson, Arizona.
EUEC offers 10 tracks with over 300 speakers on everything from Renewable Energy to Utility Regulations to CO2 Emissions and Wastewater. Several SCS Engineers professionals are speaking at the conference, including:
Pat’s Abstract: Landfill gas to energy projects can have some unique air permitting issues that complicate efforts to obtain permits and to keep permitting and pollution control costs affordable. These issues include assessing best available control technology (BACT)/lowest achievable emission rate (LAER), finding cost effective control options that meet BACT/LAER, managing impurities in the gas that can impact emissions and controls, gas treatment technologies necessary to remove contaminants in the gas or to create renewable natural gas (RNG), avoiding or reducing costs for emission reduction credits (ERCs), and determining whether third party plants are under common control with the landfill. The presentation will cover the following energy recovery technologies: reciprocating engines, gas turbines, microturbines, boilers, and treatment plants that create renewable natural gas (RNG). Several case studies of recent projects will be included to illustrate the key themes.
Jeff’s Abstract: Landfill gas and digester gas are currently widely used in the United States to produce renewable power; however, solar and wind have generally become more cost-effective sources of renewable power. The value of biogas as a source of renewable power has receded. Credits under the Federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS 2) Program and the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) Program now combine to create a market value for renewable natural gas (RNG) exceeding $30/MMBtu. RNG’s link to these programs is that RNG is dedicated for vehicle fuel use in the form of compressed natural gas (CNG). Large to moderately sized biogas power plants are now being shut down, and RNG plants are being constructed, using the freed-up biogas. The payback on the RNG plants is generally less than two years. The presentation will address: 1) An overview of the workings of the RFS 2 and LCFS programs – explaining how the credits are monetized, and reviewing the historic and possible future trend of RNG prices; 2) An overview of the technologies used to convert biogas to RNG – a natural gas equivalent. The RNG can then be injected into natural gas pipelines for transport to CNG users; 3) The pipeline interconnection process and governing pipeline quality standards will be briefly discussed; and 4) Construction cost, operation/maintenance cost and performance of a typical RNG plant will be presented.
Alex’s Abstract: LFG generation and recovery forecasting is critical for evaluating suitable RNG project sizes and potential revenues. Yet the forecasts struggle to overcome large uncertainties arising from limitations that will be discussed in this paper, including: the lack of measurements of methane generation or moisture conditions in the landfill impacting generation, limited data on the types of wastes disposed, reliance by the LFG industry on regulatory LFG emissions models without knowledge of how to adjust them for site-specific conditions, and the inability of the models to account for expected changes in waste composition as organics diversion programs expand.
Kacey’s Abstract: To protect underground sources of drinking water, it is essential to develop effective testing and monitoring plans for carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. The regulatory framework and practice for CCS are similar to Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and Coal Combustion Residual (CCR) disposal sites; however, the risk and related cost implications of monitoring network errors in CCS projects are significantly higher. In this talk, we discuss key considerations for developing testing and monitoring plans for CCS projects based on our understanding of MSW and CCR regulatory frameworks and in the context of lessons learned from those mature monitoring programs.
Charles’s Abstract: A number of generalized tools and concepts exist to assess the capacity for carbon dioxide storage on a regional scale. An issue for assessing carbon dioxide storage capacity for local point-source emitters is gathering enough data from readily available sources to determine the potential for carbon sequestration on a local scale, particularly in geologic settings that are not thought of as traditional; e.g., depleted oil fields or coal beds. In this talk we examine some methods for assessing carbon sequestration capacity at local scales and in non-traditional terrains, and consider the impacts of characterization uncertainty on project financials. 1) What are ancillary CO2 project factors that increase risk and can have adverse financial impacts? 2) What tools do you need to avoid these factors? 3) What locations and geologic terrains are going to be most favorable for local sequestration and what type of conditions should be avoided?
The EUEC conference includes over 100 Exhibitors and plenty of networking opportunities.
Click here for more details and registration information. Hope to see you there!
