There are more landfill gas (LFG) wellfields supporting energy recovery projects than ever before. As landfills capture methane, using it as a by-product to create energy or Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) makes environmental and economic sense. Recently, economics have even favored replacing older LFG turbine and reciprocating engine plants with new renewable natural gas (RNG) plants. The technology is proven and scalable.
Return on Investment
Landfill owners and LFG-to-energy developers invest in gas extraction and control systems for several reasons, from collecting LFG to prevent odors and landfill gas migration, for compliance with federal, state, and local regulations, and because this desirable fuel supply can result in profits, royalty payments, or tax credits along with a lower environmental footprint.
The most variable factor affecting the return on investment is the reliability of the fuel supply. Success depends on a sustained landfill gas flow at a desirable quality at or near the feasible maximum flow rate.
Balancing the Wellfield
Suppose an energy facility runs at less than its planned capacity. In that case, the wellfield may have physical deficiencies, or the wellfield personnel managing the fuel supply for the site may not have the best approach for maximizing the LFG production from that wellfield. SCS Engineers or SCS Field Services professionals regularly assess wellfields and make recommendations for improvements. Recommendations may include physical changes, such as redrilling wells, adding more wells, improving landfill cover, replacing poorly designed condensate management system components, dewatering LFG extraction wells, upsizing header piping, and upgrading flow measurement components. Other recommendations may involve operational changes, such as providing a modified tuning strategy based on wellfield data.
Data-Driven Wellfields Perform Better
Data-driven project teams use real-time monitoring and advanced analytics to optimize landfill gas (LFG) collection and enhance operational efficiencies. Using advanced analytical tools, wellfield operators respond proactively to performance issues, improve methane capture rates, and maximize LFG energy projects’ financial and environmental returns.
Operators on over 900 landfills in the U.S. and Canada use SCSeTools®, a secure digital platform of tools specifically designed for collecting and managing LFG wellfield data. The platform has multiple tools for operators and wellfield personnel to continually assess, troubleshoot, and balance their wellfields to optimize LFG flow and quality.
The SCSeTools® Platform
The most popular tools in the toolbox are SCS MobileTools® and SCS DataServices®. The SCSeTools platform offers mapping, charting, and reporting features to help operators review and identify issues or targeted information to make informed decisions on wellfield operations and create actionable punch lists to improve the flow and quality of LFG extracted from each wellhead or LFG extraction device.
Customizable to each facility, landfill, or entity, we recommend checking these basics to find and make significant improvements at the click of a mouse:
SCSeTools provides valuable and accurate data and analyses to landfill gas developers, private and municipal landfills, LFG-to-Energy and RNG developers, and clients with large or small multiple-site portfolios or a single site. Operators find multi-value with the tools that address challenges and assist you in reaching operational goals while enhancing the safety and efficiency of landfill gas (LFG) management.
Suppose you have already invested or are considering investing in an RNG or LFG-to-Energy project. In that case, we strongly suggest you investigate managing your fuel supply for the best return.
About the Author: Ken Brynda is an SCS Field Services OM&M Quality Advisor and our national expert on SCSeTools Business Development. Ken’s expertise includes designing, constructing, operating, maintaining, troubleshooting, and assessing landfill gas collection and control systems and LFG-to-energy production facilities. Mr. Brynda is an active supporting team member on several of SCS’s largest and most complex landfill gas OM&M projects nationwide, serving clients for over 3 decades. He is also an active and proud member of SWANA’s Landfill Gas and Biogas Technical Division.
Protect Our Environment and Controlling Climate Change
The ISWA World Congress attracted 1,200 participants this year despite the pandemic and received major coverage in the news while heating up social media channels. The Business Times Singapore published an 8-page supplement and a feature article about James Law and his views as Chair of the ISWA Landfill Group on what we, as individuals and communities, can do to protect our environment.
Featured speakers included Alex Stege and his Solid Waste Emissions Estimation Tool (SWEET) used in a project in Tyre Caza, Lebanon. SWEET allows solid waste planners to compare emissions from implementing different programs and quantify the effectiveness of available waste management options in reducing emissions of GHGs and air pollutants.
Alex presented during the Waste Management In An Era Of New Energy track. His discussion covered Evaluating the Energy Potential of 16 Landfill Gas to Energy Projects in China to be financed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC). There are 24 landfill gas-to-energy projects in China, including ten sites already under operation. In 2021, IFC hired SCS Engineers to evaluate the NCWI estimates and prepare a report providing independent LFG generation and recovery projections for the 16 landfills. The project developer (NCWI) provided IFC with waste data and LFG generation and recovery projections for 16 of their project site landfills from the report indicating a sufficient supply of recoverable LFG to support their planned facility capacities.
SCS Engineers was asked to comment to the NWRA and SWANA industry groups in their October 6 letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on the proposed new EPA rule changes for GHG reporting. SCS’s deep expertise and knowledge of GHG monitoring and reporting, especially GHG rule k values, help inform the revisions and determinations for data elements under the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule. Ref. Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2019-0424.
It is wonderful to see ISWA and SWANA in leadership roles to help us meet a global challenge!
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