Take a look at the EPA’s Web site and you’ll discover that, at 34%, municipal solid waste landfills represent the largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States.

Landfill gas (LFG) is generated when solid waste decomposes in a landfill. With a composition of 50% methane and roughly 50% CO₂, much of our LFG either escapes into the atmosphere, where it is a contributor to both smog and global climate change, or is simply burned off by “flaring.” But many landfills are capturing and converting LFG for use as an energy source, and it’s one of our least expensive and most readily available non-fossil fuels.

Johnson City, TN, has had the foresight to make use of its LFG from the Iris Glenn Landfill, right in the heart of the urban center. This landfill gas project will supply slightly less than pipeline-quality gas to a number of industrial customers within Johnson City, chiefly the Veteran Administration’s Hospital.

The landfill began operation in 1994. Today it has over 3 million tons of waste in place and is permitted to accept some 7 million tons of landfill waste. Though the landfill does contain some construction and demolition waste, it’s mostly municipal wastes from residents of Johnson City and other areas of Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina. The landfill is operated under a contract with Waste Management Inc.

Energy Systems Group (ESG), of Newburgh, IN, was selected to handle the landfill methane gas project through a request for proposal process to secure the gas rights for the site. They were awarded the gas rights agreement in April 2005. Under the agreement, ESG will design, build, own, and operate the processing system that will be cleaning the gas and designing and building a pipeline system to transport the gas from the landfill to industrial end users in the Johnson City community.

The facility will also improve the local community air quality by reducing CO2 emissions.

During the early 1990s, while Johnson City sited a regional landfill facility within the city, they ended up with an operating agreement with Waste Management. As part of that contract they reserved the rights to the gas, knowing at that time that it would take eight years or more to generate enough gas to make such a gas-energy project feasible.

About two years ago the city started the process by asking for requests for proposals from firms across the country. Four companies bid on the project. Johnson City settled on ESG for its expertise and competence in delivering a product, its relationship with an end-user who would utilize the bulk of the gas from the first day, and because of the royalty stream that would be generated by the project to the city, according to Phil Pindzola, public works director since 1978. “Their proposal and especially their proposed royalty fees back to our city were excellent,” says Pindzola.

“ESG was up against another company that offered traditional royalty rates. But we were particularly excited about their membrane technology to improve the gas to near pipeline quality, thereby allowing seamless interchangeability (between LFG and pipeline gas) at the end-user’s boilers.”

The landfill has a life of about 27 years. It is in its 13th year now. It receives approximately 1,350 tons of waste material per day: close to 350,000 tons per year. Pindzola sited the landfill and worked out the arrangements with Waste Management, making sure the gas rights remained with the city. That wasn’t a hard sell at the time, because gas prices and TVA electric rates were fairly low.

Johnson City will receive a royalty payment from ESG for each Btu that is captured and delivered out of the facility. “It’s a somewhat complicated formula,” Norm Campbell, Energy System Group’s marketing director. “But basically we pay Johnson City a yearly fee based on the flow of gas. That gas then goes to our nearby Mountain Home Energy Center before going to the customers. Therefore, there is a great benefit to everyone involved. This gets us off the roller-coaster of the commodity price,” says Campbell.

LFG is capable of replacing existing fossil fuels consumed by many industrial users.

This project is known in the industry as a direct-use landfill gas project. “There are quite a few of these operating in the company right now,” says Dennis Bollinger, director of clean fuel projects with Energy Systems Group. “These projects run small greenhouse operations, engine gensets that make electricity, and large industrial boilers. It’s a relatively simple technology. We look at it as the lower cost of all the technologies that you can use to do something with landfill gas.”

Typically in this type of project there is electric generation in which the capital costs go up because the technology becomes more complex. “But finally you have people who will actually take the landfill gas and make it pipeline quality, injecting it into the pipelines,” says Bollinger. “This is the basic type of project that you could use landfill gas for.”

But ESG’s project is different in that it is actually going to clean the gas to a higher quality than one might expect to find from a typical, medium-BTU landfill gas project using existing technology, according to Bollinger

“Many landfill projects produce a gas that’s about 500 BTUs per foot,” say Bollinger. “This gas will be between 800 to 900 BTUs per foot, due to the extra cleaning of the gas.”

Energy System Group will send the gas through a membrane to remove the CO₂ in the gas as well as some of the other unused constituents. This will help improve the quality of the methane remaining. The membrane system, an Air Medal System, is manufactured by Air Liquide, a worldwide company that services the gas needs of industry and medicine.

But even after filtering, the gas will still not be of pipeline quality; therefore, ESG plans to build a dedicated pipeline to end-use customers. The gas will be odorized in order to meet safety regulations, as is the case with all natural gas. Methane is odorless. If there is ever a leak somewhere, it must be able to be recognized.

Pipeline installation is the most involved phase of the project.

Another process will also be performed to remove all the sulfur in the gas. Once the gas is processed at the landfill to remove unwanted constituents, it will then be injected into a pipeline to be built by ESG. The pipeline will be regulated by the State of Tennessee.

“This is somewhat unusual, as landfill gas is not a regulated commodity in Tennessee,” says Bollinger, “but because we intend to end up with multiple customers for this gas, our pipeline was required to be regulated by the Tennessee Regulatory Authority. We have to go through all the processes and hearings that another large local pipeline operator would have to go through in the state.”

As a regulated pipeline operator, ESG has had to acquire multiple rights-of-way. It has successfully acquired rights-of-way from the Tennessee Department of Transportation, Norfolk Southern Railroad, and the city of Johnson City in order help in the smooth installation of the pipeline system.

From a benefits standpoint, this is a gas that is capable of replacing the existing fossil fuels that are being consumed by these industrial customers. “It is a long-term supply source,” says Bollinger. “It could be in operation for 20 plus years. What we hope will happen is that the existing landfill will secure an expansion and we will then have a continuous supply. Even after the landfill is closed and it has seven million tons of trash in place there is still a regulatory obligation to collect that gas for up to 30 years,” says Bollinger.

The gas will begin to decline after the landfill is closed. “But we will still have a large volume of gas available for many years,” says Bollinger. “Another benefit is the fact that it’s located within such close proximity to the city; therefore, both transportation costs and potential interruptions have been largely eliminated. Here we have a local fuel source supplying local industries. You’ve eliminated a potential source of disruption by having the gas available locally.”

This is also a new source of revenue for the city. Previously the gas was flared to prevent it from going into the atmosphere. Now it will generate revenue for Johnson City residents. Bollinger suggests that there are perhaps more than 400 landfill gas projects presently operating within the United States. Using this gas shows environmental responsibility, as methane is a very potent gas in contributing to greenhouse warming.

Applying an innovative membrane filtration system, ESG believes they will be able to process as much gas energy as would be used in more than 5,000 local homes. This facility also significantly improves the local community air quality by reducing the carbon dioxide—greenhouse gas—emissions by the equivalent of removing more than 3,700 cars from the roads or planting more than 4,400 acres of trees.

Construction is expected to begin during the first week in May 2006. Energy Systems Group is hoping to have the project in full operation by the fourth quarter of this year.

The processing equipment recently arrived on a 35-foot skid, including compressors to be located at the landfill, and a couple of other compressors will have to be added to it in a control area involving a 10,000-square-foot pad.

Waste Management has been under contract to build and operate the well field and the flare system. The gas is captured through an existing gas-collecting and control system already operating on the landfill, and wells have been installed throughout the waste mass. In addition to that, a compressor or blower actually pulls the gas out of the landfill to the existing flare where, until now, the gas has been burned.

ESG will divert the gas from the flare to their facility and process it. “It is basically a matter of making a pipe connection to the existing flare skid and then diverting the gas to our processing facility,” says Bollinger.

Pipeline installation is the longest and most involved phase of construction on the project. The pipeline will be slightly over four miles in length. “Eventually we hope to have three to four industrial customers using this gas,” says Bollinger. “As the trash is placed in the landfill, the volume of gas is expected to increase. As the volume of gas increases to a point where we can satisfy our existing customers, we will then look for additional customers to take the additional gases being generated, sort of in a ‘stair-step’ process.”

The infrastructure has already been sized to meet what is expected to be the maximum flow rates. “The landfill has another 15-20 years of permitted life—depending on how quickly the trash comes in,” says Bollinger. “But again we are hoping for an expansion to extend the life of this landfill as well as this project.”

Moving ahead during the heart of construction season has challenged ESG, as has the fact that the pipeline will traverse the heart of Johnson City. Construction managers hope to cause as little inference with the activities of the community as possible.

“Johnson City itself has been an excellent partner to work with in helping us obtain the necessary routes we’re going to need,” says Bollinger. “They’ve also worked with us to be sure we won’t be interfering with existing utilities. But there are always little things that can pop up to cause you to change a route or do some repairs. There may be a number of old abandoned pipes and cables that may also be mismarked which we will have to deal with as they come up.”

“We are issuing the permit for ESG to run about a four-and-a-half-mile pipeline right through town,” says Pindzola. “They’ll use alleys and some roadways. The routing scheme has already taken place; in fact, the pipe has already been delivered. It is up to ESG to discover where various cable and utility lines are located.”

Pindzola says energy prices have never been an issue in the push to realize the goal of deriving energy from the landfill. Instead, the original main hurdle in siting the landfill was its location in the urban center of Johnson City. “It’s located on an old shale strip mine once owned by the brick maker, General Shale, a half mile from city hall,” says Pindzola. “The two main issues we’ve faced have included the problem of what to do with the excavated shale material from where the landfill was being built, and odor. Waste Management has come in and installed additional wells to deal with odors.

“The landfill site seems to be appropriately located in an urban area is where you have all potable water supplies already in place and is an excellent reuse of an industrial strip mine. Groundwater contamination is a non-issue with state-of-the-art liner systems, leachate collection systems, and the fact that this one is located on top of a shale bed. But this still remained a contentious issue for us.”

The landfill rests on 800 feet of shale. “If it ever leaks—even though it has a triple liner system in place—it will simply drain out of a bottom drainage system through gravity. The chances of a leak into the groundwater—between those liners, the deep shale layer and a leachate collection system in place—are virtually impossible. It’s a very safe landfill, well-operated by Waste Management.”

Even though the landfill is in the heart of downtown Johnson City, it is difficult to see. The location between ridges contributes to that fact. The landfill is designed to eventually reach treetop level to match the existing hillsides.

“You can see one side of it; but that’s about it,” says Pindzola. “You can’t hear the backing up of vehicles. In some states some of the highest points for miles around are the landfills. With ours that’s not the case.”

The primary end-user of the natural gas will be the Veterans Administration. The VA was looking for reliable energy. When the landfill proposal came up, everything simply worked. “I’ve always thought that VAs were important not just as hospitals but for homeland security. In this particular application, they become energy independent of the nationwide energy grid system,” says Pindzola. “In the event that the electrical grid system went out, such as the one that hit the Northeast US last year, or if something happens to the gas pipeline system, such as what happened with Katrina, they become self-sufficient from an energy standpoint and remain in operation. Obviously, that in itself is a worthwhile goal on their part.”

The next user of this LFG located on the VA campus include the VA hospital, residence halls, the East Tennessee State University Medical School, and ETSU’s new pharmacy school. ETSU occupies approximately 30% of the VA campus.

Next door to the VA is the Johnson City Medical Center, a 420-bed primary care facility. “This center has a boiler system, too, and they are interested in using the landfill natural gas as well,” says Pindzola. “We plan on bringing that gas to them once the VA can no longer use all of the gas.”

If the landfill is expanded or it generates even more, then there is a possibility of two other users. The first is located directly along the pipeline route: General Shale, the brick manufacturer, which will use the gas to fuel its kilns. The other is ETSU’s main campus—right across the street from the VA. All three of the institutions are located sided by side. General Shale borders the landfill itself.

The groundbreaking for the project took place on April 6. Pindzola is hopeful that operations will be up and running by the end of the summer. Part of the conversion system for cleaning up the gas to make it nearly commercial quality is already onsite.

“We’ve expressed to the community that this is one way to begin addressing some of the concerns with the environment,” says Pindzola. “And the community is very interested in environmental issues. We have one of the most highly rated water and sewer systems in the country. Each year it wins national awards. We cover some 300 square miles, including both the county and some of the surrounding counties.

“I expect that once our landfill gas pipeline is up and running or there is publicity on it we’ll be getting calls from around the country to get further details on the structure of the project. The hardest part has been the process. It took awhile. You really have to learn about all the different technologies and then move ahead with it: do the deal. We had to make sure we structured everything right so that it is a win-win-win deal among the city, ESG, and the end-user.”

Mountain Home, the early name for the veterans center, came about in the wake of the Civil War with an idea that Abraham Lincoln had for setting up residence homes for amputee Union veterans—formerly farmers—with no place to go to work. Here, they could develop skills in a communal setting. Over time the program included Confederate veterans as well. The campus originally contained agricultural plots and was located only one mile from the center of town by the time it was built for nearly $750,000 in the 1890s.

The VA now employs approximately 2,000 people at its Tennessee facility. By using its LFG, Johnson City has ensured that its role as both a VA provider and an environmental steward for the state continues as well. Previously the methane gas from the landfill was wasted; now the waste gas will be used for making steam, electricity, and chilled water. “I don’t generally like to label something as a ‘no-brainer,’ especially in this case, because things were fairly complicated,” says Norm Campbell, ESG’s marketing director. “That label does the project a disservice. But it’s not hard to see all the benefits that have accrued. The community wins, the VA wins, the city wins and the environment definitely wins in this.”

PETER HILDEBRANDT is a writer specializing in science and engineering topics.

DE - September/October 2006