In an incredible recycling operation that reduces global warming, a waste hauler is building a facility to produce Liquefied Natural Gas from methane emitted from its California landfill to fuel its garbage trucks.
"Houston-based Waste Management Inc. and Linde North America, a German-based global natural gas producer, are working together to create what the two describe as the world's largest facility converting landfill gas to clean vehicle fuel." The Altamont landfill is outside Livermore in Alameda County, CA, and is scheduled to open next year.
"California's Air Resources Board and the state's Integrative Waste Management Board are among agencies that provided $1.6 million in grants to help fund the $15 million liquid natural gas plant."
"Waste Management already harnesses landfill gas to produce electricity at about 100 of its 280 landfills nationwide. This is the first time the company will convert landfill gas into liquid natural gas to power trucks, replacing the LNG that it trucks in from Arizona."
"Conventional natural gas is a fossil fuel, but natural gas derived from biomass, such as organic waste decomposing in landfills, is a renewable resource."
"Landfill gas – a mixture of half methane and half carbon dioxide – is collected, purified, compressed and supercooled to form liquid natural gas. Only methane is used to form the fuel. Some carbon dioxide is released into the air but under limits set by the state."
"The plant is expected to generate 13,000 gallons per day of the fuel, enough to power about 300 trucks. The company expects to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30,000 tons a year using biogas."
From Oakland Tribune:
"The project is a "very significant step toward helping meet (Gov. Arnold) Schwarzenegger's new low-carbon fuel standard," Linda Adams, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, said in a statement."
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