Converting landfill gas to vehicle fuel: The results of over 30 months of operation

Conference · Fri Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1996

OSTI ID:381462

Wheless, E; Cosulich, J; Wang, A

The Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County (Districts) have successfully converted landfill gas to vehicle fuel for over 30 months with the Clean Fuels facility (Clean Fuels). The station has a design capacity equivalent to 1,000 gallons of gasoline per day. The Districts utilize the compressed landfill gas (CLG) produced at the station to run a fleet of 13 vehicles, ranging from passenger vans to large on-road tractors. This paper presents information on the operation, maintenance, theory, and economics of converting landfill gas to vehicle fuel. The compressed natural gas (CNG) industry is expanding rapidly. The US Department of Energy projects the number of natural gas vehicles (NGVs) to grow from 66,000 in 1995 to 85,000 in 1996. A variety of CNG-powered refuse collection vehicles are now available from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Many industry pundits predict that refuse trucks will be the next major vehicle group after transit buses to convert to CNG. CNG provides the benefit of lower emissions than diesel and gasoline, with typical fuel costs of only 70 to 80 percent of the price of gasoline at retail pumps. The primary economic advantage of CNG over conventional fuels is its tax rate, which can be lower by about $0.30 per gallon of diesel equivalent. The CNG market may offer the landfill gas industry the same opportunity the electrical generation market offered in the 1980s. The Clean Fuels facility is located within the Districts` Puente Hills Landfill complex. Puente Hills is a very large landfill with over 70 million tons of refuse in place. The current fill rate is approximately 10,000 tons per day. The landfill gas flow rate is approximately 27,000 standard cubic feet per minute (scfm) at 42 percent methane.

• OSTI ID: 381462
• Report Number(s): CONF-9603165--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AUTOMOTIVE FUELS
ENERGY RECOVERY
LOS ANGELES
MUNICIPAL WASTES
PRODUCTION
SANITARY LANDFILLS
VAPORS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PRODUCT UTILIZATION