Considering Methane as a Renewable Fuel

August 25th, 2011 by Glenn Meyers

A landfill V-16 engine runs on methane in order to generate electricity.

Methane is a naturally formed fuel, and if left untended, an explosive substance or a dangerous greenhouse gas.

Methane, or CH4, is a substance that comes free of charge in anything ranging from cow farts to landfills and compost piles. In days not that far ago, landfills and dumps used to burn off methane to prevent the hazard of explosions if too much of the gas gathered near an open flame.

In a number of today’s contemporary landfills, the methane that is formed from anaerobic (without air) decomposition, elaborate piping systems are laid where organic trash decomposes to feed engines which in turn can generate electricity.

At the Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site (DADS) in Denver, a series of enormous V-16 engines run on the methane gas that’s been collected. In turn, these engines power a turbine that generates enough electricity to power a few thousand homes.

Waste Management runs DADS in a long-term agreement with the city of Denver. The electricity that has been generated is sent to Xcel Energy, which in turn sends electricity to homes.

Because Denver is a very arid steppe climate, the anaerobic process that creates the methane is not as productive as landfills that exist in moister climates.

A good number of landfills still don’t collect the methane as an alternative fuel that can be put to good use; they simply burn it off. While this is good news from both safety and climate perspectives, it will be even better news when the methane is gathered as a renewable fuel to meet a variety of energy demands.

Photos: Author

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Tags: CH4, cow farts, DADS, denver, landfills that generate electricity from methane, Methane, sustainable energy sources, V-16 engine, waste management, xcel energy

About the Author

Glenn Meyers is a writer, producer, and director. Meyers was editor and site director of Green Building Elements, a contributing writer for CleanTechnica, and is founder of Green Streets MediaTrain, a communications connection and eLearning hub. As an independent producer, he's been involved in the development, production and distribution of television and distance learning programs for both the education industry and corporate sector. He also is an avid gardener and loves sustainable innovation.

Asteroid Miner

“these engines power a turbine” Really?
A turbine is an engine. You mean “these engines power” generators.
Uncle B

Anaearobic digestion of humanure, and other animal manures yields methane, and top soil building fertilizers from the sludge. For reasons only an American can explain, this suject is so distasteful to them they have managed to completely ignore it. Fact is: Oslo, Norway, fuels its city buses with this type methane, and saves considerable, considering the higher prices for imported foreign oil. Sweden does similar, and actually manufactures the buses, with diesel engines fully adapted to methane. A farmer in Ontario ran a Volvo motor car sucessfully for years on methane from the manure on his farm! Yes! it is so possible, cheaper, cleaner, and relatively easy to do, yet, Yankee Doodle insists on his beloved gasoline? CNG, compressed natural gas works too! Is cheaper! Is domestic! When will we learn? When Chinese and Asian demand for gasoline drives the price out of our reach? Probably.
- Anonymous
  
  Thanks for the extra info. Read some of it elsewhere before, but some of it was new too.
  
  Totally agree — great option.