LFG a new fuel technology

I was working with a company as a Mechanical Engineer, what I am actually. In that Company, I got the opportunity to learn about LFG, a new kind of technology to solve pollution problems and this technology can help us to earn more CARBON CREDITS as per the KYOTO Protocol, even we can reduce our Garbage, as this technology is related with Garbage Decomposition.

So, here I will explain this technology step by step, also I will share with you about its benefits and cost of initial investments required.

First of all I would like to share the idea behind this technology with my experience.

Most of the developing nations like India are facing a big problem with the Garbage of their respective big cities. Initially, there was no system and these countries followed the principle of throwing the Garbage at a specified Area govern by the Garbage Decomposition Departments in their Municipality. Later on, it was found or we can say, observed that if these Garbage is bio-degradable, then while Bacterial Decomposition Process the valuable Methane based gas releases in the absence of pure air and we were wasting that, not only this Methane is around 8 to 10 times more Green House Gas than Carbon Dioxide. This, Gas was further named as LFG, i.e. Landfill Gas.

So, it was all history, now is the time to utilize this Energy, So the technology is.....

1. Cover the complete Garbage Dumped Area with Neoprene or EPDM after the full dumping in that Area, and make some Piping arrangement so that we can Suck that Gas through them with the help of Blowers.
2. The Piping Arrangement or Design should be in such a way so that we can achieve a continuous supply of Gas to the Blowers without any leakage. Also, the Piping Arrangement will end at a central point to the Collection and Gas Processing System.
3. In the Gas Processing System firstly we will clean the Gas and then we will make it suitable for Power Generation. Here, we will allow the Gas to pass through the Mesh Filters to avoid Suspensions, and then through Liquid for complete washing of Gas.Then we will allow the Gas to pass through Flowmeters to calculate the amount of the Gas in the System for Complete Autromation. Then, we will Scrub the Gas to remove Hydrogen Sulphide, NOX and SOX contents in the Gas. After this, a series of Heat Exchangers (depending upon the Gas Flow) will dry the Gas and it will make its temperature appropriate for the combustion inside the Generator's Engine.
4. To make its flow towards the Generator, we will provide Blowers in the line of the Gas. Actually, the Blower is driving the Flow of the Gas in the whole System, by creating Negative Pressure upto the Heat Exchanger and Positive Pressure till the end of its Flow (As per the Circuit Explained). We can add one more Blower to make it as One Working - One Standby System.
5. After the Blower the Gas will flow towards the Gas Engines (Numbers depending upon the Gas Quantity/Requirement/Engine Size), and we can Generate Power from the System. This Power is more than enough to run itself and selling.
6. One more Flare System is required at its another end. This is for the safety of the whole System also this will ensure that No amount of Methane we are expelling into the Atmosphere. About this Flare System Technology, I will explain it in my next Blogs.

All this explained Circuit is controlled by a PLC based Control Panel, making it as fully Automatic with some added Motorised Valves (MOV), Sensors, etc.

All this was the Technology in brief, Now I will share some benefits from this Technology.

1. First of all, it is helping us to reduce the Air Pollution, which was earlier through the Methane based Gases as well as through the Smell of the Garbage.
2. The Power Generated is very clean and the Wastes like Hydrogen Sulphide can also be a way of earning money to sell these types of remaining chemicals to Chemical Companies.
3. As the whole Area is now covered we can make it as a Park by adding a layer of soil over the EPDM cover, which will make a new Green Space in the City.
4. The Calculated Carbon Credits is the major part in the process as it will generate money by selling.

It is for sure that there are lot other benefits in this Technology. But, we will now move to its Investment Part.

The Initial investment is not very costly if you have your Waste Land. I am an Engineer and I am not related with the Costing Part, So I am quite not sure about it. But, as far as I know the Investment Cost is very Low, compared to other technologies.

My be I have missed something to explain, So kindly, add some comments.