SWACO Using Landfill Gas to Fuel Vehicles

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Wednesday is Earth Day and you’ll be hearing a lot about conservation, greenhouse gases and global warming.

Franklin County is leading the nation with a new, renewable-energy technology.

Tons of trash arrive at the Franklin County landfill every day. As the organics decompose, they put off methane gas.

Most landfills just burn it off, but the Franklin County landfill captures it with dozens of wells, cleans it and uses it to fuel two sedans and four pick-up trucks.

In the next couple of years, SWACO and a company called “Firm Green” plan to build a commercial facility that could supply the entire region with compressed natural gas for vehicles.

Right now, SWACO is only using about 8 percent of what comes out of the wells but that still produces 250,000 gas gallon equivalents a year.  When they open up the whole thing, they could get 5 million to 7 million.

SWACO’s John Remy says, “If tomorrow the landfill were to close, we have approximately 20 to 50 years of gas.  And obviously the landfill has 25 years of life in it.  So we’ve got enough gas to go around.“

“You’re sitting on top of a reserve here,“ says Firm Green’s Tony Wong.  “It’s like a giant gas station.  We just need to tap it.“

In simple terms, the raw landfill gas is super-cooled so the impurities literally fall out of it then it’s ready for pipeline use.

“If you do the math on it, cost of system, construction, all in, you’re producing a gasoline gallon equivalent for about 70 cents a gallon,“ Wong says.  “Now, how would you like that for the next 30
years?“

The gas can also be used to run power generators that could take SWACO off the electrical grid.

The technology is new enough that people come from all over the country to see it.

And they claim it has a two- to three-year break-even point.

The new mass-refining facility is expected to be online in less than three years.

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