CNG News: 3rd August 2009

World’s largest plant of transformation of wastes into LNG

Before the end of 2009, the state of California will put into operation the first plant in the United States dedicated to the conversion of the landfill-generated methane gas in liquefied natural gas. The facility will be the largest in the world and it will use the resources of Altamont Landfill. Kenneth Lewis, director of Bay Area landfill operations, explained that the decaying organic materials in Altamont produce a lot of gas, so this “is a valuable resource” that the company expects to make it profitable. The project required an investment of U$S 15,5 millions and it has been carried out trough a joint venture formed by Waste Management and Linde North America, a subsidiary of the Linde Group, an international gas and engineering firm. The fuel produced by the plant will be used to power hundreds of refuse trucks in the state of California. To achieve this, the whole fleet will be convert o LNG gradually. The methane generated by the rotten garbage is collected underground in Altamont, which receives 7,000 tons of waste per day from the counties of Alameda and San Francisco. To convert them into fuel there are necessary processes of filtering and cooling. Then, the fuel is depurated and then cooled down to reach 275ºc degrees. GET Worldwide: CNG Reciprocating Compressor - Low Maintenance