Using Landfill Gas in South Africa: An Example for India?
The Importance of Landfill Gas Use
It is now almost universally accepted that civilisation must reduce carbon dioxide emissions to minimise the anticipated damage which continued uncontrolled climate change would cause.
One of the best ways by which we can start to reduce carbon emissions is by using landfill gas.
If landfill gas is not used it will emerge largely as methane, and not only will this valuable energy resource be lost as it (being lighter than air) rises into the upper atmosphere, it will cause a disproportionately large climate change effect.
On the other hand, using landfill gas, by integrating renewable energy technologies with current best practice in landfill capping and gas extraction can be a powerful tool in combating climate change and achieving carbon-based emission reductions.
The energy supplied is available to develop the local economy, revenue is available from the energy supply, odours and other unhealthy gases are destroyed by the process, and technology transfer occurs quite naturally into the community through training provided to local staff and businesses while installing and operating these systems.
In particular, the extraction and utilisation of landfill gas is now a reliable and a mature technology and is practiced commercially throughout much of the developed world, because it is now usually profitable to invest in landfill gas power generation equipment once the capping and extraction of the gas becomes a regulatory requirement which is enforced by the local environmental regulatory authority.
In fact in many developed countries energy prices are now at such a high level, and financial incentives on offer to “green” energy suppliers, are so beneficial, that using the landfill gas by the operation of a landfill gas generator, usually a landfill gas engine, can be very profitable.
However, as we suggested earlier, landfill gas utilisation doesn't just offer a viable green power source. If we do not use the gas in this way the methane otherwise emitted would be a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. This is due to the fact that the aim of reducing emissions to the atmosphere (carbon emissions) is to minimise global warming by the "greenhouse effect". Methane in the atmosphere traps more heat from the sun than for example carbon dioxide; heat which if it was not present would be reflected back into space. In fact scientists have assessed methane in the atmosphere to be 21 times more damaging than carbon dioxide.
By using (burning/flaring) the landfill gas this only produces valuable energy, but also the methane molecules are converted to carbon dioxide, which as stated earlier, produces much less greenhouse warming than the equivalent amount of methane.
Landfill Gas Use in South Africa
In South Africa there are plentiful energy supplies from coal, and electricity prices are much lower than in many developed nations. Transportation fuel costs are also somewhat lower than throughout much of the world, and much lower than in Europe.
Due to these lower prices, it is more difficult, to make a profit from landfill gas utilisation in South Africa than in many countries, but it is nevertheless just as important that, for example, South African landfill gas is not allowed to simply escape to the atmosphere, as it is elsewhere. Thankfully, this is where the funding on offer from the developed nations which have signed the Kyoto Agreement can come to the rescue.
In South Africa currently the revenue from landfill gas electricity generation is not adequate to pay for all the capital investment and running costs. However, "carbon finance' which is available in South Africa through the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is just sufficient at current carbon emissions reduction (CER) trading prices, to allow this project to be self financing and redeem a small profit in the long term even in the, probably very unlikely, event that energy prices do not rise further in RSA.
How Much "Green" Energy Could be Generated from Landfill Gas in RSA?
The South African Department of Minerals and Energy iDMES has estimated, in recent research surveys, that at least six percent (some 100 megawatts) of the country's renewable energy target) could be derived from the nation’s landfill gas resources.
This is not large in terms of RSA's total energy use, but it is
a significant resource which would raise total green electricity production in RSA significantly.
Leading Landfill Gas Use in the eThekwini Municipality
One such landfill gas utilisation scheme has been completed using CDM funding in South Africa.
A landfill gas utilisation project has been completed at eThekwini’s Mariannhill Landfill which was officially opened in March 2007, and it clearly demonstrates the benefits of green energy to the local community. It was the first in Africa to receive official accreditation and will with its larger successor project become by far the largest African landfill gas utilisation scheme.
The two stages (comprising Components 1 & 2), when both are in operation next year, are planned to realise in excess of 3.8 million tonnes of carbon emission reduction equivalents (CO2e), during their lifetime; and this project therefore stands to become the world's largest clean development mechanism (CDM) project to date.
Download the pdf file and find out more here. (You will need the free Acrobat reader to view this file. Get it here.)
Many similar projects can be created in India once the new “Waste 2000 Rules” landfills are built and waste is being placed in them.
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