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bioweb.sungrant.org » Technical » Biomass Resources » Urban Biomass Resources » Landfill Gas

Landfill Gas	Printer Friendly

Landfill gas is the by-product of the decomposition of solid wastes in landfills. It is composed primarily of carbon dioxide and methane.  Landfill gas can be recovered and used to produce energy. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that as of December, 2005 there were 395 operational landfill energy projects in the U.S. Two-thirds of these facilities generated electricity for use onsite or for sale to the electrical grid (EPA, 2007). The U.S. Department of Energy reports that in 2003, landfill gas provided 147 trillion Btu of energy (DOE, 2005). The EPA (2006) estimates that an additional 600 landfills are considered good candidates for landfill gas projects. To be considered a good candidate, the landfill must have the potential to annually produce 17 million metric tons carbon equivalent gas (at least 725 million cubic feet of gas per day, or about 15,000 MMBtu/hr).

References
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2007), Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP), http://www.epa.gov/lmop/ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, April 2006, An Overview of Landfill Gas Energy in the United States, http://epa.gov/Imop/overview.htm U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, Landfill Gas, August 2005, http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/landfillgas.html