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Recirculation to Energy
As early as 1997, the County started looking at
other options for leachate management. That year the
County submitted an application to the Minnesota
Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) for a leachate
recirculation pilot project. At that time, leachate
recirculation was not allowed by the MPCA as part
of normal landfill operations and could only be
performed under the pilot project status. During the
first phase of the pilot project, the landfill outlined six
goals, including accelerated settlement (maximizing
airspace) and accelerated waste stabilization, and
identified several potential issues, including odor
control and increased LFG generation.
In 1997, the MPCA approved the application,
and by April 1998, the County began recirculating
leachate. Almost immediately, leachate hauling for
offsite disposal ceased, and the County had the ability
and capacity to manage all of its leachate onsite.
Accelerated LFG generation became evident
over the next few years, so in 2001 the countys
engineering consultant, R.W. Beck (Seattle, WA), an
SAIC company, performed a simple test to measure
flow coming from the landfills leachate collection
system cleanout risers and other venting risers. A basic
anemometer and the landfills four-gas handheld meter
were used to measure gas flow and LFG composition
coming from several of the vents. This test showed
an increased pressure buildup in the landfill forcing
gas out of the cleanout risers and passive gas vents. It
also revealed the LFG was approximately 55 percent
methane. This simple test sparked the idea for the
second phaseRecirculation-to-Energy (RTE).
RTE would allow the County to recirculate leachate in all cells of the landfill
without the use of a control cell and was approved by the MPCA as a pilot
project in 2002. The County initiated the RTE demonstration to show how
recirculation at a small landfill exempt from New Source Performance Standards
(NSPS) would lead to an increase in LFG generation and make energy recovery
more feasible. Plus, the County added two additional goals to the original six:
Voluntary LFG reuse for energy recovery at a small landfill that otherwise
would not require an active system
Voluntary reduction in landfill greenhouse gas emissions through energy
recovery or flaring
As part of the RTE project, the county and R.W. Beck conducted verification
field tests on several potential LFG collection locations. Each test yielded
positive results and indicated that the landfill was highly active and producing
a usable volume of quality LFG. As the RTE concept was developing, the
County designed a new 6,400 square foot maintenance building. The promise
of significant LFG generation allowed the design of the maintenance building
Reuse, a Reality
From 2002 to 2007, the county explored several reuse options for direct
LFG use and electric generation. Although these options stalled due to the
economy, the County realized the potential a GCCS could provide and began
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February 2011
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LFG flare skid with new storage building in background (houses LFG fueled boiler).
the design with flexibility for future reuse in late 2007. Gas collection would be
maximized using dual-phase gas wells (including electric pumps), connections
to all the leachate collection cleanout risers and connections to the recirculation
laterals. The dual-phase wells included pumps to remove accumulated liquids
from the wells due to recirculation, improving LFG collection. The connection
to the leachate cleanout risers would allow for gas collection from the bottom
of the landfill. This also allowed the County to begin collecting LFG from the
newly opened Cell IV soon after waste placement. The recirculation laterals
would provide limited LFG collection during the year.
As part of the flexibility for future reuse, a condensate knockout pot (KOP)
was designed with an additional future use connection. This structure is used
to further reduce condensate from the LFG stream prior to its destruction
location. The KOP would feed a flare skid, and the diversion pipe could feed
a compressor system or electric generator. This system or generator could be
installed in a new storage building.
The flare skid required two additions from typical flare skidsa diversion
pipe on the main piping of the flare skid downstream of the blower and an
additional flow control valve. The flow control valve would provide the ability
to create a back-pressure on the LFG flow and force LFG through the diversion
pipe to a LFG fueled boiler.
LFG-fueled boiler.
February 2011
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content has remained about 50 percent. The boiler did not run during the
first winter because the winter startup made it difficult to work out the system
bugs and balance the collection field to stabilize flow, which was necessary
to ensure optimum operation of the boiler. This delay allowed additional
work to be completed on the boiler prior to use. The pilot system used LFG
but required a modification to use natural gas. Safety pressure switches were
installed to shut the boiler down should the incoming fuel pressure fall out of
the specified ranges. If the gas pressure rises above the set value of 7 in-w.c.
or below 3 in-w.c., the boiler automatically shuts down. Generally, this only
occurs when the flare skid shuts down. The pressure in the fuel line drops to
zero shutting down the boiler and stopping flow.
The boiler first fired in October 2009 and continued in operation with
minimal down time until February 2010. A particulate buildup on the burner
deck reduced efficiency. At this time, the County added a few additional
modifications. It installed a continuous methane analyzer to measure methane
destroyed at the flare and allow the operator the ability to automatically shut
down the boiler should methane content drop below 45 percent at which
point the boiler loses the ability to maintain a steady flame. Due to the
particulate buildup, a particulate scrubber was installed to reduce the potential
for recurrence. The County also registered the GCCS on the Climate Action
Reserve (CAR), which requires each destruction device to have a flow meter, so
a flow meter was installed for the boiler.