<img src="http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/extra.gif" border=0>Landfill gas to help power Lamar<font color="#ff0000"> w/ landfill methane production info</font>

Home

Related Photos

Discussion

October 2, 2009

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Fri Oct 02, 2009, 08:33 AM CDT

By Wally Kennedy

wkennedy@joplinglobe.com

LAMAR, Mo. — The flares at the Prairie View Landfill have been burning excess methane for years.

When Lamar City Administrator Lynn Calton looks at them, he thinks of one thing: “Dollar bills going up in the air.”

That loss is about to change. Lamar is preparing to harness the methane in the old Lamar Landfill and the newer Prairie View Landfill for production of electricity. A $6 million project that has been five years in the making is about to kick into high gear.

Two 1.6-megawatt generators have been purchased to generate electricity by burning methane. The lines that feed the flares will be diverted to the generators. The energy from the generators will go to a transformer, and from there it will be transmitted via a new power line to an electrical substation in Lamar. The power line alone will cost about $1 million.

In addition to trash from Lamar, the Prairie View Landfill receives trash from towns that include Springfield, Joplin and Carthage.

Said Calton: “This is the second largest landfill in the state. We love trash.”

A typical house in Lamar uses about 1,000 kilowatts of electricity a month. Calton said the generators would produce enough energy to power 2,300 houses. There are about 2,200 houses in Lamar.

“We’ll provide electricity to the whole town — at least the residential side,” he said. “It’s not enough to power the industrial side.”

But more power could be coming. As the Prairie View Landfill continues to grow, it will produce more methane. Calton said the plan is to add three generators in the future. That would produce a total of 9.6 megawatts of electricity.

“Right now, our peak load for both residential and industrial is 18 megawatts,” Calton said. “We will not be able to get all of our electricity from the landfill, but a lot of it. We’re hoping that it will keep electricity prices constant for Lamar.”

A spokesman for Allied/Republic Waste said the Prairie View Landfill could operate 25 to 30 years into the future, depending on the flow of waste to the landfill. That flow decreased this year when compared with last year.

Last year, the landfill received 2,300 tons of waste per day. That has dropped to 1,500 to 1,600 tons per day this year. Kurt Bodendorfer, general manager of Allied/Republic Waste, said the decline is a reflection of the state of the economy. Building construction, a major contributor to landfill waste, is down, he said. Another factor, he said, is the impact of recycling.

This is the third Allied/Republic Waste landfill in the state to convert methane into electrical energy. A landfill at Jefferson City provides energy for a state prison there, saving taxpayers $250,000 a year. A landfill near Kansas City is generating 40 percent of the electricity needed by a nearby concrete plant.

The methane is produced by the decomposition of waste in the landfill. Of the total gases produced, about 55 percent is methane. Because the methane is “dirty,” it must be filtered, cooled and condensed before it can be used by the generators.

Low maintenance

Calton said Lamar’s energy production will not be labor intensive. The plant will be remotely monitored from an office in Lamar. Operation and maintenance costs are projected to be low.

Mayor Keith Divine said the landfill was operated by BFI before Allied took over and then Republic Services. He said the transition of ownership has gone smoothly. He said the city has received no complaints about the landfill.

“It’s a clean operation,” he said.

Calton noted that in terms of climate change, methane is a much more harmful gas when compared with others.

“Why not recycle that by eliminating methane burn-off to produce electricity?” he said. “We pay Allied for the methane. We make money, and they make money.”

Landfill facts

The Lamar Landfill was closed in 1999. It covers 45 acres about three miles north of Lamar. The Prairie View Landfill opened when the Lamar Landfill closed. It occupies 40 acres on the outskirts of Lamar and could be enlarged by an additional 60 acres. It is expected to remain in operation for 25 to 30 years, according to a spokesman for Allied/Republic Waste, owner of the landfills.