Sanitary Landfill On-Site Landfill Gas Recovery Project

About the Program

Category: County Resiliency (Best in Category)

Year: 2011

To take advantage of enhanced landfill gas (LFG) generation created by the recirculation of leachate, Crow Wing County, Minnesota has voluntarily installed an active gas collection and control system (GCCS) for energy recovery and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The concept of collecting LFG for benefit through enhanced generation via leachate recirculation is referred to as Recirculation to Energy (RTE). Collected LFG is sent to a heat recovery boiler of flare. The boiler is used to heat both a maintenance shop and a heavy equipment storage building onsite. This not only offsets the use of natural gas for heating the maintenance and storage buildings, but it also avoids the GHG emissions from uncollected gas. In addition to the cost savings for heating the building, in 2009, the county registered the project with the Climate Action Reserve (CAR) and negotiated an agreement with TerraPass for the purchase of its verified emission reuctions.