Bioenergy recovery from landfill gas: A case study in China

Abstract

Landfill gas (LFG) utilization which means a synergy between environmental protection and bioenergy recovery was investigated in this study. Pressure swing adsorption technology was used in LFG purification, and laboratory experiment, pilot-scale test, and on-site demonstration were carried out in Shenzhen, China. In the laboratory experiment, A-type carbon molecular sieve was selected as the adsorbent by comparison of several other adsorbents. The optimal adsorption pressure and adsorption time were 0.25 MPa and 2 min, respectively, under which the product generation rate was 4.5 m³/h and the methane concentration was above 90%. The process and optimization of the pilot-scale test were also reported in the paper. The product gas was of high quality compared with the National Standard of Compressed Natural Gas as Vehicle Fuel (GB18047-2000), when the air concentration in feed gas was under 10.96%. The demonstration project was composed of a collection system, production system, and utilization system. The drive performance, environmental protection performance, and economic feasibility of the product gas – as alternative fuel in passenger car, truck, and bulldozer – were tested, showing the feasibility technology for LFG utilization.

Keywords

landfill gas (LFG) / compressed purified landfill gas (CPLG) / pressure swing adsorption (PSA) / alternative vehicle fuel / demonstration project

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2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg