EPA honors Poet landfill project

January 4, 2010

BY Luke Geiver

Posted Jan. 18, 2010

The Environmental Protection Agency has honored eight projects that "employed unique project structures and took creative approaches to utilize (landfill gas) from municipal solid waste landfills." Poet LLC., received an award for a landfill gas project that transports methane gas from a Sioux Falls, S.D., Regional Sanitary Landfill to its Chancellor, S.D plant. The city's 11-mile pipeline, completed in February 2009, provides methane, which in conjunction with a waste wood boiler, produces steam for ethanol production.
"We are proud to recognize Landfill Methane Outreach Program partners who are turning trash into a clean and profitable source of energy," said Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Air and Radiation. "These projects, and others like them, are helping us transition into a clean energy economy and make important greenhouse gas reductions."

Awards were given in three categories: Projects of the Year were given to the University of New Hampshire EcoLineTM Project, Rochester, N.H.; Jefferson City, Missouri Renewable Energy Project, Jefferson City, Mo.; The Altamont Landfill Resource and Recovery Facility, Livermore, Calif.; Ox Mountain LFG Energy Project, Half Moon Bay, Calif.; Sioux Falls Landfill & Poet LFG Pipeline, Sioux Falls, S.D.

The methane used at the Chancellor location currently offsets 15 percent of the plant's energy needs, and as the supply of landfill gas increases, that is expected to double by 2025. According to Poet, when combined with waste wood, the plant will one day be powered completely by renewable energy. "As this award signifies, Poet wants to do more than produce renewable fuels," Poet COO James Moe said. "We want to use renewable energy to power our production process as well."

Poet pays the city for the methane, providing a revenue source from gas that had previously been flared at the landfill. Methane, a primary component of LFG (landfill gas), is a GHG (greenhouse gas) with more than 20 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. Using LFG provides a significant energy resource, prevents GHG emissions, and reduces odors and other hazards associated with emissions. This year's Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP) winning projects will avoid the emissions of 546,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, the equivalent of annual GHG emissions from nearly 100,000 passenger vehicles according to the EPA.

EPA's LMOP has assisted with more than 450 LFG energy projects over the past 15 years. The United States currently has about 509 operational LFG energy projects.

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