There are two basic approaches for dealing with fuel contaminants in landfill-gas-to-energy projects. The first is to pretreat the landfill methane, taking out many of the contaminants to produce fuel that meets the engines’ operating requirements. The second is to forego all but the simplest pretreatment and install engines specially modified to burn impure fuel, yet still deliver acceptable component life and maintenance intervals.

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"Dealing with Landfill Fuel"

by Michael A. Devine

Electric Power Group, Caterpillar Inc. Lafayette, Indiana

1. Landfill Fuel Contaminants:
For users considering gas engines for power generation,fuel quality has been a key concern since the dawn of the landfill-gas-to-energy industry.

2. Impact of Fuel Contaminants:
The effects of contaminants on the engine depend on a number of factors, including engine component metallurgy, exposure time and rate, engine operating temperature, and the brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) of the engine.

3. Protecting Engines:
In protecting engine performance and longevity, there is no free lunch. Either basic approach – fuel pretreatment or the acceptance of reduced maintenance intervals with specially designed landfill engines – adds capital cost and affects long-term maintenance expense.

4. Comparing Options:
Comparing the merits of external fuel pretreatment with merits of engines designed for landfill service requires a rigorous but relatively simple cost analysis.

5. Cases in Point:
Elevatedjacket water temperature technology has been in use in landfill applications since the mid-1980s, and many of the other landfill modifications have evolved since then.

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