The Jenbacher engine—a JGC 320 GS-L.L system for landfill gas—utilizes process waste gas and landfill gas to support the LFG-to-LNG facility’s operations. The electricity generated by the gas engine is primarily used in the gas compression and liquefaction stages of the LNG production process. The 20-cylinder, 48.7-liter displacement Jenbacher 320 can produce about 1,000 kW of electrical output.
The treatment facility will initially produce approximately 5,000 gallons of LNG per day and, at full build-out, will produce more than 36,000 gallons of LNG per day, with a methane content of 97% or greater. The project is now in the commissioning phase, with the Jenbacher engine already supplying power.
According to the federal Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP), a project of this size provides annual emissions benefits equivalent to removing more than 125,000 vehicles, or displacing the use of more than 71,500,000 gallons of gasoline. LMOP was established by the US Environmental Protection Agency to reduce methane emissions from municipal solid waste landfills by supporting LFG-to-energy projects. In addition to improving air quality and reducing the consumption of traditional natural gas for mass transit, refuse hauling fleets and other LNG vehicle fleets, the project also greatly reduces the fuel transportation cost and the distance over which LNG must be transported to customers. Existing, conventional LNG supply sources are located as far as 840 miles away from customers in Southern California.
Seattle, Washington-based Prometheus Energy Company built the landfill gas conversion facility at the Frank R. Bowerman Landfill, located in Irvine, Orange County, approximately 40 miles south of Los Angeles. The Bowerman landfill is owned and operated by the Orange County Integrated Waste Management Department. Montauk Energy Capital, through its subsidiary GSF Energy, operates the landfill’s methane gas collection system.
GE’s scope of supply includes the patented Jenbacher CL.AIR non-catalytic exhaust gas treatment system, which reduces CO emissions by more than 80%. GE’s Jenbacher gas engines run on natural gas or a variety of specialty waste gases, including landfill gas.