Landfill Gas Collection System

The City of Lethbridge will explore the feasibility of beneficial use of methane produced at the Waste and Recycling Centre (W&RC) facility while reducing 60-75 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from the landfill.In support of Alberta’s mandate to cut methane emissions in Alberta by 45% by 2025 under the Climate Leadership Plan, the City wishes to expand upon the preliminary work undertaken and explore in greater detail the potential for developing a utilization gas project. The estimated 2017 landfill gas production rate is approximately 500 cubic feet per minute (cfm). With a minimum of 60% collection efficiency, the anticipated gas collection rate would therefore be approximately 300 cfm. This would equate to a net annual reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) of approximately 36,500 tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). The study will include an updated Production Assessment, a landfill gas management plan and a landfill gas feasibility assessment:a. Updated LFG Production Assessment – to review the LFG production report which would expand upon preliminary work undertaken to date and address future uncertainties associated with potential LFG production rates as pertaining to waste deposition rates, and organic content. This report would refine the baseline methane generation estimates and would be consistent with Alberta quantification protocols.b. LFG Management Plan – to update conceptual design for a LFG collection system (well field and associated control plant) based upon the development plan currently being generated for the landfill site, progressive closure strategy. This report would provide an updated estimate of how much LFG could potentially be captured on a cell by cell basis, associated capital costs and annual operations and maintenance costs associated with the collection system. c. LFG Utilization Feasibility Assessment – to provide a general overview of LFG utilization options based upon fuel type (i.e., low grade, medium grade, and high grade BTU commodity feedstock), identify regional and local access to markets, review potential roles the City can play in a utilization project, identify site-specific viable utilization options, and undertake preliminary economic analysis of feasible options based upon a 20 year project term. This study will provide a focus on landfill gas utilization technologies which will have both optimized primary environmental benefits (i.e., high methane destruction potential) and direct secondary environmental benefits (i.e., offset fossil fuel derived energy sources). Once these studies are completed, the City of Lethbridge will utilize the information to assist with an internal cost benefit analysis associated greenhouse gas emission reduction opportunities, short, medium and long term capital and operational costs, and risks associated with the City’s. If the feasibility assessments prove positive for a gas capture system at the Lethbridge W&RC, the next step will be the design of the system and staged construction of the capture system. This project will be shared with the community to support the education of waste reduction as well as greenhouse gas reduction and air quality.