by Austin Hale

Created on: January 23, 2010

In recent years clean, renewable energy has become a hot button issue.  Billions of dollars are invested every year in research for new avenues of energy production.  One such avenue is landfill methane harvesting.  The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Landfill Methane Outreach Program or LMOP is the largest promoter of using landfill methane for energy.  However understanding landfill methane, realizing its negatives, as well as assessing its positives are critical in determining its viability in the grand scale. 

Firstly to understand landfill methane a breakdown of chemistry is needed.  Pure natural gas, the kind sold largely in the consumer market, is 80 – 90% methane.   Landfill methane is only 40 – 60% methane.  The largest difference isn’t in the percentages of methane, but rather how much of the “other stuff” that is concerning. 

Physics laws dictate that matter cannot be created or destroyed.  Just like when you burn a piece of paper the paper isn’t destroyed it’s just transformed into soot and ash.  The same laws apply to the landfill methane when it’s burned for energy.  The issue is the “other stuff” namely mercury and tritium becomes some of the most highly toxic chemicals on the planet when burned.  These toxic chemicals, or dioxins, are released into the air once the landfill methane is burned for energy. 

However just as burning it creates an issue letting it sit is also not an option.  The methane gases if allowed to migrate pollute the air so thickly that cancer and leukemia become a huge risk to those who breathe it in.  By capturing the gas we at use up to 98% of the gasses in the heating process as well as create energy.  As the EPA states, "LFG contains methane, a potent greenhouse gas that can be captured and used to fuel power plants, manufacturing facilities, vehicles, homes, and more..." (http://www.epa.gov/lmop/) 

While landfill methane is a lose – lose situation no matter how you look at it, by burning the methane for energy we are at least getting a consolation prize.  Intense study and research is still underway to create clean, safe, and productive methods for its disposal.  One such method could be converting landfill methane into methyl alcohol, but until it becomes economically viable we may not see it for a while. 

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