For the first time, a major U.S. manufacturing facility has been sited and built next to a landfill specifically to use the landfill gas as fuel.
The new Jenkins Brick Company’s $56 million manufacturing plant in Moody, Alabama – one of the largest of its kind in the nation – will use landfill gas to fuel its kilns, satisfying 40 percent of the plant’s energy needs initially, with 100 percent projected in 10 years as the landfill grows.
Methane is the primary component of landfill gas, which results from the natural break-down of buried waste in a landfill. Reducing methane emissions provides immediate environmental benefits because methane, a greenhouse gas, is over 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide at capturing heat in the atmosphere.
Jenkins Brick Company, headquartered in Montgomery, Ala., has been using landfill gas to fuel its Montgomery brick plant since 1998. The success of this project convinced Jenkins management to build its next manufacturing facility to take advantage of local landfill gas.
EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program is a voluntary assistance and partnership program that promotes the use of landfill gas as a renewable, green energy source. Over the past decade, EPA has assisted with more than 300 projects and reduced methane emissions from landfills by about 27 million metric tons of carbon equivalent.
The program also assists countries throughout the world in developing landfill methane reduction projects through the U.S.-government led Methane to Markets Partnership.
Loading...