Air Liquide is launching an innovation: with the BIOGAS system developed by MEDAL, the membranes division of Air Liquide Advanced Technologies US, the methane that is naturally released from landfills can now be captured and recycled into high quality energy.
Organic waste buried in landfills is transformed into biogas, composed in particular of methane, which is the main constituent of natural gas. Once released into the atmosphere, methane contributes to the greenhouse effect.
In the summer of 2006, a BIOGAS system was installed near Johnstown, Pa., As part of a new landfill methane recovery project. Harry Crouse, President of Keystone Renewable Energy, LLC, said, “We are so pleased with the performance of the BIOGAS system that we have already ordered two more units for our projects in western Pennsylvania. MEDAL's BIOGAS technology has enabled us to economically and ecologically capture and recycle energy that we would otherwise have discarded or burned. Additional installations for Keystone are scheduled for late summer 2007.
Each BIOGAS system is capable of extracting and reprocessing 40 to 000 m160 of landfill gas per day. The main quality of the BIOGAS system is that it can capture an energy flow that would otherwise be rejected and recycle it into high quality energy. The system also helps reduce greenhouse gases that escape landfills and harm the environment. The recycled methane can then be routed directly into the pipeline network.
Air Liquide's R&D and Advanced Technologies activities represent a network of 1 employees, from 400 different countries and spread over 25 centers in Europe, North America and Japan. MEDAL is a division of Air Liquide Advanced Technologies US LLC, which develops membrane technology, used for various industrial and environmental applications.
Source: http://www.france.airliquide.com/fr/index.asp