SUMMARY
Landfill gas (LFG) emissions are a natural byproduct of the decomposition of organic material in solid waste landfills. LFG generally comprises 50% methane (CH4), 50% carbon dioxide (CO2) and trace amounts of organic compounds. CH4 is an extremely potent greenhouse gas (GHG), trapping as high as 80 times as much atmospheric heat as CO2 over the first 20-year period. It is 28 times more potent over a one-hundred-year timescale.
In Canada and the United States, municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are the third-largest source of anthropogenic CH4 emissions into the atmosphere. In 2021, CH4 emissions from landfills were estimated at 20% in Canada and 17% in the United States. A health and safety concern is that most MSW landfills are adjacent to or within urban or rural developments. As an upside, CH4 emissions are now recognized as a potential opportunity to capture and use as a supplemental energy resource.
APPLICATION
Prospective clients recognize that our Ventbuster® and Ventsentinel® technology provides the industry with the best-in-class gas measurement device to measure the once immeasurable, ultra-low pressured CH4 and CO2 emissions from MSW landfills. With a precise and continuous flow rate, flow pressure and flow temperature being digitally recorded and transmitted live to our secure IoT platform and dashboard display, an accurate emissions baseline is established to facilitate economic mitigation for CH4 destruction or energy conversion.
CLIENT BENEFITS
Precision detection of diffusing CH4 and CO2 gas leaking into the atmosphere to engineer and plan for economic mitigation for CH4 destruction or conversion.
Accurate, reliable, and unambiguous digital data transmitted for real-time monitoring.
Continuous measurement and accurate quantification and reporting.
Regulatory compliance.
PROSPECTIVE SOLUTION
Low pressure diffusing LFG venting to the atmosphere cannot be accurately measured with positive displacement and differential pressure meters. Mass flow metering requires known and controlled conditions to achieve accuracy and is mostly impractical in the field. Top-down optical gas imaging and fence-line monitoring can detect gas but are unsuitable for measuring LFG emissions. The industry now requires an accurate, repeatable, auditable and defensible point-source LFG quantification.
To measure LFG, we will strategically supply the Ventbuster® on select LFG vents throughout the client’s site. Our communication units transmit unambiguous digital data from diffusing LFG vents, recording any leak and resultant flow rates, temperatures, and pressures to our secure IoT platform. The client can view and record the monitoring system in real-time. The Ventbuster® can be moved along to various LFG vents to gain an emission profile and map hot spots for required mitigation.
Once the CH4 and CO2 emissions are profiled, the client can install Ventsentinel® units on all LFG vent assemblies. The Ventsentinel® is designed for precision monitoring, measurement and reporting that records vented gas emissions 24/7/365. Continuous digital data will be transmitted to our secure IoT platform or the client-hosted SCADA network.
The client will now have a proven and reliable solution to permanently or periodically test, monitor and report the LFG emissions and get ahead of impending legislation and carbon taxation while remaining compliant with industry regulators.
MOVING TOWARDS NET-ZERO
Ventbuster Instruments customizes its equipment to measure a vast array of CH4 emitters. Using the Ventbuster® technology to measure emission flow rates and CH4 mass volumes assists in effective management and has proven invaluable in carbon trading and the carbon offset market.
By taking on this responsibility to precisely quantify and acknowledge our carbon footprint, the energy industry and Ventbuster Instruments can make significant steps toward achieving net zero.
Note: All emission estimates sources from Canada.ca, Environment and Natural Resources Website, and the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2021. U.S. EPA. 2023.
For further information about Ventbuster Instruments and our technology, please visit our website at www.ventbusters.com. Gain insight into our technology, function, and deployment and review our technical data sheets and other information documents.