Trials for technology that could cut costs from landfill gas power

Technology developers Aquafuel Research have come up with a new way to improve the economics of generating electricity from landfill gas, biogas and sewage gas.

The company based in Sittingbourne, Kent, has field tested a cheaper way to protect electricity-generating combustion engines from corrosive contaminants in the methane-rich gas arising from landfilled waste.

It says it can double the life of lubricating oil in engines running on landfill gas, resulting in less downtime and “substantial reductions in operational costs”.

Existing scrubbing technology can remove hydrogen sulphide – the contaminant that attacks engine lubricating oil – from landfill gas, but Aquafuel’s system cleans only the 5% of gas that enters the crankcase part of the engine.

This means shaving off potentially 30% of the running costs for operators compared to conventional scrubbing technology, the company claims.

Aquafuel is now running second-phase trials on the technology, but said it will be commercially available in the third quarter of 2009.

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