Viridor invests £2 million in landfill gas repurposing project

Viridor has signed an agreement with Dutch company CarbonOrO to deliver a system which transforms landfill gas into transport fuels and allows the capture of CO2.
Viridor invests £2 million in landfill gas repurposing project
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The waste management company has invested £2 million in the project, which will begin with a plant installation at the company’s Dunbar landfill site early next year. Commissioning will take place in summer 2020.

The project will also draw heat from the energy recovery facility at Viridor’s Dunbar site, a combined heat and power plant which provides enough renewable energy to the National Grid to power 70,656 homes.

The transformation process involves the stripping and low temperature regeneration of carbon dioxide capture and other contaminants from methane content in the landfill gas.

The process results in a transport fuel with multiple potential applications, including supply agreements with UK filling stations, which are currently under discussion.

A landfill site like Dunbar, which currently produces 2,500m3/hr of gas, is capable of creating transport fuel which would run for 34,000 truck miles per year. The plant could generate a carbon saving of 380 tonnes per year compared to diesel, once fully integrated.

The captured CO2 could also be used for third party applications such as in agriculture or the chemical and manufacturing industries.

Phil Piddington, managing director at Viridor, said: “CarbonOrO is a company committed to mitigating climate change by using landfill gas as a source of renewable energy.

“This is entirely in keeping with Viridor’s ethos of putting waste to work and creating valuable resources which actively help the UK achieve its environmental, resource, and energy efficiency ambitions.

“Converting landfill gas into transport fuels is exactly the right vehicle for realising these goals.”

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