WWW.NESUNGRANT.CORNELL.EDU
U.S. Department of
Transportation
Northeast Region
HYDROGEN, NATURAL GAS, ELECTRICITY, AND HEAT FROM
LANDFILL GAS: INTEGRATION OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
FOR A QUAD-GENERATION DEMONSTRATION PROJECT
David Specca, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Utilizing landfill gas (LFG) for bioenergy production is difficult. Not only is the
gas saturated with water and high in hydrogen sulfide, it also contains contaminants from a list of over 300 troublesome chemicals, including siloxanes, which
can impair or disable equipment operation. Despite these challenges, a robust
LFG cleanup system, invented and developed by Acrion Technologies, Inc.
(Acrion), has been demonstrated at the Rutgers EcoComplex to clean LFG to
acceptable levels for the FuelCell Energy, Inc. (FCE) molten carbonate "Direct
Fuel Cell". Acrion’s smallest commercial scale LFG cleanup system treats 300
standard cubic feet per minute (scfm) of raw LFG at 50% methane content to
produce 150 scfm of clean methane - enough methane to power the fuel cell
(approximately 50 scfm) and produce compressed natural gas (CNG) for transportation fuel (approximately 100 scfm or about 1150 gasoline gallons equivalent per day). Acrion’s LFG cleanup process can also recover food-grade liquid
CO2 as a coproduct. FCE’s 300 kW fuel cell can also produce up to 150 kg per
day of excess hydrogen gas that, at an experimental level, has been cleaned to
pure hydrogen. Using proven Linde, Inc. technology, the cleaned methane and
hydrogen can then be compressed and dispensed as transportation fuel. Electricity and heat from the fuel cell will be used by the equipment and the EcoComplex building. Excess electricity will be exported to the local power grid.
PI: David Specca
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
EcoComplex
Funded: $150,000
Start Date: 07/01/2009
The overall goal of this project is to perform an Engineering, Environmental,
End Date: 06/30/2010
and Economic Analysis of an integrated system of these emerging technologies
that will utilize landfill gas to produce hydrogen, compressed natural gas, electricity, heat and possibly liquid carbon dioxide.
The final product will be a report that can be used by project developers for financing and building a demonstration system at the Rutgers EcoComplex and for
commercializing the integrated system at landfills and anaerobic digesters
throughout the US.
The EcoComplex’s close
proximity to Interstates 95 and 295 makes it an Source of Sun Grant Funding:
ideal location to dispense fuel for the proposed
“Route 95 Hydrogen Highway”. LFG and anaero- United States Department of Transportation
bic digester gas are an abundant, renewable fuel Other Sources of Funding:
resources in the Northeastern USA. Transportation
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey,
fuels produced by this system will reduce GHG
emissions through cleaner burning engine technol- Acrion Technology, Inc, The Linde Group,
ogy, as compared with gasoline and diesel engines.
Inc., and FuelCell Energy, Inc