Politics

New Scott County facility will produce renewable natural gas

New Scott County facility will produce renewable natural gas

A new facility at the Scott Area Landfill will turn gas from residents’ trash into enough renewable natural gas to power 5,000 area homes.
The new renewable natural gas production plant, owned and operated by private company Waga Energy, will treat landfill gas produced by the breakdown of solid waste in the landfill and inject the treated product into MidAmerican Energy pipelines for business and residential use, according to a news release.
“By capturing methane from the Scott Area Landfill and converting it into energy, we’re turning waste into a valuable resource that helps fuel our community and protect our environment,” Executive Director of the Waste Commission of Scott County Bryce Stalcup said in the news release.
Traditional natural gas in the U.S. is a fossil fuel extracted from deposits deep in the Earth. Renewable natural gas, such as treated methane produced by the landfill, aims to be a substitute for fossil-based fuels.
Most natural gas consumption in the U.S. goes toward generating electricity and space heating, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. About 60% of U.S. homes use natural gas for space and water heating, cooking and drying clothes.
Waga Energy already has the new plant up and running. It started injecting gas into the grid last week, according to the Waste Commission.
The capacity of the new plant is expected to produce renewable natural gas equivalent to up to 205,000 MMBtu per year, according to the news release, equal to the amount of energy contained in about 1.5 million gallons of diesel fuel.
Biogas is produced naturally by anaerobic bacteria in municipal solid waste landfills and is called landfill gas, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The biogas has a high amount of methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas. Regulations under the Clean Air Act require landfills of a certain size to collect and control the methane by repurposing it or burning it off. Burning methane is a process called flaring that produces carbon dioxide, a less potent greenhouse gas.
Previously, the methane produced by the Scott Area Landfill went toward the operations Linwood Mining and Minerals, which owns the land and leases it to the landfill.
More recently, the mining company’s technology and processes have changed and it doesn’t need as much gas anymore, according to the Waste Commission. So, the landfill has been flaring the methane.
Now, Waga Energy will treat the methane, turning it into renewable natural gas and injecting it into gas grids for energy use.
That treatment typically includes removing moisture, nitrogen, CO2, siloxanes (volatile organic compounds), and hydrogen sulfide, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Waga Energy will own and operate the Scott County facility for an initial 20-year term, sharing revenue with the Waste Commission of Scott County and Linwood Mining and Minerals.
Waga Energy currently operates 32 renewable natural gas production units in France, Spain, Canada and the U.S., according to the news release.
For the Scott County Waste Commission, the revenue generated is expected to cover the costs of maintaining its well fields, which are wells drilled into the landfill that pull out the methane so it doesn’t build up inside the landfill.
The Scott Area Landfill processes about 185,000 tons of waste annually from 17 municipalities and Scott County.
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Sarah Watson
Davenport, Scott County, local politics
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