The Bulletin
Pilot project to turn fumes into energy
By Hillary Borrud
Published: June 24, 2009 4:00AM PST
 What I think we ll do is, we re going to work with them on the
For years, Timm Schimke thought about how gas wafting up
pilot project and help get that up and running, Markham said.
from decomposing material at Knott Landfill could fuel a powerplant.
The utility already has experience with landfill gas-to-energy projects
 It s probably been on my radar for eight years, maybe longer,
said Schimke, director of Deschutes County s Department of as a part-owner of such a project near Corvallis, Markham said.
Solid Waste. Schimke credits utility companies increased interest in
Now, the county is ready with plans to connect gas wells at the renewable energy for the favorable climate for landfill gas energy
landfill to a cutting-edge engine. The gas will power the engine, projects. CEC has a  net metering policy, under which it installs
which will produce electricity. meters for customers who generate power to keep track of how
 We think that should produce enough electricity to totally much they take from the grid and how much they contribute.
offset our energy usage, Schimke said of the pilot project.  It sounds like this is the really key element here that will allow
If the pilot works, the county could eventually expand it into a us to do a small pilot project, Schimke said.
larger project with multiple engines The county s Knott Landfill pilot
and sell the energy to utilities. project could be the first landfill
Landfill gas to electricity
The project, which will cost about gas energy project in Oregon to
Timm Schimke, the director of Deschutes County s Department of Solid
$200,000, will use an existing use the external combustion
Waste, favors a type of external combustion engine known as a Stirling
system of landfill gas wells covering Stirling engine, Schimke said.
engine for a pilot project to harness landfill gas to produce electricity.
a portion of Knott Landfill, A contractor who conducted
Schimke and William Song, an engineer for the company that studied the
Schimke said. a feasibility study on the energy
county s plans for the energy project, said the Stirling engine works well
At the moment, the county project recommended the Stirling
with biofuel from the pistons and other internal engine components.
burns gas from the wells to keep engine as one of the more
Stirling Biopower, the company that currently makes a Stirling engine, says
it from migrating out of the landfill promising technologies available.
its four-cylinder engines use high-pressure hydrogen in the cylinders to
and because methane, a component  We think this technology is
pick up heat from the biofuel combustion and move the pistons.
of landfill gas, is a highly potent better for the biofuel industry,
greenhouse gas. said William Song, an engineer
Stirling engine Lanfill gas circulates in
Methane is at least 20 times with Energyneering Solutions
chamber and burns.
more effective at trapping heat in Inc., which did the study.
White area is continuous
the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, Song said contaminants in
flame.
Piston
according to the U.S. Environmental landfill gas can build up in normal
Protection Agency. internal combustion engines, so
they need a lot of maintenance or
When landfill operators burn
methane or use it in energy projects, the gas must be cleaned before it
Crank shaft is
they create carbon dioxide, said enters the engine. Since the Stirling
powered by
John Straughan, an environmental engine uses external combustion,
pistons
engineer at the Oregon Department it keeps the landfill gas away from
of Environmental Quality. Although the inside of the engine.
both are greenhouse gases, carbon Energyneering Solutions is
dioxide traps less heat in the a distributor for the Stirling
atmosphere than methane. Hydrogen inside heat-exchanger tubes engines manufactured by Stirling
heats up and moves each of four pistons.
In 2005, methane from Biopower, but Schimke said there
Hydrogen is cooled and reused.
Oregon s landfills accounted for were a number of reasons the
1.8 percent of the state s green- power generator appealed to him.
Source: Energyneering Solutions Inc. and Stirling Biopower Greg Cross/ The Bulletin
house gas emissions, according to Stirling engines are supposed
data from the DEQ. to be quieter than other engines,
County staff members are currently talking to Central Electric so they are less likely to disturb neighbors, and the county would
Cooperative and the vendor for a type of external combustion not have to clean the landfill gas, Schimke said.
engine, called a Stirling engine, that they want to buy. But for By starting with a pilot project, the county will be able to
now, the project timeline depends on how quickly the DEQ determine how much noise the engine makes and invite landfill
approves a new air quality permit application the county will soon neighbors to see how the power project works, Schimke said.
submit to the agency. The pilot project will give the county three to five years to get
The county s Department of Solid Waste plans to submit its a better idea of what its carbon credits are worth and solicit
permit application by the end of June, Schimke said, but it could proposals from utility companies that want to buy electricity
take six months to a year before the DEQ processes it. from a larger power project the county could build in the future.
Schimke believes CEC and the county  are interested in having  We ll just be in a much better position to negotiate a good deal
this thing generating electricity as soon as possible. when we do take on a large project, Schimke said.
Dave Markham, the president and CEO of CEC, said the
county and his utility have yet to work out what roles each will
Hillary Borrud can be reached at 541-617-7829 or at
have in a landfill gas energy project, but the idea is exciting.
[e-mail].