Qnergy, Utah county share updates on landfill methane abatement technology

Ogden, Utah-based methane abatement technology provider Qnergy and Weber County, Utah, held a news conference Aug. 15 to discuss progress and developments regarding a recently installed methane destruction system at the closed county landfill located next to the Weber County Archery Park.

The news conference featured comments from Todd Ferrario, Weber County culture and parks and recreation assistant director; Jim Harvey, Weber County commissioner; Ory Zik, Qnergy CEO; and Isaac Garaway, Qnergy chief technology officer.

The Weber County Landfill was closed in the early 1990s, and since then, has been emitting landfill gas into the atmosphere. Prior to Weber’s partnership with Qnergy, the county was tasked with converting the closed landfill and methane plant into a park.

“Not as easy as it sounds,” Ferrario said. “We ended up with a large piece of property that was unbuildable in the middle of the park.”

In May, Qnergy installed a methane destruction system at the landfill, which utilizes a Qnergy PowerGen series generator to power an enclosed flare system. As previously reported by Waste Today, the PowerGen is Qnergy’s proprietary technology based on a free-piston Stirling engine that converts methane into utility-grade electricity, and the flare enables complete methane destruction. The unit generates carbon credits intended to bring in revenue while eliminating emissions from the site.

According to Zik, nearly 8 percent of the natural gas produced in Utah is released into the air as wasted methane, creating an environmental and economic opportunity for the state to mitigate the gas and turn it into a product.

“Qnergy, as a company, likes to deploy real technology that actually works,” Garaway said. “Being able to work with our own local community, demonstrating our technology, verifying that it actually works just as we expected it to [and] making sure that it all comes together in a beneficial way, not only for us… but also for our partner, Weber County, has been really important for us.”

Methane abatement technology for landfills is becoming increasingly common, especially at newer landfills with higher levels of methane.

“What [Qnergy] brings to the table is [the installation of technology] at old, closed, legacy landfills where the gas is no longer valuable to anybody and can’t be used for anything anymore,” Garaway said. “Due to the low concentration [and] low-pressure values, the gas is useless and a liability. That’s something that has never been done anywhere else.”

He explained that because Qnergy’s technology works with most gaseous fuels, it can operate on the low-pressure gas at a decades-closed landfill.

Weber County and Qnergy also intend to use carbon credits from the project as a revenue stream to ensure return on investment for the county.

“Long-term, those funds will start trickling back to parks and rec,” Ferrario said. “It’s not a fast turnaround, but the landfill wasn’t created in a day, and we’re getting it back slowly and surely with Qnergy.”

Future collaboration is on the horizon for the company and the county, with a second harvesting project at Weber County’s construction and demolition (C&D) landfill currently in the works.