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Johnson County, Kansas Environmental Department Protecting You and Your Environment |
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Landfill Gas Operations
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Landfills are required to monitor for methane gas from surface emissions, at the
landfill perimeter, and in all interior landfill buildings. Most MSW landfills
have a collection and processing system to collect landfill gas to be used as a
fuel source or the gas can be burned or flared off.
Due to the age and size of the Johnson County Landfill, production of methane gas (natural gas) by anaerobic bacteria is substantial enough to economically allow for recovery of the gas as fuel. |
| A bucket rig is used to drill a 36-inch hole into the waste mass in order to install a landfill gas extraction well. |
| Gas wells are drilled into the waste mass and landfill gas is collected through perforated pipes through a vacuum system. The gas is pumped through heavy-duty plastic pipelines (as above) to a treatment facility located on site. |
| A view of methane gas wells along Phase 3 of the JCL. Each well has sampling port for gas analysis and a valve to regulate the gas flow. |
| The landfill gas is pumped to a gas treatment and processing facility to separate out the methane from carbon dioxide and other non-methane compounds. Currently, approximately 5mmcfd of landfill gas is treated daily which results in about 3 mmcfd of pipeline quality natural gas. |
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