A Study of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Performance of an Internal Combustion Engine Operating on Landfill Gas Blends as Fuel
type: CreativeWork
description: Landfill gas (LFG) is an abundant resource naturally occurring from the decomposition of municipal solid waste. It can be generated in U.S. landfills at a rate of 24.2 to 59.1 GNm3 per year.1 LFG presents both a problem and solution with respect to global warming. Composed of carbon dioxide (CO2, 30-40%) and methane (CH4, 45-55%), as well as nitrogen (N2, 10-15%), oxygen (O2, 0-5%), and other trace gasses1, LFG that is permitted release into the atmosphere will contribute to the greenhouse gas effect due to the presence of CH4 and CO2. Standard practice at landfill facilities is to flare the gas, the products of that combustion having a lower global warming potential than the original gas.2 Without the utilization of the energy released during flaring (combustion), there presents a missed opportunity to use the LFG as a working fuel. Yet, direct use of LFG in internal combustion (IC) engines is hindered by low and varying energy density of the fuel. Thus, further processing of a portion of the LFG to produce syngas, composed of hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO), increases the energy density, improves the flame stability, and decreases emissions such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), CO, and unburned hydrocarbons (UHCs).1 Due to the natural variability of the CO2/CH4 ratio of the LFG from temperature and waste composition fluctuations3, fuel blends at a range of CO2/CH4 ratios representative of field values must be evaluated, as do a range of syngas ratios with the LFG, as well as the CO/H2 ratio in the syngas itself. With a robust data matrix covering a wide band of realistic operating conditions, including engine load, three objectives were achieved. 1 - Characterization of the fuel blends to quantify emissions. 2 - Identification of the lower limit for engine operation (stall condition) for each fuel blend. 3 - Creation of a robust dataset whereby given the system inputs (LFG composition, maximum expected load), a recommended fuel blend can be referenced for suitable…
abstract: Landfill gas (LFG) is an abundant resource naturally occurring from the decomposition of municipal solid waste. It can be generated in U.S. landfills at a rate of 24.2 to 59.1 GNm3 per year.1 LFG presents both a problem and solution with respect to global warming. Composed of carbon dioxide (CO2, 30-40%) and methane (CH4, 45-55%), as well as nitrogen (N2, 10-15%), oxygen (O2, 0-5%), and other trace gasses1, LFG that is permitted release into the atmosphere will contribute to the greenhouse gas effect due to the presence of CH4 and CO2. Standard practice at landfill facilities is to flare the gas, the products of that combustion having a lower global warming potential than the original gas.2 Without the utilization of the energy released during flaring (combustion), there presents a missed opportunity to use the LFG as a working fuel. Yet, direct use of LFG in internal combustion (IC) engines is hindered by low and varying energy density of the fuel. Thus, further processing of a portion of the LFG to produce syngas, composed of hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO), increases the energy density, improves the flame stability, and decreases emissions such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), CO, and unburned hydrocarbons (UHCs).1 Due to the natural variability of the CO2/CH4 ratio of the LFG from temperature and waste composition fluctuations3, fuel blends at a range of CO2/CH4 ratios representative of field values must be evaluated, as do a range of syngas ratios with the LFG, as well as the CO/H2 ratio in the syngas itself. With a robust data matrix covering a wide band of realistic operating conditions, including engine load, three objectives were achieved. 1 - Characterization of the fuel blends to quantify emissions. 2 - Identification of the lower limit for engine operation (stall condition) for each fuel blend. 3 - Creation of a robust dataset whereby given the system inputs (LFG composition, maximum expected load), a recommended fuel blend can be referenced for suitable…
author: Creadore, Lauren T
keywords: combustion, landfill gas, syngas, emissions, Mechanical Engineering
date published: 2022-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:57:59Z
provider: City University of New York - City College
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: City University of New York - City College