page_title: Landfill gas utilization
section_title: LFG collection systems
hierarchical_section_title: Landfill gas utilization / LFG collection systems
caption_attribution_description: English: Landfill Gas Collection System
context_page_description: Landfill gas utilization is a process of gathering, processing, and treating the methane or another gas emitted from decomposing garbage to produce electricity, heat, fuels, and various chemical compounds. After fossil fuel and agriculture, landfill gas is the third largest human generated source of methane. Compared to CO
  2, methane is 25 times more effective as a greenhouse gas. It is important not only to control its emission but, where conditions allow, use it to generate energy, thus offsetting the contribution of two major sources of greenhouse gases towards climate change. The number of landfill gas projects, which convert the gas into power, went from 399 in 2005 to 519 in 2009 in the United States, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. These projects are popular because they control energy costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These projects collect the methane gas and treat it, so it can be used for electricity or upgraded to pipeline-grade gas. These projects power homes, buildings, and vehicles.
context_section_description: Landfill gas collection is typically accomplished through the installation of wells installed vertically and/or horizontally in the waste mass.  Design heuristics for vertical wells call for about one well per acre of landfill surface, whereas horizontal wells are normally spaced about 50 to 200 feet apart on center. Efficient gas collection can be accomplished at both open and closed landfills, but closed landfills have systems that are more efficient, owing to greater deployment of collection infrastructure since active filling is not occurring.  On average, closed landfills have gas collection systems that capture about 84% of produced gas, compared to about 67% for open landfills. 
  Landfill gas can also be extracted through horizontal trenches instead of vertical wells. Both systems are effective at collecting. Landfill gas is extracted and piped to a main collection header, where it is sent to be treated or flared. The main collection header can be connected to the leachate collection system to collect condensate forming in the pipes. A blower is needed to pull the gas from the collection wells to the collection header and further downstream. A 40-acre (160,000 m²) landfill gas collection system with a flare designed for a 600 ft³/min extraction rate is estimated to cost $991,000 (approximately $24,000 per acre) with annual operation and maintenance costs of $166,000 per year at $2,250 per well, $4,500 per flare and $44,500 per year to operate the blower (2008). LMOP provides a software model to predict collection system costs.
caption: A layout of landfill gas collection system.[10]
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