Solid-waste collection provider Republic Services Inc. has entered into an agreement to recover landfill gas from its North Shelby Landfill in Millington, Tenn., for multiple uses, including as a vehicle fuel for its growing natural-gas-powered fleet.
The agreement with Clean Energy Renewable Fuels, a wholly owned subsidiary of Clean Energy Fuels Corp., is the second of its kind between the two parties; the first project, located at Republic's Sauk Trails Landfill in Canton, Mich., is expected to come online in September.
Clean Energy Renewable Fuels will build the plant to process landfill gas, a natural byproduct of decomposition, and inject it into the U.S. natural gas network. The gas may be compressed and distributed as a vehicle fuel, as well as used for other applications.
During the first year of operation, the plant is anticipated to produce approximately 4 million diesel-gallon equivalents of renewable natural gas fuel annually. If the landfill gas is used to fuel trucks, it could fuel about 260 trucks for a year, the companies say.
Production, which the company expects to begin in late 2013, is expected to steadily increase to more than 5.7 million diesel-gallon equivalents annually during the first 10 years of operations.
