Republic sells landfill gas to power Lafarge cement plant

Republic Services Inc. will provide landfill gas, a locally produced, cost-effective source of renewable energy, from its Courtney Ridge Landfill to the neighboring Lafarge-Sugar Creek Cement Plant. Lafarge, the largest supplier of cement products in the United States and Canada, will use landfill gas to replace nearly 20 percent of its coal at the Sugar Creek, Missouri cement plant. The project will use 2,400 cubic feet per minute of landfill gas as a direct fuel to assist in firing the kiln during Portland cement production.

The methane currently captured and destroyed at the Courtney Landfill will be utilized as fuel in the production of Portland cement thanks to the vision of Republic Services and Lafarge. The project will reduce CO2 emissions by an estimated 33,000 tons annually, which is the equivalent of planting more than 8,000 acres of forest or removing emissions from more than 5,500 motor vehicles.

Republic supported Lafarge’s efforts to build the nearly $2 million project that consists primarily of a pipeline and gas processing unit. The Courtney Ridge Landfill’s recently expanded gas recovery system consists of 32 wells, averaging 100 feet deep, over a 64 acre area. The landfill gas recovery system delivers gas to an on-site gas processing unit which compresses and removes moisture from the gas, measures its volume and heat value, and transports it via a pipeline to the cement plant. The gas pipeline is 6,500 feet long and runs from the landfill underneath MO-291 Highway to the neighboring cement plant.