Arcadis launches landfill gas project in Brazil

Arcadis announced the opening of a third largest landfill gas (LFG) plant near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, named Novo Gramacho. The opening coincided with the celebration of the International Environmental Day. The new plant will consolidate the leading market position of Biogas, a company in which Arcadis Logos holds 33 percent. In 2004, Biogas opened the Bandeirantes landfill gas project, followed by the Sao Joao project in 2007.

Novo Gramacho Energia Ambiental, in which Biogas has a 50 percent shareholding, owns the new facility. The plant was opened by the governor of the Rio de Janeiro State and the mayor of the City of Rio de Janeiro. Novo Gramacho has been developed to collect and burn the methane gas emitted in the Gramacho landfill where 2.4 million tons of urban waste has been buried every year for the last 30 years. The concession contract for the plant is valid for the operation of the Gramacho landfill for more than 15 years.

Biogas has invested in facilities to collect the leachate and the landfill gas produced by the biodegradation of the urban waste buried in the landfill. The landfill gas collected by Novo Gramacho is equivalent in energy terms to the residential consumption of natural gas of the city of Rio de Janeiro.