LANSING, Mich. — Granger Waste Services is working with EDL Energy and Consumers Energy to transform landfill gas into renewable natural gas at a new facility in Lansing.
When organic material breaks down, it creates landfill gas. Instead of wasting it, Granger Waste Services has been collecting it through pipes since 1985 to power generators at an EDL electric plant.
Now, that is being replaced by a renewable natural gas facility.
“Now what we do is we filter the landfill gas into renewable natural gas. [That is] done by removing the carbon dioxide and nitrogen, the oxygen and anything that might be coming to the landfill," said Mike Whitney, the EDL planning and production manager at the natural gas facility. "What is left remaining is 95 percent methane, renewable natural gas, that is then put into the utility."
Granger Waste Services says, about 19,000 tons of methane will be extracted from landfill gas every year. That's enough to power 8,400 homes for a year and to offset the annual emissions of 5,700 passenger vehicles.
“It's a very good use of renewable energy. It's sustainable," said Charles Hauser, the community relations manager at Granger Waste Services. "As long as we have organics going into this landfill, we'll and EDL will be able to continue to create renewable natural gas from it."
Abigail Wallace, the energy and climate policy coordinator at the Michigan Environmental Council, said in a statement that “Michigan should capture biogas produced by big animal farms and wastewater treatment plants that would otherwise be off-gassed and use that to power industries that are tough to make carbon-free quickly. However, initial research shows that there's only enough biogas available to replace 3 to 6 percent of Michigan's current natural gas demand.”
But she also said that “biogas is not a sustainable or long-term solution to decarbonizing our transportation or building sectors nor fighting climate change."
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