Patented system from Clean Methane Systems will allow the utility to use its biogas for power.
Faced with mounting fuel costs, New Jersey’s Hanover Township Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) has decided to use the biogas they were previously flaring to power a 100 kilowatt engine. Prior to injecting the flare gas into the generator, Hanover will condition the biogas to extend the life of the engine and avoid costly down time.
Clean Methane Systems (CMS), based in Tualatin, Oregon, was selected to provide the company’s patented conditioning technology.
As there is no natural gas line to Hanover’s WWTP, the facility purchased fuel oil to power their generators and fuel their boilers. This ongoing cost is about to be eliminated due in part to the biogas-conditioning technology.
To remove the hydrogen sulfide, siloxanes and moisture, the biogas first enters a 10-foot by 4-foot vessel containing 6,000 pounds of SulfaTreat media, which is intended to reduce the hydrogen sulfide from 300 parts per million by volume to less than 150 parts per million by volume. The SulfaTreat media is only required to be changed every 48 months, adding to the cost savings, CMS reports.
After the hydrogen sulfide is removed, the gas enters a compressor and moisture removal system before entering the siloxane removal vessels. For the project the two vessels are 8 feet high and 1.5 feet wide. They are set up in a lead/lag configuration with the biogas first entering one vessel and then on to the next. Each vessel contains 600 pounds of patented SAG/HOX media, which needs to be changed out about every eight months.
The biogas project cost about $2 million and was part of a larger $6 million project aimed at ending the facility’s dependence on fuel oil. Even with a smaller biogas project, the Hanover WWTP estimates the payback for the biogas portion of the project is 15 years.
