Sanitary landfill energy harnessing and applications

This paper reviews the potential uses of sanitary landfill biogas, and the possibility of harnessing biogas from the Bellville South Municipal Landfill (within the City of Cape Town, South Africa), as primary energy. This paper will focus on a specific landfill site as a case study. The theoretical research involves investigating aspects on the gas extraction and application possibilities for the site. Thereafter, two industrial gas usage scenarios located within the study area are examined in order to quantify the potential energy production and carbon emissions benefits. The gross energy production from the landfill’s biogas is estimated to be 520 × 106 MJ annually, whilst 262 × 106 and 527 ×109 litres of carbon savings for two different industrial applications are theoretically achievable. On the basis of this analysis, conclusions are drawn regarding the potential for harnessing of the gas in relation to the case study and elsewhere.