Greentree and Imperial Landfill Gas Projects
Imperial and Kersey, Pennsylvania, United States
Client: EMCOR Energy Services
Parsons Brinckerhoff Role: Design
EMCOR Energy Services built two landfill gas cleanup projects in which the gas produced by the landfills is cleansed of carbon dioxide and other contaminants, thus transforming it into high-quality natural gas that is ultimately used to generate electricity. Teamed with EMCOR in an engineer-procure-construct arrangement, Parsons Brinckerhoff engineered and designed the two high Btu landfill gas projects, which are among the largest and most technically sophisticated ever undertaken. Built for developer Beacon Generating, LLC, each landfill reduces carbon dioxide emissions by more than 200,000 tons annually, the equivalent of removing emissions from some 340,000 vehicles.
The technical and financial strength of Parsons Brinckerhoff and EMCOR Energy Services was crucial to obtaining project financing. The major technical accomplishment was the engineering and design of the landfill gas processing equipment and control systems. The membrane separation technology used to separate the methane gas from the landfill gas had never been used at the scale of the Imperial and Greentree projects. Extensive engineering and design was required to integrate the gas collection, compression, moisture removal, hydrogen sulfide removal, and gas separation technologies into a seamless process.
The Greentree Landfill received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program 2007 Project of the Year Award.