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With Snohomish Countys commitment to the use of biodiesel, an ongoing project has helped to lessen dependency on imported petroleum as well as added to the economic diversity of the county by creating new crops and jobs.
Project Goals
The goals of this project are to: Support the use of biodiesel in Snohomish Countys vehicle fleet Support local agriculture Beneficially use landfill gas, an energy source previously wasted through flaring Create community resiliency by reducing dependence on petroleum-based fuels and shortening supply lines
The distributor at the top of the elevator directs product to the dryer, storage or the crusher.
Photo courtesy of Deanna Carveth, Snohomish County Public Works.
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In 2005, the Countys Fleet Management group committed to using a cleaner fuel in the Countys diesel trucks and began The Advantage converting its in the Waste Industry a 20 percent biodiesel blend (Bfleet to use 20). In 2009, the County increased the blend to 40 percent (B-40); local farmers grew 30 percent of that amount, supporting the Countys Focus on Farming initiative (local farmers interested in growing an economically viable crop with a local market were identified). A supply of unused methane gas was available as landfill gas (LFG) currently being flared at the Cathcart Landfill. The landfill closed in 1992, with about 1.97 million tons of waste in place. Current gas flows are about 700 cfm with a methane content of about 30 percent. By growing and locally processing fuel for Snohomish Countys diesel fleet, the County has eliminated the risk of supply line disruptions. Further, by strengthening its local agricultural community, the County has preserved farmland for food production.
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This is the extruder. The oil has gone through the first virgin oil crush and is now being heated and extruded to burst the oil cell walls allowing for greater oil extraction. After the first crush, the meal is passed through steam locks in an extruder to prepare the meal for final oil extraction. Photo courtesy of Matthew Goad,
Snohomish County Public Works.
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Completed facility looking east to the closed landfill from which the gas is supplied.
2008
2008 was the critical year. The County received a $344,400 earmark via the Department of Energy and a $500,000 Energy Freedom Fund Grant from the Washington State Community Trade and Economic Development Department. Along with funds authorized in the solid waste budget, procurement and installation began. The first purchase was a 15-ton continuous flow commercial seed dryer with centrifugal fans, a 475-bushel holding capacity, screens sized for canola (0.050 inches), natural gas burners, oversized piping for low-BTU LFG, and digital temperature/moisture monitoring to control burners and fans. URS Corporation and the County had hoped to recover heat from an existing LFG flare by re-routing hot exhaust gas through an air-to-air heat exchanger to produce clean, hot air to dry the seed. However, the flare manufacturer declined to place a fin-tube heat exchanger cross-wise in the 8-foot diameter flare, citing concerns about corrosion and restricting the vertical flow of exhaust gas. Ductwork to capture exhaust gas at the top of the flare was also considered, but there was no precedent for such a design. Finally, quotes for a heat exchange system approached $750,000, exceeding the available budget The next purchase was seed storage silos (356 ton capacity) and handling equipment. Trucks unload on a concrete pad, where the in-ground auger conveys the seed through a seed cleaner and into the bucket elevator. The elevator lifts the seed to the top of the silos, where an 8-way distributor directs the seed to the appropriate silo. Bottom U-trough augers and pipe augers move
Co-locating the crusher and dryer at the flare facility makes gas supply convenient and reminds visitors of the environmental benefits of the project.
2007
The previous years crop trials favored Hyola canola, so three 50-acre plots were planted. Wolfkill Feed and Fertilizer found and transported a used 8-ton batch dryer from Lipton, Saskatchewan, Canada to the Cathcart Landfill. County staff connected it to the LFG system and dried the canola. The LFGfired dryer was deemed a successful proof-of-concept. Seed samples taken before and after drying showed no changes to seed chemistry due to exposure to LFG. It became clear that the combine and batch dryer were insufficient infrastructure on which to base a viable enterprise. Also, lack of local processing meant trucking the seed 300 miles east across the Cascade Mountains to Sunnyside, WA, eliminating profits in 2007.
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the seed to the dryer or the elevator. The auger and elevator system provided a continuous feed of canola to the new dryer, which dried 286 tons of canola and The 414 tonsAdvantage in the Waste Industry of mustard in 2008. Engineering work by URS Corporation and Parametrix included the design of concrete slabs, roadways, drainage, power supply, agricultural equipment specifications and the air permit application. To reduce costs, Public Works crews familiar with the landfill site built the concrete pads and roads, placed the dryer, and connected the LFG piping and electrical power supply. The project used Department of Energy funds to pay for the access road and consulting services, and Energy Freedom Funds for the crusher system. Solid Waste Division and Specialty Laboratories of Texas determined that using a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS) analysis showed the most potential contaminants for the least cost. This type of screening would also prevent missing a key constituent of concern by looking for all constituents rather than a few named isomers. Testing in 2007, 2008 and 2009 showed that wet or green seed has exactly the same fingerprint as the dried seed, except that volatile organic compounds that naturally occur in the green seed are significantly lower in the dried seed. The landfill gas did not adhere or absorb any contaminants onto the seed.
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Canola seed is tested for moisture content after exiting the dryer to ensure it is stable for storage. Photos courtesy of Deanna Carveth, Snohomish County Public Works.
2009
In spring 2009, a seed cleaner, crusher and extruder were installed. About 12 tons of canola from the 2008 fall harvest was used to test the crusher and
extruder, producing about 1,000 gallons of oil and eight super sacks of meal used for animal feed. The meal contained about 7 to 9 percent oil, which means that the incoming seed had about 42 percent oil, much higher than expected. A second grain elevator was installed to improve functionality. Overall, 330 tons of material was dried including 214 tons of mustard, 85 tons of canola
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Mustard seed is unloaded into the dryer system moments after construction is completed September 18, 2008.
and 31 tons of barley; more crops were field dried this year due to an unusually dry summer.
Future Opportunities
Available funding provided the window of biodiesel opportunity in Snohomish County. The Solid Waste Division had looked at using landfill gas to generate electricity previously. The Pacific Northwest power market has a very high percentage of hydropower; electricity has historically been inexpensive, making alternative technologies difficult to justify financially. In 2013, the Bonneville Dam bonds will be paid off, allowing the Bonneville Power Administration greater ability to ship green power out of the Pacific Northwest. This will increase opportunities for newer technologies to compete in the Puget Sound region as local utilities work to meet green power mandates. The County is currently looking at Department of Energy ARRA grant dollars to use combined landfill gas and methane from a near by dairy farm for energy. This same grant incentivizes the capture of waste heat which the Division can potentially use to run the dryer, run a boiler to make steam for the de-gummer system and potentially pre-heat the wash water in the nearby truck wash. Local production of fuel promotes local jobs and economy, preserves acres for farming not houses and ensures we have fuel when we need it should supply lines be disrupted.
Conclusions
This project continues to be important on several levels. First, it showed that landfill gas, even from a landfill closed 18 years earlier, can be a viable energy source for an industrial process, the drying of crops. Second, groups interested in promoting local agriculture and the use of alternative, non-petroleum fuels worked together cooperatively to grow a non-traditional (for this geographic area) crop and extract two useful products (oil and animal feed meal) that have
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local markets. Third, it showed that the technology and equipment for a crop-to-fuel system could be assembled The Advantage in the Waste Industry and operated at a County solid waste facility. Fourth, because the County offers tours to interested parties, there is an educational and public outreach component that helps inform students and County residents about sustainability, alternative energy and waste management. Fifth, with the Countys commitment to the use of biodiesel, this project helps to lessen dependency on imported petroleum. And last but certainly not least, it has added to the economic diversity of the County by creating new crops and jobs. | WA Terrill Chang, P.E., is a Senior Solid Waste Engineer for URS Corporation in Seattle, WA. He has 35 years of environmental and mechanical engineering experience, and has been involved in feasibility studies, planning, design, permitting and environmental impact assessment for landfills, incinerators, transfer stations, recycling and compost facilities for government and private sector clients. Current projects include several county solid waste management plans and the design of two transfer stations. Terrill holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and Oregon State University and is a licensed engineer in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. He can be reached at (206) 438-2596 or e-mail terrill_chang@urscorp.com. Deanna Carveth is a Project Specialist IV for Snohomish County Public Works (Everett, WA). She is a 21-year solid waste professional, starting her career in San Francisco packing small business and household hazardous waste. Currently a project specialist, she manages the Canola to Biodiesel project for Snohomish County, writes and maintains the FEMA approved Disaster Debris Management Plan, assures compliance with NPDES permits, is starting the Greenhouse Gas reporting program and manages the groundwater modeling program for the Countys closed landfills. Deanna can be reached at (425) 388-7607 or e-mail deanna.carveth@snoco.org.
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Acknowledgements This material is based on work supported by the Department of Energy under award number DE-FG3608GO88177. Standard disclaimer applies. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the support of Washington State Department of Commerces Energy Freedom Fund and our private partners including Wolfkill Feed and Fertilizer, Whole Energy, and Snohomish Farms including Sno-Valley Farms and Reiner Farms. This paper was originally presented by Terrill Chang, URS Corporation, during WASTECON 2009 in Long Beach, CA. Excerpts and information from that presentation are reproduced with the permission of the Solid Waste Associate of North America (SWANA). 2010 Waste Advantage Magazine, All Rights Reserved. Reprinted from Waste Advantage Magazine. Contents cannot be reprinted without permission from the publisher.
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