GS3434 Uberlândia landfills I and II

Description

Distrito Industrial II, City of Uberlândia, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

GS3434 Uberlândia landfills I and II

The objective of the Uberlândia landfills I and II is to collect the landfill gas produced in the Uberlândia Landfill and use it to generate electricity. A total capacity of 2.80 MW will be installed, composed by 2 engines with individual capacity of 1.4 MW each. The project is expected to export 354,968 MWh during its lifetime.Uberlândia Landfill comprises two adjoining solid waste disposal sites (SWDS), named Landfill I and Landfill II, both owned and operated by Limpebrás Resíduos Ltda. (Project Participant). The Landfill I started operating in July of 1995 and stopped receiving waste in September 2010. The Landfill II started operating in October 2010 with the same environmental care applied to the previous disposal site and counts on a qualified and multidisciplinary team of technicians. The landfill has a total area of 300,000 m2, with 200,000 m2 dedicated to disposal of waste, being able to receive till 4,500,000 m3 of solid waste for an approximately 18 years of lifetime. All the area was sealed with a membrane of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and compacted clay in order to protect the phreatic layer from contamination. The leachate generated in each landfill is given a different treatment. For Landfill I the leachate is treated at an ascendant flow anaerobic reactor followed by an anaerobic filter and then sent to the Uberabinha’s sewage treatment station (ETE Uberabinha) through municipal canalization. The leachate from Landfill II, after being analysed by the Municipal Department of Water and Sewage (Departamento Municipal de Água e Esgoto – DMAE), was authorized to be directly sent to the ETE Uberabinha without previous treatment. In this Project the Landfill I and the Landfill II were considered as a sole SDWS, since the area surrounding the two sites, including them, is owned and operated by Limpebrás Resíduos Ltda. and they are physically near enough to permit the joint operation. In fact, only a 27 m width road used exclusively for the landfilling operation separates the two sites, and the gas station and power plant of the proposed project activity are planned to be installed on the roadside between the Landfill I and Landfill II. Therefore, the estimative of emissions of methane from SWDS considered the two sites as one single SWDS.The scenario existing prior to the implementation of the Uberlândia landfills I and II project activity at the Uberlândia Landfill is the operation of the landfill with uncontrolled emission of the LFG (landfill gas) generated to the atmosphere, i.e. the LFG generated due to the decomposition of the organic matter is vented through the vertical wells installed at the landfill’s area. As will be demonstrated ahead, the existing scenario and the baseline scenario are the same.Emissions associated with the baseline scenario are the CH4 emissions due to the atmospheric release of the LFG and CO2 emissions due to the power generation from fossil-fuel power-plants. With the implementation of the project, the LFG previously released will be collected through the installation of pipelines and emission reduction will be achieved through the destruction of the gas collected in a flaring system and in the power plant. Additionally, the project will export renewable electricity to the grid, avoiding the dispatch of the same amount of electricity from fossil-fuel based power plants in the Brazilian National Grid.The project will bring benefits to sustainable development, as follows:-Increase of local environmental quality: the project will contribute not only through the avoidance of GHG emissions to the atmosphere, but also by displacing the fossil fuel consumption from power plants connected to the Brazilian Electric Grid. The project might also be seen as a good practice of correct solid waste final disposal;-Labour capaciting / Income generation: the project will need qualified operators to maintain the gas collection wells and pipeline and to operate the degassing station and the power plant. A team composed by engineers and technicians will be created and trained by international consultants and manufacturers. The revenues of these personnel will be above the market, as the technology employed is new in the Uberlândia region;-Integration with different sectors: using LFG to generate electricity is relatively new in Brazil – some projects were developed only under the CDM and only a few of them are indeed generating electricity (like the Bandeirantes Landfill Gas to Energy Project, São João Landfill Gas to Energy Project and Exploitation of the biogas from Controlled Landfill in Solid Waste Management Central – CTRS / BR.040). Therefore, the project will have an enormous contribution over the integration with the electric sectors.Project start date: 03/05/2011This is the date of creation of Energas Geração de Energia Ltda., composed by Limpebrás Resíduos Ltda. and Asja Brasil Serviços para o Meio Ambiente Ltda. exclusively for the development of the Project.

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