SBIR Phase II: Automatic Control of Landfill Gas Collection

这一小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目旨在提高实现垃圾填埋气提取系统实时测量和控制的技术的商业可行性。它有可能提高垃圾填埋气转化能源(LFG-E)市场的经济性，并减少垃圾填埋场对环境的影响。随着整个行业的实施，现有LFG-E项目的年收入可能增加4.5亿美元以上。产生的额外能源将为超过35万户家庭供电。甲烷是一种强大的温室气体(GHG)，美国环保署估计，2011年，垃圾填埋场的排放量占美国所有人造来源排放量的近17.5%。改善垃圾填埋气收集所减少的温室气体排放量将相当于36亿加仑汽油或7600万桶石油的排放量。此外，由于经济效益的改善，这一二期项目可以鼓励新的LFG-E项目的开发，进一步扩大这个市场的规模和价值。根据美国环保署的估计，目前未开发的场地可能额外产生850兆瓦的电力，足以为超过50.8万户家庭供电。该项目的技术目标是1)降低各种系统组件的成本，2)满足与第三方安全相关的新产品要求和市场要求的其他认证。降低成本的方法是将几个商用现成组件(特别是NDIR气体传感器和电动控制阀)替换为定制设计的替代品，这些替代品可以在成本降低30%的情况下满足产品的功能要求。为了获得市场要求的认证，有必要定义适用的特定标准和保护概念，然后根据这些标准重新设计硬件。这将涉及部件替换和系统重新设计的组合，具体取决于已确定的具体保护概念(S)和危险位置分类。这项研究将建立在可靠性和产品功能改进的基础上，这是第一阶段项目的关键成果，研究目标的成功完成将使实时控制技术在垃圾填埋气行业得到更广泛的采用。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project seeks to improve the commercial viability of technology that enables the real time measurement and control of landfill gas extraction systems. It has the potential to improve the economics of the Landfill Gas to Energy (LFG-E) market and reduce the environmental impact of landfills. With industry-wide implementation, annual revenues from existing LFG-E projects could be increased by over $450 million. The additional energy produced would power over 350,000 homes. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas (GHG), and the EPA estimates that in 2011, emissions from landfills accounted for nearly 17.5% of generation from all manmade sources in the US. The associated reduction in GHG emissions from improved landfill gas collection would be equivalent to the emissions of over 3.6 billion gallons of gasoline or 76 million barrels of oil. Furthermore, because of the improved economics, this Phase II project could encourage the development of new LFG-E projects, further expanding the size and value of this market. According to EPA estimates, currently undeveloped sites could account for an additional 850 MW of power generation, enough to power over 508,000 homes.The technical objectives of the project are 1) to reduce the cost of various system components, and 2) to address new product requirements related to third party safety and other certifications that are demanded by the market. The approach to cost reduction is to replace several commercially available off-the-shelf components (specifically, NDIR gas sensors and an electrically-actuated control valve) with custom designed alternatives that can meet product functional requirements at a 30% reduction in cost. In order to achieve the certifications that are demanded by the market it will be necessary to define the specific standards and protection concepts that are applicable, and then re-engineer hardware in accordance with these standards. This will involve a combination of component substitution and system re-design, depending on the specific protection concept(s) and hazardous location classification that are identified. The research will build upon the reliability and product functionality improvements that were a key outcome of the Phase I project, and successful completion of the research goals will enable more widespread adoption of real time control technology in the landfill gas industry.