NEWS
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2004
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Landfill could produce new energy from waste
Johnson County being tapped for potential natural gas
BY ALISON PETERSON
editor@kansan.com
SPECIAL TO THE KANSAN
When Johnson County residents drive by the huge landfill in north-central Shawnee, they might just see a towering, stinking pile of trash.
But when officials at the Kansas Geological Survey look at it, they see an opportunity.
"We're hoping to take what was formerly considered to be waste and turn it into something useful," Dave Newell, KGS assistant scientist, said.
Last month scientists at the KGS, a University-operated research division, began a study to determine whether the gas generated from the Johnson County landfill, located at I-435 and Holliday Drive, could be used to produce natural gas.
Three survey scientists and two drilling engineers went to the landfill to gather samples for preliminary testing last month.
The survey scientists want to take the nonmethane gases being emitted and pump them into coalbeds lying underneath the landfill to determine if that will force the coalbeds to release natural gases.
Tim Carr, KGS senior scientist, said the study was a type of recycling. If the survey can go ahead with the study after it finishes preliminary tests, it wants to take the noncommercial gases, which would normally be vented into the air, and put them to use to create more commercial gas.
"Basically, we're doing the same thing as Mother Nature," Carr said.
Scientists at the KGS pitched the idea for the study to the landfill operator, Deffenbaugh Industries, at the end of the sum-
"We need data to justify
our next step. If we can't get it, the project ends right there."
Dave Newell KGS assistant scientist
mer. The study is funded by a grant from the United States Department of Energy.
Before the actual study can begin, the group must do a simulation to prove the study will yield positive results.
The group will drill two holes to be tested.
The KGS scientists wanted to begin the process in October, but mechanical problems forced them to wait until last month. They drilled the first hole during mid-November and retrieved coals that looked promising for testing.
The scientists want to drill the second hole in late January.
"We need data to justify our next step," Newell said. "If we can't get it, the project ends right there."
The scientists need to see how the coals react to the gases. Once the drilling is complete, the coal samples will be sent to Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn., to undergo testing.
Newell said they would simulate the feel of the natural habitat by subjecting the coal to temperatures and pressures similar to the environment under the landfill.
The coal absorbs the gases pumped into it and kicks off methane in return. Carr said the process was similar to using a charcoal filter on a water faucet.
If the test results show the process is effective, Newell said the next step would be to drill wells in the landfill. Newell said some other landfills in the nation were over coalbeds, similar to the situation in Johnson County.
If this study is profitable other sites can use the same method to produce more natural gas.
The Johnson County Landfill, the largest disposal facility in the greater Kansas City area, at 700 acres, already produces some commercial gas; the scientists at the KGS just hope to create more.
The landfill has been used as an energy source since 1998, in accordance with federal Clean Air Act regulations. Defenbaugh, the landfill operator, takes the available methane and ships it through a pipeline where it can be used for heating and other purposes.
Gas consumption in America is projected to rise from almost 23 trillion cubic feet in 1996 to more than 32 trillion cubic feet in 2020 — an increase of about 30 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Scientists at the KGS are working to make more energy available for the public.
He said that he wants to be part of a solution to that problem.
Newell said they had the potential to increase the availability of energy and natural gas. He said that the demand for natural gas was sustained and the current supply was not reaching that demand.
"Anything to increase the energy supply in this time of high demand and costs," Newell said. "We'll help the supply side."
- Edited by Ashley Bechard
Happy Chrismukkah!
Orlin Wagner/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Holiday cards for Hanukkah and Christmas rolled into one stand on display Nov. 24 in Rod's Hallmark Shop, 3239 Iowa St. Christmas and Hanukkah, two holidays that seem to share little more than a calendar page, are increasingly being melded on greeting cards aimed at the country's estimated 2.5 million families with both Jewish and Christian members
Kansans split on supporting wind turbines in Flint Hills
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOPEKA — Environmentalists and local preservationists seem natural allies in debates over clean energy, but they're split when it comes to bringing new wind turbines to Kansas' scenic Flint Hills.
Backers of wind-power projects see them as a way to generate electricity without burning coal or natural gas or splitting atoms. But critics say turbines would severely damage the nation's largest remaining swath of tallgrass prairie.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is in the middle of the debate, considering proposals to promote the development of wind farms in Kansas while protecting the prairie.
"Developing wind power is
The Flint Hills cover more than 6 million acres in eastern Kansas, stretching from the Oklahoma border to almost the Nebraska border, offering scenic and broad prairie vistas. There's also enough steady wind in places to attract developers.
And industry officials and watchers said technological improvements also have made wind power more attractive. Kansas' first wind farm, with 170 turbines in Gray County, operated by a Florida company, began operations in 2001.
right," said Joe Harkins, the governor's top natural resources adviser. "And preservation of a natural resource that has such great significance to the ecology and culture is right."
J. W. Prairie Windpower, the Lawrence subsidiary of a
German company, hopes to put 80 turbines in northern Morris County, with a generating capacity of 120 Megawatts, perhaps enough to supply 40,000 homes. It has leases with 30 landowners.
But Jennifer States, the company's managing director, said the project remains on hold because her company has yet to sign a contract with a utility to buy its potential power. States said one reason is Sebelius' cautious statements on developing wind farms in the Flint Hills.
Last month, Sebelius called for restraint in turbine development in a 3-million-acre area identified by top advisers as "The Heart of the Flint Hills." She wants developers and landowners to give counties a chance to put together guidelines for placing wind turbines.
THIS WEEK ON CAMPUS DECEMBER 7,2004
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