Landfill gas to power 2 industrial plants

• By TED GRIGGS
• Advocate business staff
• Published: Nov 13, 2009 - Page: 1B

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An innovative deal between East Baton Rouge Parish government and Baton Rouge Renewable Energy LLC will turn landfill gas into power for two local industrial plants, while generating $33 million in revenue for the city-parish over 20 years.

The gas will be sold to Novolyte Technologies, which makes electrolytes used in lithium ion batteries, and ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge Polyolefins Plant.

Brad Ives, chief executive officer of Illumination Renewables LLC, the parent company of Baton Rouge Renewable, said the north landfill will produce somewhere in the ballpark of 70 million to 80 million British thermal units per hour (roughly the equivalent of 70,000 to 80,000 cubic feet) of gas.

To put that in perspective, the typical Baton Rouge-area residential customer uses 2,000 to 3,000 cubic feet of natural gas per month, according to Entergy Corp.

“This is a big landfill. You’ve got almost 6 million tons of waste in place now,” Ives said. “And over the 20-year life of the project, we expect that production almost to double.”

Baton Rouge Renewable Energy has contracted with Siemens Building Technology Inc. to design and build the gas collection system at the north landfill, Ives said.

The city-parish will receive a portion of the methane sales. The Metro Council has estimated the royalties will bring the parish $33 million over the 20-year life of the contract.

Novolyte and ExxonMobil will use the landfill gas as a substitute for natural gas to fuel boilers at both plants to produce power.

Ives said landfill gas is roughly 50 percent methane, although the energy content can vary quite a bit, while natural gas is about 95 percent methane.

“So to substitute for natural gas, you basically burn twice as much landfill gas,” Ives said. “If you think of a gas grill, you’ve got all those holes in the burner. We have to have effectively twice as many holes or bigger holes in the design of the burner.”

Ives said he could not disclose how much money his firm will invest in the gas collection system and pipelines or any of the contract details involving Novolyte or ExxonMobil.

George Pietrogallo, spokesman for ExxonMobil, said the company and its partners are spending around $10 million on its section of the pipeline and modifications at the plant.

Pietrogallo said he could not comment on the amount of landfill gas the polyolefins plant expects to buy from Baton Rouge Renewable Energy.