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Turning A Liability Into A New Energy Source

Recently, as the world looks for new energy sources, there has been interest in reclaiming landfill, sewer system, and other biogases for use as fuel. There have been numerous successes with this, and some manufacturing plants are powered by reclaimed gas.

However, landfill, digester and biogases contain significant pollutants and impurities. If the gas is released into the atmosphere, these pollutants can contribute to problems such as acid rain and global warming.

When biogas is collected and burned to recover energy, the pollutants are destroyed. But untreated gas is also destructive to the energy recovery equipment. At standard conditions, 750F (240C), 75 % relative humidity, 100 SCFM gas carries 14 gallons of moisture with it each day. The moisture is mixed with VOCs, H2S, and halogens producing a destructive acid solution. This must be removed before the biogas resource can be used.

In addition, many consumer and industrial products (deodorants, shampoos, shaving creams, lubricants sealants etc.) use silicone as dispersion agent. Through industrial and residential discharges, silicon compounds or siloxanes are introduced into sewage and landfills. When biogas is recovered from wastewater and landfills, siloxanes, H2S, VOCs, halides and other contaminants flow with it.
As the gas is used, siloxanes break down into white abrasive powder, which damages piping and equipment.

To effectively use biogas resources, they must be cleaned effectively and efficiently. Pioneer's Total Contaminant Removal System (TCR) is the ultimate solution, removing as much as 98-99% of contaminants from the gas. For applications that require less gas quality, our R-Series provides a cost effective way to remove as much as 80% of the siloxanes from the fuel.

Pioneer Air provides a comprehensive Selection and Sizing Guide for Compressed Air and Gas Systems.  It's free, and you can get your copy by visiting the Pioneer Air website at http://www.pioneerair.com/.