Main heading

What is landfill gas?

As bio-degradable waste decomposes it gives off methane gas which has to be carefully disposed of as it is potentially flammable or explosive.

How do we get rid of it?

The Waste Management Service currently manages 12 closed landfill sites, and landfill gas is pumped out of eight of these. The gas is pumped out and burnt by a process called 'flaring'. Flaring takes place in specially built Flaring Units which break down the main part of the gas (methane) into carbon dioxide and water. Methane is a greenhouse gas and burning it in this way reduces the impact on Global Warming.

When burnt as fuel the gas has a calorific value of about half of that of natural gas. If the landfill gas produced by the closed landfill sites in Cheshire wasn't burnt it would be released into the atmosphere and the effect on global warming could be equivalent to driving 432 million miles by car every year.

The remaining four closed landfill sites produce an insufficient amount of gas to sustain active gas extraction. However, these sites are still regularly monitored for sub-surface landfill gas using high tech portable infra-red equipment.

Operational Landfill Sites

Many of the operational landfill sites (those which are still being filled up with waste) have been designed so that the landfill gas can be burnt within purpose-built engines. These engines use the gas to produce electricity and this is sold to the National Grid. Such a scheme is generally not possible at the older sites as they have already passed their gas-producing peak. Although with the recent introduction of improved efficiency small scale engines, coupled with subsidies from the Government’s renewable obligations, it may be possible to exploit the gas on some closed sites.

Waste Homepage

Waste Management Service, Backford Hall, Chester CH1 6PX Map
General Enquiries Tel: 01244 973000 Fax: 01244 973746
waste@cheshire.gov.uk