2001 Annual Report: New Technologies

The Board, local jurisdictions, and the private materials handling and solid waste industries have worked cooperatively over the past 12 years to reduce California’s dependence on landfills. This extraordinary effort has resulted in the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in a resource-based infrastructure that values reuse and recycling over disposal. Yet, save improved automation in materials sorting and handling, there have been no real advances in technology. As the state closes in on its 50 percent diversion goal, new technologies are developing that could greatly improve the recovery of resources and energy from waste.

On this page...

• Conversion Technologies
• Landfill Gas to Energy

Conversion Technologies
Even with increased efforts to divert organic materials, 15 million tons—about two-thirds of the collected organic materials in California—are still destined for landfills. Another 10 million tons of paper materials also are landfilled. Both of these figures are likely to rise as population growth continues in the state. These trends, and related ones in agricultural and forest residue management, can profoundly impact the ability of local jurisdictions to meet and sustain diversion requirements, and the longevity of landfills around the state.

The Board has initiated efforts to encourage new technologies that can extract valuable energy and resources from these non-marketable or low-grade organic materials, which in 2000 comprised nearly two-thirds of the 38 million tons of solid waste disposed in the state’s landfills.

These efforts were highlighted in May 2001 with the Board-sponsored Conversion Technology Forum in Sacramento. The Forum explored whether technologies such as hydrolysis and gasification might be able to take organic materials that cannot be composted, and low-grade paper that cannot be recycled, and convert them into high-value products such as energy, ethanol, and other fuels, as well as citric acid and other industrial products. Subsequent activities included:

• Presentations to the Regional Council of Rural Counties, the League of California Cities Environmental Policy Council, the Solid Waste Association of North America, the Southern California Association of Governments, the Southern California Waste Management Forum, and others.
• Participation in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research Renewable Energy Financing Team and work with State agencies and the Federal Biomass R&D Council to ascertain existing funding availability for conversion technology projects.
• Assistance to project proponents on financing opportunities and permitting issues, and analysis of regulatory issues related to the permitting of conversion technologies.
• Work with Cal/EPA, the Resources Agency, Technology, Trade, and Commerce Agency, other State agencies, and the Governor’s Office to establish a formal working group on conversion technologies and related biomass issues and an external advisory group.
• Development of a $1.5 million program included in the Governor’s Budget, to promote energy generation from solid waste residuals and landfill gas.

In 2002 the Board will continue its efforts to bring conversion technology development into public discussion of long-term waste management alternatives. Plans are being made to partner with the California Resource Recovery Association to incorporate conversion technology-related issues into its annual meeting in July 2002, and with the Solid Waste Association of North America at its October 2002 national conference in Long Beach.

Evaluation of regulatory issues, financing alternatives, and research needs will also continue as a focus in 2002 as the Board works closely with other State and federal agencies.

Landfill Gas to Energy
The extraction and utilization of landfill gas for energy has significant potential environmental benefits. In October 2001 a landfill-gas-to-energy workshop was held in Sacramento. The workshop helped facilitate the concept of using landfill gas in California as a renewable energy source. Board staff made presentations on identifying and evaluating potential solid waste disposal sites with significant potential for new or expanded landfill-gas-to-energy projects, and on bioreactor landfill technology, which could increase landfill gas production 5 to 10 times over that of a conventional landfill.

More than 125 persons from industry, local government, energy companies, and consulting firms attended the workshop, which was organized by U.S. EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program with significant staff technical support from the Board, as well as the Air Resources Board, State Water Resources Control Board, and the California Energy Commission. These agencies continue to collaborate on a landfill-gas-to-energy task force that convened in December 2000.

The task force will continue work in 2002 to resolve issues related to expansion of the state’s landfill-gas-to-energy infrastructure.

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