Turbine Developments, a Northern Ireland based turbomachinery design company, believes it can utilise low quality waste gas to generate electricity (and at the same time dispense with an environmentally damaging waste gas).
The waste gas, which contains a proportion of methane, is already captured from landfill sites and some of it is used to produce electricity in conventional generators. However, much of the gas is of insufficient quality to use in conventional engines and is burned in flare stacks or even vented to the atmosphere. Over time, as less material is disposed of by landfill and as the landfill sites age, the proportion of low quality gas will increase, exacerbating the problem.
However, the company says its specially developed small gas turbine engine technology can successfully operate on gas of such low quality that it cannot even be burnt in flare stacks. James Oakley, Director of Turbine Developments claimed, "This project is special because it’s totally unique and has the potential for huge savings in greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.We will generate electricity from renewable fuels that up to now have been impossible to use. In doing so we will greatly reduce the amount of methane gas emitted to the atmosphere, while also reducing the amount of CO2 emissions. This engine could also be used for generating power from waste vegetable oil and other bio fuels."
Turbine Developments believe their product has the potential to be eventually rolled out across Europe and the USA.