Morris Township, NJ, January 20--Honeywell said that it announced that it received the Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP) "Project of the Year" award for 2004 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for an innovative landfill gas recovery initiative.
The award was presented to Honeywell, in partnership with Enerdyne Power Systems and Waste Management, Inc., today during the LMOP Conference in Baltimore, Md.
In 2002, Honeywell, Enerdyne and Waste Management teamed up to construct a 23-mile pipeline from the WMI Atlantic Waste landfill in Waverly, Va. to the Honeywell Nylon plant in Hopewell, Va. When the pipeline was completed in January 2004, it began flowing methane-rich landfill gas (LFG) from the Waverly site to the Honeywell plant, reducing the site’s demand for natural gas fuel by 15 percent. Consuming LFG also minimizes or eliminates flaring of gas at the landfill site, reducing the region’s air emissions of CO2, a greenhouse gas.
"The reduction in CO2 air emissions over the life of the landfill, for example, is equivalent to planting 5,544 square miles of trees and saving 1.2 billion gallons of oil," said Keith Togna, Site Energy Leader for the Honeywell Hopewell plant.
The Honeywell Hopewell plant, which began operations in 1915 as a munitions facility, is now the world’s largest single-site producer of caprolactam and ammonium sulfate. Caprolactam is the primary feedstock in the production of nylon polymer used in carpet fibers, plastics and films. Ammonium sulfate is used in fertilizer applications. The Hopewell site, located about 20 miles southeast of Richmond, Va., employs 750 people and produces 6.8 billion pounds of materials annually.
"The 20 plus mile pipeline used to connect the Atlantic Waste Landfill and Honeywell more than doubles in length any existing project pipeline, showing the power of LFG as an alternative energy source," said Brian Guzzone, Team Leader, U.S. EPA Landfill Methane Outreach Program. "The combination of hard work from LMOP’s Partners, and the vision of organizations such as Honeywell, allow alternative energy projects like this to be developed."
LMOP promotes landfill gas as an important local energy resource, and has been successful in encouraging and facilitating the development of environmentally and economically sound LFG energy projects. LMOP educates local government and communities about the benefits of LFG recovery and building partnerships between state agencies, industry, energy service providers, local communities, and other stakeholders interested in developing this valuable resource.
