Landfill Gas: A Fuel for IC Engine Applications

Landfill gases and biogases are low Btu gases which were, until recently, underutilized. However interest on the utilization of these gases for energy production has been increasing due to environment concerns and global warming caused by burning fossil fuels, energy security concerns and renewable nature of these gases. The main portion of landfill gas or biogas is comprised of methane and carbon dioxide with some other gases in small proportions. Release of methane directly to the atmosphere causes about 21 times global warming effects than carbon dioxide. Thus landfill gas is flared often, where the energy recovery is not economically viable in practice. Using landfill gas to generate energy encourages more efficient collection reducing emissions into the atmosphere and generates revenues for the operators. However the use of landfill gases for electricity generation is not perceived as an attractive option because of some disadvantages. Thus it becomes necessary to address disadvantages involved by studying the landfill gases in a technological perspective and motivate the utilization of the landfill gas for the future energy needs. This paper discussed landfill gas as a fuel for a spark ignition engine to produce power in an effective way and effects of additions of a small quantity of hydrogen in the fuel mixtures. The effect of the composition changes in landfill gases on the performance of the engine is also presented.