Johnson Brothers Lumber, located in Cazenovia, NY, is erecting drying kilns on a landfill in Lincoln that will use methane gas generated from the landfill to fuel the ovens that will dry lumber. The second phase of the Johnson Brothers Lumber project will be to use the moist excess heat from the kiln to heat an onsite greenhouse, according to The Oneida Dispatch.
Each of the five kilns, which are in the process of being assembled, are 26 feet deep, 30 feet wide and about 20 feet high. They will generate 180 degrees of heat when operational.
The landfill's Gas-to-Energy Facility, which has been operational since 2009, captures methane and converts it to heat. The 20 cylinder engine generates 1.4 MW of electricity. Thermal energy is also produced at the facility, heating three buildings and saving Madison County about $70,000 during the past five years. The facility is part of a 20-year public-private partnership between Waste Management and Madison County, NY, Department of Solid Waste and Sanitation. In 2014 the county received around $87,000 from the sale of methane gas and $110,000 from the sale of electricity, according to a news release issued by the Madison County Department of Solid Waste and Sanitation (via Renewable Energy from Waste).
Scientific America reported on a Yale University study that suggests that the amount of methane being generated in landfills is higher than thought because the Environmental Protection Agency is underestimating the amount of garbage being deposited. The study, which was initially published in Nature Climate Change, looked at 1,200 landfills.
