Viridor and a UK water purification company have secured government support for a pilot project to demonstrate how to harness landfill gas energy to extract water from the leachate produced at a Devon landfill site.
Viridor and Newbury-based LAT Water have successfully secured a £548,000 grant from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s Industrial Energy Efficiency Accelerator, managed by the Carbon Trust, for a 21-month pilot project at Viridor’s Broadpath Landfill site in Tiverton, near Exeter, in Devon.
The project will use low grade heat from Viridor’s landfill gas engines at ambient pressure to concentrate the leachate and extract the water, achieving environmental benefits in retaining the water resource while reducing CO₂ emissions by a potential 80% reduction in tankering requirements.
Terry Murphy, Viridor Technology and Innovation Forum Chairman and Landfill Director, said: “Viridor is proud of the fact that our modern, engineered landfill sites are designed to extract landfill gas which can be transformed to create electricity.
“To have the potential to take this process even further and harness heat from the landfill gas process and use it to take pure water from leachate is an innovative solution and Viridor is enthusiastic to pursue through this pilot project. Viridor is pleased to be working with LAT Water on this process at the Broadpath Landfill site.”
Mr Murphy said Viridor was committed to transforming waste to create resources and the leachate treatment pilot project being undertaken at Broadpath was an example of this commitment.
The sustainability potential of treating leachate on site would also not only significantly reduce costs but also impact positively on the road miles associated with tankering this material away from landfill sites.
LAT Water Chairman Peter Champness said: “I am excited that we have won further government support to LAT Water’s commitment to develop innovative sustainable low energy cost solutions to the growing challenge of managing complex Industrial waste.”
