Richland landfill and potato waste will soon generate natural gas for WA homes

Agricultural biogas from Lamb Weston’s Richland plant and raw gas from the Richland Horn Rapids landfill will no longer go to waste.

Instead, it will be converted into renewable natural gas to be distributed by Cascade Natural Gas as soon as the end of this year.

The project is expected to produce the amount of natural gas used by about 4,173 Washington homes each year, according to the city and companies.

Landfill gas is a natural byproduct of the decomposition of organic material in landfills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. About half of the gas is typically methane, the primary component of natural gas.

“We are very pleased to join our private industry partners to use a waste stream managed by the city to generate revenue that offsets operating costs at the city’s landfill,” said Joe Schiessl, Richland deputy city manager.

The project also will reduce air pollution and help meet Washington state’s climate change goals, he said.

Cascade Natural Gas of Kennewick has signed an agreement with Pine Creek RNG, based in St. Petersburg, Fla., to purchase renewable natural gas the Florida company produces from the two Richland sources.

Now gas from the west half of the Horn Rapids landfill is captured and burned in a flare, a default method of managing the gas until it was determined to have enough value to warrant a project like the one planned, according to the city of Richland.

Gas from the east half of the landfill is not actively managed, but some likely is captured by the existing system on the west half and some enters the air through the surface.

Pine Creek RNG has started construction to activate a system to add the east half of the landfill to an active gas collection and processing system.

Pine Creek RNG will pay the city a monthly royalty of $6,000 when the system is operating.

The city of Richland also acted as a facilitator between Pine Creek RNG and Lamb Weston.

Now gas is being burned off at the Richland Lamb West plant, which processes nearly 1 billion pounds of potatoes annually.

Pine Creek RNG is building a digester gas upgrading facility next to its Horn Rapids Landfill gas-to-fuel project, it said on its website.

The digester gas will be injected into the same gas pipeline interconnect as the Horn Rapids Landfill system.

“This is an exciting project for Cascade in that not only will we be able to bring renewable natural gas onto our system, but also reduce the amount of gas currently being flared,” said Nicole Kivisto, president of Cascade.

Mark Schuster, vice president of Lamb Weston, said he was pleased that the renewable gas produced would be used in the region.

This story was originally published March 8, 2023 at 5:00 AM.