Xebec will supply biogas system to Toronto’s waste-to-energy project
In July, Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc (Enbridge) announced a joint project with the city of Toronto to construct the city’s first biogas facility, located at the Dufferin Solid Waste Management site, and Xebec will be the supplier for the turn-key biogas upgrading system that will help turn the city’s organic waste into clean energy. Almost 50% of household waste (by weight) is organic material. When organic waste breaks down, biogas or methane is created. Many municipalities and sewage treatment plants burn off this methane into the atmosphere. But by cleaning and conditioning the methane, a valuable energy resource can be created: biomethane, a sustainable, and carbon neutral source of energy which is identical to natural gas. It can be injected into the gas pipeline network or it can be used independently as a fuel for transport, heating or power generation, significantly offsetting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Xebec offers solutions for biogas upgrading using proprietary Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) technology. “Since biomethane is a relatively new field for clean technologies, it has taken several hard years to establish ourselves in this field and to prove our technologies. Now that there are a number of projects operating (Xebec has over 50 running plants, and worldwide there are about 500 units operating), the marketplace can assess which technologies actually deliver as promised,” said the company. The city of Toronto project provides a perfect example of a truly closed loop – where Green Bin organic waste is collected, cleaned and conditioned to become carbon-neutral renewable natural gas, and then injected into the gas grid to fuel the collection trucks that pick it up. Expected to be completed in 2019, the project will allow the city to reduce fuel costs for its fleet of collection trucks and significantly reduce its carbon footprint.
