Landfill - Methane reclaim
anyone have any knowledge regarding this process, methane reclaim? I am looking for guidelines that may parallel PSM procedures for Hazard Communications.
We recently had an incident where our maintenance crew was troubleshooting a leaking waterline and during the process of locating, discovered an unmarked 4" methane PVC reclaim gas line in the same area as the water line.
Far too many details to describe the entire incident but during the process of investigating I discovered what I believe to be a lackluster protocol for digging on-site, taking into consideration the perceived danger.
I am aware there are a lot of questions that could be asked from this description so my ultimate goal is to understand the potential danger of the methane and from that discuss a reasonable policy for future maintenance activity at the landfill.
Comments (10)
I don't have experience with Methane but it sounds like there may be more instances of this where you randomly find other unmarked lines. I am sure you have already spoken with the 811 Utility folks? Maybe they could help. The dangers would be an asphyxiant if the methane were to leak and an explosion if there was a heat source with the leaking methane.
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I used to work for an RNG company that did just this. Refined landfill gas down to pipeline grade natural gas. Was the 4” line product gas or raw landfill gas?
landfill gas reclaimed from the non-commissioned or inactive area of landfill. The pipes in question are actually vacuum charged and not pressurized.