Renewable Energy from Waste: A Study of Landfill Gas Purification by Hybrid Porous Materials

Investigator: California State University, Long Beach

Start Date:
October 2017

Award Amount:
$125,000

Landfill gas (LFG) is generated during decomposition processes in municipal solid waste landfills. Converting LFG to energy (high-BTU gas, >96% CH4) has significant environmental and economic benefits. There is a critical need to reduce the cost and improve the efficiency of converting LFG to high-BTU gas. The goal of this study is to design a novel hybrid porous material with zeolitic imidazolates (i.e. metal organic sorbents) to purify CH4 from all impurity gases in a single processing step based on different molecular sizes. To achieve this goal, the primary objectives include:

  1. To characterize the chemical composition and structure of zeolites.
  2. Measure and calculate gas separation selectivity of CH4 with CO2, N2, O2, H2O, and H2S in equilibrium and kinetic conditions.
  3. Perform layered adsorption for actual landfill gas purification.