Jul. 5--LIVERMORE -- Later this summer, gas produced by smelly garbage will be transformed into clean-burning fuel.

The Altamont Landfill, operated by Waste Management, is putting the finishing touches on a plant that will take landfill-generated methane gas and turn it into liquefied natural gas to fuel garbage-collection trucks.

The plant will be the first of its kind in the United States, and the largest in the world.

Rotting organic materials in the landfill produce a lot of gas, and "That gas is a valuable resource that we want to capture," said Kenneth Lewis, director of Waste Management's Bay Area landfill operations.

The $15.5 million project is a joint venture that began last year between Waste Management and Linde North America, a subsidiary of the Linde Group, an international gas and engineering company.

Methane generated by decaying garbage is collected underground at the landfill in the Altamont Hills. The gas is usually flared away, but since 1989, the methane has been used to turn turbines on the landfill property to generate about 6.6 megawatts of electricity -- enough to power 8,000 homes a day -- and sold to PG&E.

Despite using it to create electricity, a lot of captured gas is still going to waste and needs to be flared off, Lewis said.

But that will change with the addition of the new plant.

Converting the gas to fuel requires rounds of filtering and cooling. Landfill gas

is about 50 percent methane and 50 percent carbon dioxide, nitrogen and other particles. Through a series of tubes, the gas is filtered to just methane and cooled down, to the tune of -275 degrees, and it becomes a fuel source, Lewis said.

The plant will produce 13,000 gallons of fuel a day. Three tanks will store 45,000 gallons for the trucks to use. Statewide, the fuel is expected to power hundreds of collection trucks.

"It's no emissions at the landfill, and at the same time it's offsetting diesel on the highway," Lewis said.

The carbon dioxide derived from biological decomposition is considered carbon neutral, but the methane is considered to be a man-made greenhouse gas that is more than 20 times more potent to the ozone than carbon dioxide.

There is enough methane at the landfill, which has been in operation since 1980, to keep producing truck fuel for 30 years.

Other, similar projects are under way in the state. The state Air Resources Board has sponsored a project in Central California that takes the methane produced by cows and uses it to create compressed natural gas for vehicle use, said Air Resources spokesman Dimitri Stanich.

"There are other models of powering engines, and we're trying to encourage that technology," Stanich said.

There are plans to implement the facilities at other Waste Management landfills in the state, said Karen Stern, a Waste Management spokeswoman.

The company's goal is "to prove the model at this landfill and replicate it at the other landfills," Stern said.

The project will receive grant assistance from the state Integrated Waste Management Board, the state Air Resources Board and the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Reach Sophia Kazmi at 925-847-2122 or skazmi@bayareanewsgroup.com.

-- Altamont Landfill Liquefied Natural Gas Plant Cost: $15.5 million Production: 13,000 gallons a day of liquefied methane gas Opening: This summer -- Landfill facts Size: 2,170 acres -- 1,000 acres designated wildlife habitat Counties served: Alameda and San Francisco Intake: 7,000 tons of waste per day Source: Waste Management

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