SouthTex has been successfully treating landfill gas to pipeline specifications at the Johnson County Landfill in Kansas City since September of 2001.

The Johnson County Landfill is the largest privately owned landfill in the US, covering about two square miles and containing approximately 30 million tons of refuse.  It serves 12 counties in the Kansas City area, and has a useful life that extends through 2027.

SouthTex owns, installs, and operates the wells, gathering system, compression, and treating plant, meeting the most difficult pipeline specifications of any high BTU landfill gas facility in the US.  The SouthTex treating plant is one of seven high BTU facilities in the country (one of three physical solvent plants), and has averaged better than 95% runtime over the past few years.

The SouthTex treating plant is designed to handle a maximum of 8-9 MMSCFD (5500-6250 scfm), and currently treats approximately 5.5 MMSCFD (3850 scfm).  The gas that is transported to Kansas Pipeline is typically 950-970 BTU/scf, with less than 1% carbon dioxide.  The treated gas meets all pipeline specifications, including: 2% carbon dioxide maximum, less than 7 Lb/MMSCF water content, less than 50 ppm oxygen, and less than 4 ppm hydrogen sulfide.

SouthTex has also installed carbon filtration on the sales gas to rid the gas of any residual odor.  Shutdowns are installed for each of the pipeline quality constraints because the treated landfill gas enters the pipeline in a market area that feeds homes (via Local Distribution Centers) and industrial users.

SouthTex has pilot tested and applied for a patent on an emission reduction process to enhance the efficiency of the facility while cutting total emissions.  SouthTex is also participating in a Department of Energy (DOE) study under a grant that includes harvesting methane from a coal bed beneath the landfill and sequestering carbon dioxide emissions in the coal bed for enhanced methane production.

SouthTex has used the Johnson County Landfill to apply its gas treating experience to landfill gas and has made several enhancements to traditional landfill gas treating, resulting in better efficiency, higher run time, reduced emissions, and improved gathering integration.

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