City uses methane gas from the Wastewater treatment Facility to fuel vehicle

The strength of the City’s Community Energy Initiative is the integrated approach it takes to looking at energy efficiency and generation. This is a great example of that integrated thinking.

A new pilot project underway will allow the City of Guelph to fuel a City vehicle with methane gas generated from the Wastewater Treatment Facility.

The process involves converting the fuel system of a City vehicle from liquid gasoline to compressed gas, purifying and drying the methane gas produced at the Wastewater Treatment Facility, then using a compressor to charge the vehicle with methane.

This initiative is an opportunity to reduce the City’s carbon footprint and fuel expense. Burning methane gas rather than gasoline will reduce a vehicle’s carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 25%.

The cost of the conversion process will be offset by the savings on gasoline. The City estimates the costs, approximately $5,000, will be fully recovered within two years.

Once the pilot project is evaluated, the City will determine the practicality of operating multiple City vehicles on methane gas generated from the Wastewater Treatment Facility.

This project is in line with the City’s green fleet policies and is another cost-saving initiative that has come out of the wastewater treatment facility optimization efforts. The optimization process includes the examination and evaluation of a wastewater treatment facility’s operations, practices and management to identify opportunities to improve efficiency.