New power source for Rumpke
5:39 PM, Aug. 10, 2011 | Comments

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The power behind 10 new Rumpke garbage trucks is coming from the methane gas extracted from its giant mounds of trash in Colerain Township.

A new $3.1 million compressed natural gas facility is letting the region’s largest waste collector use less expensive and more environmentally-friendly fuel to power the trucks that collect residential trash each day.


About two weeks ago, those trucks began roaming the streets of Blue Ash, Hamilton, Fairfield and Springdale. If the program proves cost effective, Rumpke’s local fleet of 475 trucks will gradually be replaced with the new eco-friendly ones. The company could also expand the program to its other facilities throughout Ohio.

“We’ve always been a company that looks for ways to reuse materials and be environmentally friendly, but those things have to make economic sense,” said Jeff Rumpke, Rumpke’s regional vice president.

The company’s test will reveal whether the much cheaper gas, about $1.70 per gallon, can outweigh its capital investment and the future purchase of more expensive trucks.
The new trucks cost $250,000 to $275,000, up to $80,000 more than a typical garbage collector, Rumpke said.

Rumpke has already determined the new trucks release 21 to 26 percent less harmful gas into the atmosphere.

The project began in 2008, when Rumpke began construction on its new vehicle maintenance facility. Executives had noticed a trend along the East and West coasts of municipalities asking garbage collectors to begin using alternative fuel vehicles. Most trucks were powered by compressed natural gas, which could be generated using landfill gas.

“We saw down the road a need to experiment and evaluate alternative fuels,” said Jay Roberts, Rumpke’s director of engineering and environmental affairs. The vehicle facility was built to eventually fix and maintain natural-gas fueled trucks.

Roberts then formed a plan for an alternative fuel program and designed the infrastructure that might be needed.

Rumpke had already collected methane gas from its landfill since 1986, operating in partnership with Montauk Energy Capital, the world’s largest landfill gas-to-pipeline energy production facility. It sells gas to Duke Energy, which then powers about 25,000 homes in Cincinnati.

Vertical wells located throughout the landfill collect gases emitted as garbage decays. Horizontal pipes transport those gases to a Montauk processing facility at the base of the landfill. Montauk separates carbon dioxide from the landfill gas stream to make the gas clean and ready for Duke Energy’s pipeline.

When Roberts learned of American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funds awarded to Clean Fuels Ohio for statewide projects involving alternative fuel sources, he applied. In April 2010, Rumpke was awarded $800,000 from the state agency.

The next year was spent building a compressed natural gas fueling station with 16 pump stands, and connecting that station to the Duke Energy line. Eventually, Rumpke hopes to connect directly to its own gas plant. Less horse power would be required to get the gas at the right pressure for pumping, Roberts said.

According to Natural Gas Vehicles for America, about 1,000 natural gas fueling stations have been built nationally. And about 30 different manufacturers produce trucks and engines that operate on natural gas.

The Rumpke project is one of many Clean Fuels Ohio projects under way in the state of Ohio, but the only one in Southwest Ohio, said Katherine Stewart, policy and communications director with Clean Fuels Ohio.

“The landfill gas that Rumpke has been trapping and converting to natural gas saves the emissions from the landfill gas itself and now the diesel emission from the garbage trucks,” she said. “It’s a double emissions saver for the environment.”

Her office is in the process of awarding $11 million in grants to similar projects. Already, they’ve leveraged more than $19 million in private investment. The largest statewide project, requiring $2.5 million in Clean Fuels Ohio funds, is for the installation of compressed national gas stations throughout Northeast Ohio.

Over the next several years, the U.S. Department of Energy will compile reports from groups like Clean Fuels Ohio and conduct a study on the effectiveness and cost savings of alternative fuels programs.

Rumpke expects to closely track its progress and results, and make future investments based on its success.

“The plan is to look at history with these trucks, maintenance costs and fuel savings, and see how that fits for future replacements,” Roberts said


Buck