Solutions - Resource Recovery: Biogas

“Turning Waste into Power”

Capstone MicroTurbines can cleanly burn waste gases to create renewable power and heat.

Waste material buried in landfills biodegrades over time to produce methane, carbon dioxide, and other gases. Treatment of domestic wastewater, agricultural waste, and food processing waste using anaerobic digestion also produces methane and other gases. Many sites flare these waste gases; or worse yet vent them directly into the atmosphere. Methane has a greenhouse gas impact on the atmosphere that is 21 times that of carbon dioxide, and burning methane in a flare completely wastes its energy value. So the best environmental solution is to use these waste gases to generate renewable power, and Capstone MicroTurbines can do it cleanly and economically.

Capstone offers its “CR” (for “Capstone Renewable”) line of microturbines specifically designed to operate on these waste gas fuels. While these waste gas fuels contain useable energy, they have low energy density and are usually contaminated with other gases like hydrogen sulfide. This makes using them problematic, and requires specific knowledge of the waste gas constituents and how to treat them for a reliable and low maintenance power generation installation. Capstone has renewable fuel distribution partners with the expertise to provide the necessary fuel conditioning for a complete energy generation system. Capstone’s MicroTurbines make system design easier than using traditional generating technologies because they can operate on a wide range of energy contents, automatically adjust to changing energy densities over time, and can accept high levels of contaminants such as hydrogen sulfide (H₂S). The Capstone CR30 can accept H₂S levels as high as 70,000 parts per million, and the CR65, CR200, and CR1000 are able to operate with up to 5,000 parts per million. This may avoid the need for H₂S cleanup altogether, with associated benefits in capital and maintenance costs.

Capstone MicroTurbines are efficient and clean burning. The CR65 line of microturbines meet the strict exhaust emissions requirements of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for operation on landfill and digester gases, and were the first power generation systems to receive this CARB certification. The CR65 is also available with an integrated heat recovery module, which is ideal for applications that need both heat and power – such as for anaerobic digesters. The CR200, CR600, CR800, and CR1000 will also be CARB certified for operation on these waste fuels, so you are sure to have low emissions for any project size.

Hundreds of Capstone microturbines are operating on these renewable fuels worldwide, providing a reliable and economical solution to what would otherwise be an environmental problem. Contact Capstone or one of our renewable fuel distribution partners to see what we can do to turn your waste problem into a clean, green, and profitable solution.

• CR30 Renewable Fuels  p/n 331033D
• CR65 & CR65 ICHP Renewable Fuels  p/n 331039D
• CR200 Renewable Fuels  p/n 331043D
• CR600 Renewable Fuels  p/n 331052C
• CR800 Renewable Fuels  p/n 331055C
• CR1000 Renewable Fuels  p/n 331057C

The CR65 Biogas and Raw natural fuel MicroTurbine Stand alone/Grid connect systems are certified by Underwriters Laboratories to UL2200 and UL1741. UL listed file Number AU5040. CE certification available for CR30 and CR65 models.