Methane Flaring Machinery to be Installed as Part of Repi Landfill Clean-Up

Combustion Research Associates (CRA), an Indian company, will install methane flaring machinery at the Repi Landfill site over the next two weeks. This will come following the expected completion of an electric power line. A generator house and control room for the methane flaring system were already completed a month ago.

The flaring system includes equipment used in the separation and burning of Landfill Gas (LFG). CRA, which is focused on energy, the environment and renewable energy solutions, was awarded the contract for 6.9 million Br, according to Shibru Tefera, Repi’s Transfer Station head.

The project is being conducted jointly by the Addis Abeba City Administration Solid Waste Recycling & Disposal Project Office (RDPO), the Horn of Africa Regional Environment Centre & Network (HoA-REC&N) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to reduce the amount of methane gas released into the atmosphere from the dumpsite. They intend to include the project in the carbon trading scheme.

The Repi Landfill, which has been in use for the past 40 years, is gradually closing, with 19ha out of the total 37ha already closed. LFG collection pipes have been completed on both the closed and open parts of the dump, Shibru says. These gases contain 40 to 60pc methane.

The civil work, which was contracted to Addis Abeba General Construction PLC for 1.15 million Br, included earth work, filter equipment foundations, blower foundations, and the control panel and generator rooms, which the contractor delivered a month ago, according to Aysheshum Abebaw, Sustainable Energy Africa program officer at the HoA-REC&N.

“What remains is the completion of the electric power line installation,” added Aysheshum. “The site will use a generator installed as a standby for the time being, until the Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) supplies the requested three-phase electric line.”

The dumpsite has been a serious environmental hazard as a result of LFG, toxic fumes and leachates being discharged into the locality, which has caused dangerous pollution, a foul odour and risks to human health. Those at risk include residents and students of the nearby Basilios Secondary School, as well as unborn children, reads a  newsletter from the HoA-REC&N.

The project aims to remove all methane from the site within 12 years.

“Methane gas is one of the major contributors to global warming and is 21pc more potent than carbon dioxide,” said Aysheshum. “The reason we flare the gas is to convert it to carbon dioxide, which is less harmful.”

After that, the plan is to convert the site into a public park, based on a design developed by the local architectural firm, Universal Consults, Consulting Architects & Engineers PLC,  in collaboration with Hydea SPA – an Italian Engineering firm.


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