Europe has nearly 500,000 urban landfills. The European Commission subsidizes the Life Landfill Biofuel Project to collect biogas from landfills of household waste. Spanish car manufacturer SEAT is participating in these biogas projects and will test the fuel extensively.
Life Landfill Project
SEAT is part of the Volkswagen group and wants to focus on biogas with a high methane content as fuel for their models. In 2016, the car manufacturer already embarked on a project to extract biofuel from wastewater treatment. Another project aims to capture the methane released during the fermentation process of sorted and organic household waste in closed containers. All of these projects are part of the European Life Landfill Project, to capture the biomethane gas released from rotting waste and vegetable residues in household waste. The European Commission subsidizes 55% of this project.
Effects of biogas on engines
SEAT has an extensive range of vehicles that run on compressed natural gas. The key question, of course, is whether biogas can be suitable for those SEAT models. The gas must be of usable quality and have a high enough methane content. Tests will also have to show the long-term effects of biomethane gas on the SEAT engines. However, experts don't expect too many technical problems.
© Photo Belga